Dress Codes: From Statement to Style Icon

A richly illustrated exploration of how dress codes shaped identity at the Dutch royal court (1870–1940) and how fashion still expresses power, culture, and connection today.

Dress codes are timeless. This book explores how clothing at the Dutch royal court between 1870 and 1940 expressed not only style, but also status and power. From galas and masquerade balls to mourning attire and daily wear, fashion followed strict rules. With costumes from the collections of Paleis Het Loo, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, and the Royal Collections, you'll see how members of the court set the tone and became taste-makers in wider society.

But dress codes are far from a thing of the past. In the second part of the book, you’ll discover how clothing today still connects - and divides - us. Think of football jerseys, gender norms, or popular influencers as today’s trendsetters. The exhibition invites you to reflect on your own wardrobe choices - and what they say about you.

Dress Codes shows that fashion is more than beautiful - it tells a powerful story about identity, culture, and influence.

Madelief Hohé: As curator of the collection of Fashion and Costumes at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, Madelief Hohé is responsible for one of the largest and most prominent collections of Western fashions in Europe. She studied art history at Leiden, at that time the only Dutch university that offered a specialism in the applied arts. One of her instructors there was Professor Irene Groeneweg, still an eminent specialist in the field of costume history. Paul Rem is a Dutch art historian, senior curator of Paleis Het Loo museum and ‘host’ of television programmes. Rem studied Art History and Classical Archaeology at the Free University in Amsterdam and graduated on the renovation of Soestdijk Palace in the years 1815-1821.