The Strategic Reason Queen Elizabeth Always Wore Bright Colors — Its More Than Just Style

Royal fashion curator Caroline de Guitaut explained how the late Queen used one secret trick to stand apart in a room full of men.

Throughout her long 70-year reign, Queen Elizabeth treated her colorful outfits as a kind of royal superpower, ensuring she was always the first to stand out in a crowd. From electric blues to bright reds and chirpy greens, her wardrobe was less about blending in and more about being unmistakably noticed. On that front, royal fashion curator Caroline de Guitaut revealed that the Queen, often the only woman in a room full of men, used tailored dark coats to stand apart and help people connect with her.

The largest exhibition of the late Queen's fashion moments, Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Style, is set to open at The King's Gallery in Buckingham Palace, ahead of the 100th anniversary of her birth on April 21. It will display some of her most treasured rainbow-colored outfits. Its exhibition curator, Guitaunt, told PEOPLE why it was 'really, really important' for the late monarch to sport bold colors, especially as she inherited the throne young, at just 25 years old. She explained, "At the beginning of the Queen's reign, she could often be the only woman in the room, so standing out from darkly tailored suits was important. Even if she's half a mile away, if she's wearing that red coat, you're definitely going to see her."

Adding to that, Guitaunt stressed that blue and yellow were the main hues in the Queen's closet, closely followed by green and pink. She continued, "She [the Queen] had a definite sense of what suited her. The designers would insert the prevailing fashion of the time. Hardy Amies always said we went as high as we dared in the 60s," referencing the popular shorter hems for women. With regards to the exhibition, the royal curator believed it would highlight the importance of British fashion, with no better example than the late Queen of England herself.

Interestingly, in the documentary, Our Queen at Ninety, the Queen's daughter-in-law, Duchess Sophie, once shed light on her penchant for bright colors. She said, "She [the Queen] needs to stand out for people to be able to say, 'I saw the Queen.' Don't forget that when she turns up somewhere, the crowds are two, three, four… ten to fifteen deep, and someone wants to be able to say they saw a bit of the Queen's hat as she went past."