Blake Lively's Met Gala Gown and Beyonce's Most Regal Look Displayed at Kensington Palace

Beyoncé's outfit joins ensembles worn by Lizzo, Billie Eilish and Blake Lively in a Met Gala-inspired exhibition at Princess Diana's former palace home

By Simon Perry

Published on March 29, 2023 06:52 AM

Kensington Palace has a new Queen B.

A stunning outfit worn by Beyoncé while pregnant at the 2017 Grammys has pride of place in a new exhibition in London.

The gown was unveiled, alongside a Versace design and Lorraine Schwartz jewelry — including a custom copper tiara inspired by the Statue of Liberty — worn by Blake Lively at the 2022 Met Gala and Lizzo's striking Thom Browne outfit from the same glitzy occasion, early on Wednesday. They form part of a new Crown to Couture show that captures how today's show business and fashion icons have drawn inspiration from how the royals partied more than 200 years ago.

It is the biggest and most ambitious exhibition Historic Royal Palaces has ever staged, and recreates a bustling Georgian-era party in the State Apartments of the royal home in central London.

Blake Lively's Met Gala Gown and Beyonce's Most Regal Look Are Displayed at New Kensington Palace Exhibit — Beyonce's Most Regal Look at Kensington Palace. Historic Royal Palaces

The idea was forged in May 2018 when experts at the palace watched the Met Gala.

"Seeing the celebrities being maneuvered out of their vehicles onto the red carpet by a bevy of attendants arranging their elaborate outfits around them, we realized this all looks quite familiar," collections curator at Historic Royal Palaces Claudia Acott Williams tells PEOPLE.

The idea is that an 18th-century party at the palace was the historic equivalent. "Then, there were reports of great crowds gathering at the palaces to see aristocrats arrive in their finery," adds Acott Williams. "The 18th century is also the birth of the fashion press too, and there was a public narrative about what is being worn and who was in favor or out of favor at court — with detailed accounts of the outfits being worn at court, like a best and worst dressed."

Today, and certainly in the best category, that could be said of Beyoncé's stunning Peter Dundas gown from 2017.

"It is most exquisitely gold beaded gown evoking various different African goddesses — it has become an iconic Beyoncé moment," Acott Williams adds.

On display too — just like on that Grammys night — is the epic headpiece from House of Malaka, which the "Halo" singer wore.

"She is under the Throne Canopy in the Presence Chamber — which is the space where you would first encounter the monarch," says Acott Williams. "You are in the presence of Queen B."

The Lively dress, which the curators are also proud to have secured, is one of several from the Met Gala events that so inspired the organizers. With her Versace-designed outfit, which was unfurled when she arrived, the actress interpreted the theme of that year "In America: An Anthology of Fashion" by reflecting the architecture of New York. (The gown itself is a tribute to the Empire State Building and her skirt and crown — by Lorraine Schwartz — represent the Statue of Liberty.)

Lively's dress is stationed in the King's Gallery, which was one of the main entertaining spaces in the palace.

In that room, curators have also displayed the widest Georgian gown known as a court mantua, which measures 9 feet across. "It was about making an impact to get you noticed by the monarch — and get the rewards that could come from that," Acott Williams says. "It gave the wearer a bold impact through scale and color."

That was what singer Billie Eilish was trying to do with the peachy-pink Oscar de la Renta outfit she wore at the Met Gala in 2021.

"She said she wanted to take up space and be unmissable," says the curator. It was a moment of "image transformation for her. The Gala happened not long after her new album, on the cover she had gone for a sophisticated rendering of herself and the Met Gala was part of that re-branding."

There are 20 contemporary and around 50 historical dresses in the collection, many of which have been worked on by the dress conservators at Hampton Court Palace.

The curators draw comparisons with how 18th-century women when they married and were presented again at the royal court. "It could be considered to be a relaunch," says Acott Williams.

From the Met Gala last year is the fabulous Thom Browne outfit that Lizzo wore. Accessorized by her golden flute, which Lizzo played on the red carpet, it was "a really exquisite creation — the craftsmanship and embroidery is second to none," Acott Williams adds.

Using fashion to signal politics and campaigning is also represented. One of the curator's favorites is Jonathan Anderson for Loewe's outfit worn by Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy to the Met Gala of 2021. Based on work by the artist David Wojnarowicz's who was renowned for his AIDS activism, it is included in the Council Chamber, where historically the King would meet his ministers when the court was in residence.

The Crown to Couture exhibition — which comes as part of palace admission — opens to the public on April 5.