Pearly Queens

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I'm not going to profess to being a master of the subject of Pearly Kings and Queens, the wearers of the Cockney costume, marked by the rows of sewn on pearl buttons.  Nay, I've never seen a Pearly King or Queen in the flesh sadly even though there's supposed to be a Pearly King and Queen of every borough in London as well as one of the City and Westminster.  Still, after seeing Sinha Stanic's Pearly costume inspired pieces at a press day, I had to delve deeper and with a Google Image Search I found costumes that were absolutely LADEN with pearls…

Not that I'm not fond of Stanic's dresses with their Pearly efforts but I'm thinking some Pearly King or Queen costume expert out there could take their pearly expertise and apply these buttons all over bodysuits, leggings, skinny suits, trapeze dresses and platforms in the manner demonstrated below by the costumes that look like they are heaving with button power.  Though as the Pearly titles are by inheritance only, us fashion Pearly imitators best stick to plain old Ms. or Miss.  Wouldn't want to be a Pearly Pretender afterall!

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23 comments

  1. I am surprised the Cockney folk of Laahden havn’t exacted their revenge on Sinha Stanic for appropriating thier cultural dress. Peter Jensen chose a soft target in comparison!

  2. wow! love the sinha stanic dresses, tho the black and white pics of the national dress are immensely kwler lol. i always love going to national or regional costume museums for things like this… they give me so many ideas (and make me realise that true craftsmanship is still alive and well)
    xxxc
    http://clothestohealabrokenheart.blogspot.com/

  3. You should go to “big” local events for a glimpse of the Pearly King and Queen! I feel as though I have taken my Pearly encounters for granted now.

  6. I didn’t realize that there was a “cockney costume.” They look kind of fun. Maybe I’ll add a bunch of pearly buttons to something.

  7. I saw a pearly king and queen on the tube once!!! one of those things where everyone else was like ‘oh i’m far tooo london to care’ but they were astounding!!! couldn’t take my eyes off them! x

  13. As a kid I came across a book all about Pearly fashion, yet couldn’t remember a thing except for the amazing costumes. Thanks for the info!
    DiscountDiva

  14. My mums a pearly queen and her outfit is gorgeous, she had to sew all the pearls on herself!

  15. well being a Yank, i have no experience with the Pearly Queen look outside of ‘Mary Poppins”, but I think that collection looks really interesting!

  16. My husband and I were just talking about the song “Pearly Queen” by Traffic. Because we’re a million years old.
    Did you see the Pearly King costume that Jack White got for some album cover?? Exquisite!

  20. Beautiful, what a interesting post. hope i can wear that kind of clothes someday,, keep it up!
    -sidney-

  22. The White Stripes wear something like this on their “Icky Thump” album cover 🙂

  23. Hi I am a original Pearly queen from London My title is pearly queen of the royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Jack whites outfit was cool but was plastic buttons you only get the right effect by using pearl buttons as the glimmer and colours within the buttons when the light hits them they are awesome

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