On January 14, moments after King Frederik gave his first address to the Danish nation as their new monarch, he and his wife Queen Mary kissed on the balcony as 10,000 citizens cheered on. He wore his formal military uniform; she, a snow white dress with a draped sash over her shoulder. Within minutes, the fairy-tale-like image was splashed on the homepages of global new sites—a moment seen around the world.
It also thrust a third party into the spotlight: Danish designer Soeren Le Schmidt.
He had worked with the then-Crown Princess Mary before, most recently on a dress for King Charles III’s coronation. Yet, “I still can’t believe it,” Schmidt says of his historic commission.
The look came together in record time. Schmidt, like the rest of the world, found out that Queen Margrethe was abdicating the throne during her New Year’s Eve address to the nation. The next morning, he got the official call from the royal household: could he make a dress—the dress—for the Crown Princess as she became Queen?
He got to work immediately. Known for his sharp, classic tailoring, he sketched a minimalistic dress with graphic shoulders. The shade, they decided, should be slightly off-white. When paired with the future Queen Mary’s ruby jewelry—a gift from Frederik’s grandmother, Queen Ingrid—the outfit would represent the colors of the Denmark flag. White, in addition, carries symbolic connotations of integrity and morality.
Instead of simply using the historic jewels as accents, Schmidt and the Queen decided to incorporate them into the dress itself: they attached the ruby brooch to her waistline, resembling a belt buckle, instead of on her chest. Then, he used a handful of clever details to bring cohesion to the silhouette as a whole. “From the belt, the draping goes around the neckline and to one of her shoulders,” he explains.
When Queen Mary stepped onto the balcony, a sash thrown over her shoulders and rubies sparkling even on a gray Danish winter day, she exuded elegance through both demeanor and dress. “I love working with Queen Mary,” Schmidt says. “I am very grateful that she likes my design DNA and chose me to do such a historical dress for such an important day.”
