LOLLLLL I am asking a wardrobe question about Prince Harry

April 30, 2023 8:41 AM

Okay so in the top photo of Prince Harry here (sorry, that's a link to NYPost/Page Six), it looks as if there's a bee embroidered on the abdominal area of his dress shirt. Am I correct about that? Is that a thing? Is it something so extremely posh that I, a USian plebe, haven't ever heard of it? Someone please explain this to me.
posted by BlahLaLa to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (10 answers total)

Best answer: Just means that he's wearing Dior - it's one of the spots that monograms/logos are embroidered on fancy menswear.
posted by sagc at 8:43 AM on April 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Hahahaha OMG I didn't even know that was a thing! Back to Boutique Targét for me!
posted by BlahLaLa at 8:47 AM on April 30, 2023 [23 favorites]

For some reason high fashion brands embraced Napoleons heraldic sign of a golden bee. Not only Dior, but also Gucci.
Probably because it's free from copyright etc.
posted by jouke at 10:51 AM on April 30, 2023 [3 favorites]

I like to think he's secretly a superfan of The Starless Sea.
posted by tuesdayschild at 12:34 PM on April 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

Well, bees are cool. Kathleen Ann Goonan has logos of them in her Queen City Jazz also but what's remarkable here (to this USian plebe) is the abdominal placement. On shirt-sleeves and breast pockets, sure, but down there?.
posted by Rash at 12:35 PM on April 30, 2023 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Yes, Rash, I agree - the placement is the strangest part of this!
posted by BlahLaLa at 3:23 PM on April 30, 2023

Playing with Bees
posted by latkes at 4:44 PM on April 30, 2023

No, the lower abdomen is a common place for monogramming. Especially among posh people - the idea is that the normal places (cuff, chest pocket, etc.) are too showy. Generally for monograms it’s lower, so that the monogram is tucked into the pants. The fact that Harry is showing off a logo is actually pretty anti-posh, though. He knows what brand the shirt is without showing everyone the logo.
posted by kevinbelt at 5:42 PM on April 30, 2023 [4 favorites]

I think the bee on Dior menswear is something Hedi Slimane introduced during his time at Dior Homme. If I remember correctly from my readings about Dior, the bee is also one of the house symbols because Christian Dior said that during the creation of collections the maison was a "hive of activity."
posted by VirginiaPlain at 5:53 PM on April 30, 2023

IIRC rib cage monograms (among other things) were explained in Lisa Birnbach’s The Preppy Handbook, which is how some of us survived high school in the 80s.
posted by toodleydoodley at 7:54 PM on April 30, 2023 [3 favorites]