QUEEN ELIZABETH II (1926-2022) - "Hardy Amies Ltd. Her Majesty the Queen. Order Book", 4to, 1962-68, 95-pages with carbon copy orders, including descriptions, prices, and sometimes the occasions on which the clothes were to be worn, original wrappers.

QUEEN ELIZABETH II (1926-2022) - [Printed label on the upper cover of the order book:] "Hardy Amies Ltd. 14 Savile Row, W1." With the Royal Coat-of-Arms and "By Appointment Her Majesty The Queen Dressmakers" beneath, with, added in blue pen to the same label, "Her Majesty The Queen Order Book from 9/3/62 -1968." 4to (250 x 190mm). 95 pages with duplicate blue carbon-copy orders for various items of haut couture items made for Queen Elizabeth II, mostly dresses, but including overcoats, jackets, blouses, etc., each described, priced and dated, and sometimes referencing designer sketch numbers, with the name of the [?]maker, usually "Miss Beard" or "Leonard Beard", or both, at the foot, and sometimes the occasions, locations and tours where the article of clothing would be worn; for instance, "Australian Tour, 1963", "Glyndebourne 64", "West Indies, 1966", "Canadian Tour, July 1967", "Ascot 1968" and "South America" (it is interesting to compare contemporary newsreels of the various tours and visits to the descriptions of the clothing in the order book). Contained in a contemporary cloth-backed wrappers (the upper wrapper detached, some tears and fraying). Sir Edwin Hardy Amies KCVO (1909-2003) was a British fashion designer and founder of the Hardy Amies label. Less known is the fact that, on the outbreak of the Second World War, he served in the "Special Operations Executive" and worked with Belgian resistance groups, which led to him rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and being made an officer of the Order of the Crown in Belgium in 1948, one of its highest decorations. Throughout his wartime service, however, he made himself conspicuous by insisting on having his British Army uniform tailored in Savile Row. But it was for his connection with Queen Elizabeth II that he is now chiefly remembered. He was a Royal Warrant Holder and designer to Princess Elizabeth from 1950, who appointed him as one of her three official dressmakers 1955, and he continued to design for her throughout her reign as monarch until 1990, having been knighted the previous year. However, he did take on other commissions, some of them quite unexpected; for example, in 1967 he designed the costumes for Stanley Kubrick's  film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Bellmans sold a group of three similar Hardy Amies order books for Queen Elizabeth II, from the same source, in September 2019 (lot 1043) where they realised £800 + buyer's premium. The present order book, once thought to be missing from the set, has recently come to light, and is here offered for sale for the first time.