Queen wears `recycled` dress to banquet in Toronto

Toronto: The "recycling" of a previously worn gown is something not new to the British Queen.

Now, the Monarch has again surprised many by wearing one such dress decorated with Swarovski crystals to a banquet in Toronto -- as a tribute to Canada which she is touring, a media report said. The dress was originally worn to a state dinner in Trinidad and Tobago last autumn and had been decorated with the country`s national birds -- the scarlet ibis and cocrico. But over the last two weeks it has been transformed by Queen`s dresser and personal assistant Angela Kelly and her team, the online edition of British newspaper `The Daily Telegraph` reported. The seamstresses removed the images of the birds from the tulle lace that features sea pearls and sequins and stitched dozens of Swarovski crystals on to it. As a tribute to Canada -- one of the Queen`s realms -- the crystals formed maple leafs both large and small running up the dress`s right sleeve and shoulder. The interlocking leaves caught light and were designed o be a bold statement at the dinner hosted by the Canadian overnment in honour of its Queen. The dress was complemented by the sovereign wearing Queen Mary`s dazzling tiara. Last night`s spectacular "maple gown" follows in a long tradition of themed diplomatic embroidery going right back to the 1953 coronation when the Queen had emblems of all her realms sewn into her dress, the report said. The Monarch has worn other gowns featuring significant symbols, colours or motifs but usually when on overseas tours and in honour of the country she is visiting. PTI