Illustrated Royal Weddings - Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Preview

Dressed to
IMPRESS
The bride’s dress is the most anticipated aspect of any wedding, but for a royal bride the heat is on. Forget
plunging necklines, the soon-to-be-famous frock has strict protocol to follow, says Lucinda Gosling
What do the names Reville & Rossiter,
Handley Seymour, Molyneux and Maureen
Baker all have in common? It’s a quiz
question that might stump the most ardent
of royal enthusiasts, but add a couple more
names—the Emmanuels or Alexander McQueen — and the
penny might drop. They have all had the honour of designing
a royal wedding dress and, in some cases, such as Reville and
Hartnell, they have answered the royal call more than once.
Now, another designer has been added to this prestigious list
and despite her sleek and confident personal style, Meghan
Markle surely must secretly hope that her dress passes muster
with fashion journalists and the public alike.
She must, however, stick to certain rules. The designer and
often the materials should ideally be from the UK; the style is
expected to be relatively modest, avoiding too much bare skin or
a plunging neckline; and the gown’s
magnificence must be tempered by the
practicalities of getting in and out of
cars with apparent ease. As a symbolic
lynchpin of the big day, it needs to be
regal, timeless, sophisticated and to
have that indefinable, breathtaking
sparkle that must radiate from any
bona fide fairytale princess.
One would-be princess who abided
by these rules of bridal attire with the utmost grace and poise
was Catherine Middleton, who married Prince William in 2011.
The excitement and speculation surrounding the royal wedding
dress was incredible and true to her seemingly perfect form, the
dress she wore did not disappoint. The first glimpse of the greatly
anticipated gown was as the bride arrived outside Westminster
Abbey, moments before she disappeared inside for the service.
The great privilege — and task — of designing the dress fell
into the accomplished hands of Sarah Burton, Creative Director
of British fashion house Alexander McQueen. Burton listened
carefully to the future Queen’s preferences while contributing her
own extensive fashion knowledge. Over a number of months in
absolute secrecy the dress came together, with materials including
handmade English-cut and Chantilly lace made by the Royal
School of Needlework. In addition, 58 organza-covered buttons
and Rouleau loops adorned the back of the dress while subtle
padding on the hips were a classic symbol of McQueen design,
and also a nod to traditional Victorian corsetry. A 2.7m train and a
silk tulle veil secured by the Queen’s own Cartier tiara completed
Right: designed by Sarah
Burton, Catherine's dress
combined royal tradition
and modernity
The bride-to-be must stick
to the rules: the designer and
materials should ideally be
from the UK; the style is to be
modest; and it must be practical
the bridal outfit. The final result was a look that effortlessly fused
both royal tradition and modernity.
The speculation had also been intense, when, on 29 July
1981, the world held its breath as a then-20-year-old bride
emerged from the glass coach in front of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Lady Diana Spencer had chosen young graduate designers
David and Elizabeth Emmanuel to create the dress she would
wear to marry the Prince of Wales. Mr and Mrs Emmanuel —
described by India Hicks, one of Diana’s bridesmaids, as looking
“more like rock stars than royal wedding dress designers”
— were about to become household names. As soon as the
announcement was made that they would design the dress, the
Emmanuels found themselves at the centre of a media frenzy.
Security guards accompanied the bride to fittings and the press
set up camp outside the Emmanuels’ studio, even renting offce
space opposite. With journalists rummaging through their
dustbins for evidence of the design, the
canny designers planted threads and
pieces of fabric as decoys, and went so
far as to make an understudy gown, just
in case the design of the original was
leaked.
Were the precautions worth it?
Some say Diana’s taffeta dress edged
with antique lace, with its voluminous
sleeves, bows and flounces is the worst
embodiment of 1980s excess, and seemingly everybody likes to
point out that the skirt and 7.6m train was visibly crumpled (due
in part, apparently, to Diana sharing the rather cramped glass
coach with her father). But it’s important to remember that the
dress was very much of its era and, notes Elizabeth Emmanuel,
reflected the “wild romance” of fashion at that time. Love it
or hate it, Diana’s dress had the wow factor and spawned a
generation of meringue-clad brides. It also made the Emmanuels
very famous: three decades on, they are still interviewed and
quoted on their experiences while making “that” dress. A book,
Dress for Diana, was even published by Pavilion Books in 2006.
The romantic Victorian-inspired style was still going strong
in 1986, when Lady Sarah Ferguson married Prince Andrew,
Duke of York. Her dress, designed by Lindka Cierach, was of
ivory duchesse satin, which, commented Fergie, “never creases
and is as smooth as glass”. Perhaps she’d learned from her
sister-in-law’s mistake. The gown’s silhouette was more stately,
sophisticated and less puffball than Diana’s, but the details —
from the leg-of-mutton sleeves to the bustle-like bow at the
back — unmistakably harked back to the previous century. Even
the bridesmaids’ peach dresses recalled the off-the-shoulder,
miniature crinoline styles worn by Queen Victoria’s youngest
daughter, Beatrice. Perhaps it was not surprising that the
Duchess of York named her first daughter after the princess. »
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36 THE ILLUSTRATED ROYAL WEDDINGS
THE ILLUSTRATED ROYAL WEDDINGS 29