Visitors look the part in special dresses made for VE Day celebrations

Independent

05-05-2025

Royal enthusiasts rocked the red, white and blue look as they gathered for VE Day celebrations in central London – with one woman's outfit attracting special attention.
Grace Gothard, from Ghana, wore a handmade creation as she joined crowds along The Mall near Buckingham Palace on Monday, ahead of a military parade to be watched by the royal family.
Her Union flag dress and hairbow took two weeks to make.
She said: 'I made this dress personally. So anytime there's any royal occasion I make my own dresses.
'Everybody keeps coming up to us, looking at the dress. Everybody wants to take a picture.
'I'm also from a Commonwealth country, from Ghana. So now we are here to celebrate VE Day whereby the Commonwealth came to help Britain against the war.'
Ms Gothard is no stranger to a royal event and always makes sure her outfit lives up to the occasion.
She said a dress she made for the King's coronation is now on display at the London Museum, alongside handmade accessories such as the shoes.
On having her homemade dress exhibited, she said: 'Oh I'm so glad, it's an honour. I am really glad. When the lady approached me, I think they were looking for something not just like a plate or a tissue or anything but something symbolic to say this is King Charles' coronation.
'So I had to give them everything I had that day. The shoes I even made myself, everything.
'It means so much.'
Ms Gothard began making dresses when the Prince and Princess of Wales got married in 2011.
'I made a silk Union flag dress for the royal wedding,' she said.
'It was the same Union flag but a different pattern of material. It went all over the world, everywhere.'
After making dresses for royal events for 14 years, her wardrobe is now bursting with her creations.
'I don't know how many dresses I have. I don't even sometimes go into my wardrobe because it's full of them,' she added.
Ms Gothard was celebrating the VE Day anniversary on The Mall with her friend Satvinder Cubb.
Wearing a dress which read Lest We Forget, Ms Cubb said: 'I also made my dress. I had a Union flag one before but this year I wanted something simple to represent all the soldiers that actually fought.
'It took just a few hours to make because it's actually two flags joined together. And I don't have a sewing machine so it was all by hand.'
She added: 'I know people who have actually fought in the war. I have a very close friend, he's 94 and was 14 at the time. It's just about thanking them all. We're here for a reason and have freedom now.
'It's important for us to be a part of it.'