The beauty of a bespoke wardrobe designer is that you get to choose a range of finishes and styles which span the modern history of the wardrobe as we know it.
One of the most interesting transition points when it comes to the wardrobe, as is the case for many different aspects of furniture design, interior design more broadly and even architecture, is the influence of the Queen Anne style.
We commemorate Queen Anne style directly through quality craftsmanship and some particularly ornate pommelled details on some of the knobs and handles available as options in our design tool, but to understand what makes the style worth commemorating, it is best to start by dispelling some myths.
Whilst the term “Queen Anne style” is frequently used today to describe what would become a particularly influential time for architecture and interior design, Queen Anne herself did not necessarily rule long enough for the name to take off.
The sister of Queen Mary II, wife of William of Orange (III of England, II of Scotland), Queen Anne was a somewhat contentious monarch who was blighted by ill health throughout her 12 years on the throne and was seen as overly reliant on political advisors during the waning years of the royal prerogative.
Despite contemporary depictions of her, particularly by former confidant turned bitter enemy Sarah Chuchill, Duchess of Marlborough, Queen Anne laid the groundwork for an era after her passing where rapid advances in art, culture and architecture could be made.
The prosperity of England, brought about by the union between England and Scotland and the relatively favourable end to the War of the Spanish Succession, meant that more people outside of the aristocracy had access to the ability to build, own and furnish their own homes.
This led to a change in construction materials, designs and functional priorities that would shape furniture both around the time of Queen Anne’s reign and for centuries after her death.
What makes Queen Anne style so important to the development of the wardrobe is that it was the point at which luxury furniture would take its first tentative steps towards the fundamental principle of form following function.
Unlike contemporary styles such as William and Mary, Rococo and Rocaille, Queen Anne style was typically smaller, lighter and focused far more on clean lines and functional forms rather than the excessive ornamentation that would describe so many Baroque-inspired forms.
One part of this was the change in the primary material used to make furniture from oak to walnut, which has led to some historians describing Queen Anne style as “The Age of Walnut”.
Much of this was the result of an increasing influence of Chinese and Japanese design principles on furniture and architecture, with minimal ornamentation and a focus on elegant simplicity that would not necessarily be out of place three centuries later.
It was not entirely minimalist; whilst there were many pieces which featured lacquer that was sensitive to the woodgrain and enhanced its natural beauty, there were also more elaborate pieces with thick elaborate finishes inspired by japanning.
Another point at which you may see some degree of excess was the use of marine-inspired carvings or ornamentation, such as handle designs inspired by seashells.
This simplicity, however, is part of the reason why Queen Anne styles have endured to the point that they have seen multiple revivals in both interior design and architecture. Form is eternal, and what is remarkable is how similar Queen Anne style chairs and wardrobes can be to modern equivalents.
The wardrobe’s invention was somewhat complex, as the concept for a piece of furniture designed to store clothes took many forms before the wardrobe was settled upon.
However, it was around the time of the establishment of the Queen Anne style that wardrobes started to gradually take their final form as a primarily functional, beautiful place to store clothes.
Whilst this was sometimes characterised as an austere answer to the dramatic forms of Rococo and other Continental European styles inspired by Baroque, it was also a more usable, functional style of furniture for storing clothes.
In many countries, the most popular way to store clothes was through a tallboy, which was a chest of drawers so tall that the highest parts are impossible to access without a stool or set of steps.
Queen Anne style was the point where function became far more universally important than form, and this would ultimately allow for the rise of the wardrobe as we know it today.
