LONDON (AP) — The late Queen Elizabeth II believed the monarch had to be seen to be believed. And she made sure that was true even when Britain’s famously changeable weather intervened, pioneering the use of a clear plastic raincoat so that a stodgy black umbrella didn’t obscure her from public view.

That raincoat is one of some 300 garments and other fashion artifacts that go on display Friday at the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace in an exhibit that celebrates the late queen’s life and reign as Britain prepares to mark the centenary of her birth. The most comprehensive exhibition of her style choices ever mounted, the show charts Elizabeth’s story, and her impact on British fashion.

“I think she had a definite sense of what suited her,” exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut said. “She absolutely knew how she wanted to appear.”

An Olympian

moment

Some of the items are easily recognizable since Elizabeth was one of the most photographed people ever. But the ball gowns, tweed suits and trademark headscarves are sometimes strange to see on museum mannequins instead of the queen herself.

And then there are the items that are truly one-offs.

Like the dress, complete with bloomers, that Elizabeth’s stunt double wore during the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics, when the then-86-year-old queen appeared to parachute into the stadium alongside Daniel Craig in his James Bond persona. To complete the illusion, the queen soon emerged in the stands identically attired.

Both dresses, designed by Elizabeth’s longtime dressmaker Angela Kelly, are displayed side by side, though the stunt double’s version has large zipper in back to accommodate the parachute.

Fashion

connection to the public

The exhibition, drawn from some 4,000 items once owned by the queen, explores how fashion became one of her most powerful tools of communication as she evolved from a young princess into Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.

That could often be seen in her choice of color and decorative detail, as in the green and white Norman Hartnell gown she chose to wear for the state banquet during her 1961 visit to Pakistan, honoring her hosts by donning their national colors.

“The queen had an intimate understanding of how fashion could lend itself to diplomacy, a trait which, while its origins certainly lay in earlier reigns, the queen developed into nothing short of an art form,” de Guitaut said. “Color or embellishment communicated messages of respect to her host nation before she had even uttered a word in her speech.”

Particularly as she got older, Elizabeth opted to wear bright or distinctive shades during large public events so she could be easily spotted, and visitors could say they had seen the queen.

The exhibit also explores the queen’s off-duty wardrobe. The tweed suits she wore at Balmoral Castle, the royal family’s summer retreat in Scotland, are on display alongside clothes for riding, hiking and other outdoor pursuits. There’s a thick woolen coat Kelly designed during Elizabeth’s later years alongside items by Burberry and British designer Hardy Amies.