Wedding dress of Meghan Markle

Wedding dress of Meghan Markle
Designer Clare Waight Keller
Year 2018 (2018)
Material Silk

The wedding dress worn by Meghan Markle at her wedding to Prince Harry on 19 May 2018[1] was designed by the British fashion designer Clare Waight Keller, artistic director of the fashion house Givenchy. The bride's veil was embroidered with flowers representing the countries of the Commonwealth and places connected to Meghan Markle.

Pre-wedding speculation

The engagement of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry was announced on 27 November 2017, but the speculation about the wedding dress had started even earlier.[2] Some commentators suggested that Markle would not wear a white wedding dress as she had been married previously.[3] In December 2017, Israeli designer Inbal Dror was asked to submit designs for a wedding dress.[4][5] It was rumoured that Erdem and Ralph & Russo were also contenders.[1] By January 2018, British designer Stewart Parvin was the bookmakers' favourite.[6] Betting was suspended after Alexander McQueen attracted a large amount of wagers.[7] Markle had commented on wedding dress styles in 2016, as her character was getting married in Suits, saying that she preferred simple styles.[8] It was also reported that Markle herself would pay for the bridal gown.[9][10]

Designer

Markle chose designer Waight Keller because she "wanted to highlight the success of a leading British talent who has now served as the creative head of three globally influential fashion houses — Pringle of Scotland, Chloé, and now Givenchy."[11]

She chose Keller to create her wedding dress due to the designer's "elegant aesthetic" and "relaxed demeanour."[12] Waight Keller has been Givenchy's creative director since 2017.[13] The dress was made in Paris by "a small team of ateliers".[14] There was only five months to have the dress and the veil manufactured, and Waight Keller and Markle met for eight fittings.[15]

Markle and Waight Keller worked closely together to design the dress, which shows a "timeless minimal elegance", according to a Kensington Palace announcement.[16] The two contacted each other through discreet texts and phone calls, before and after nondisclosure agreements were signed, with Waight Keller unable to tell anyone that she had been selected to design the dress.[17]

Waight Keller stated that the dress sought to "convey modernity through sleek lines and sharp cuts", while paying homage to the history of the Givenchy house.[18]

Dress details

The design of the simple white dress and the name of its maker were revealed only when the bride got out of the car and entered St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle for the wedding service. The dress was made of silk with three-quarter-length sleeves, an open boat neckline and a train with built-in triple silk organza underskirt.[16] Waight Keller helped develop a double bonded silk cady for the construction of the dress, which featured only six seams.[19] The dress was without lace or any other embellishments.[20] A piece of the blue dress from Markle’s first date with Prince Harry was stitched into the bridal gown.[21]

Veil

The dress is augmented by a long 5 metre (16-ft) veil, hand-embroidered with a variety of flowers on its hem, and symbolic crops of wheat.[1][22] It was 3 metres wide.[23] The veil took longer to create than the dress itself.[24] Markle chose two favourite flowers – wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), which grows outside Nottingham Cottage, and the California poppy (Eschscholzia californica), from where she was born – along with individual flowers representing the 53 countries of the Commonwealth,[1][22] reflecting the couple's interest in the work of the Commonwealth. The countries and flowers are:[22]

Acacia pycnantha (Australia)
Nymphaea nouchali (Bangladesh)
Guaiacum officinale (Jamaica)
Markhamia zanzibarica (Mozambique)
Vanda 'Miss Joaquim' (Singapore)
Warszewiczia coccinea (Trinidad & Tobago)

Reception

Elizabeth Emanuel, co-designer of Diana, Princess of Wales's wedding gown, thought that the gown made a "really solid fashion statement" and thought that Waight Keller "should be pleased because Meghan looked absolutely stunning and beautiful."[25] Waight Keller stated that Prince Harry told her "Oh my God. Thank you. She is absolutely magnificent."[26]

Australian media have noted similarities between the dress and that worn by Mary Donaldson at her wedding to Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark.[27] It has also been compared to a Givenchy dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the film Funny Face.[28] Emilia Wickstead claimed that the dress was "identical" to one of her designs.[29]

Markle's wedding dress received mixed reviews from the public, some saying it was "beautiful" and "stunning" while others described it as "boring" and "ill fitting."[30]

Robin Givhan of The Washington Post noted in her review of the gown that "It was not a Hollywood red-carpet statement...it was not a Disney-princess fantasy...the dress was a backdrop; it was in service to the woman."[20]

Less than a week after the wedding, dresses similar to Markle's gown were being sold.[31]

The dress along with the veil and tiara will be exhibited by the Royal Collection Trust at Windsor Castle from 26 October 2018 until 6 January 2019, and then at Holyrood Palace from 14 June 2019 to 6 October 2019.[32][33]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Royal wedding 2018: Meghan Markle's Givenchy dress in detail". BBC. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  2. ↑ Binding, Lucia (1 November 2017). "Meghan Markle's wedding dress predictions revealed". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  3. ↑ Gibson, Robyn. "From Victoria to Diana to Meghan, royal weddings have shaped bridal fashions". The Conversation.
  4. ↑ Barr, Sabrina (21 December 2017). "Meghan Markle's wedding dress designs were revealed". The Independent. Archived from the original on 10 January 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  5. ↑ O'Malley, Katie (20 December 2017). "Everything You Need To Know About Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress". Elle UK. Archived from the original on 11 January 2018. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  6. ↑ "An unlikely contender was the favourite to design Meghan Markle's wedding dress". harpersbazaar.com. 26 January 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  7. ↑ Hirsch, Afua; Croft, Claudia (18 May 2018). "The Meaning Of Meghan". Vogue UK. Retrieved 9 July 2018.
  8. ↑ "This is What Meghan Markle's First Wedding Dress Looked Like". Harper's BAZAAR. 12 January 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  9. ↑ Michaels, Matthew (18 May 2018). "Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding will cost about $46 million, and that money comes from 3 places". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  10. ↑ Griffiths, Emmy (18 May 2018). "Who is paying for the royal wedding? How much is costing?". Hello!. Retrieved 18 May 2018.
  11. ↑ Friedman, Vanessa (19 May 2018). "Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress Was Made for a Person, Not a Princess". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  12. ↑ "Givenchy has designed Meghan Markle's wedding dress". The Independent. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 19 May 2018.
  13. ↑ "Meghan Markle Wears Givenchy Dress for the Royal Wedding: Why She Chose the French Label". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
  14. ↑ "Meghan Markle's royal wedding dress designer Clare Waight Keller 'privileged' to have been asked". ITV News. Retrieved 21 May 2018.
  15. ↑ Ledbetter, Carly (2018-05-30). "Meghan Markle's Wedding Veil Makers Washed Their Hands Every 30 Minutes". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  16. 1 2 Ledbetter, Carly (2018-05-19). "Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress Details Are Absolutely Stunning". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
  17. ↑ News, A. B. C. (2018-05-24). "The 'secret' making of Meghan Markle's royal wedding gown". ABC News. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  18. ↑ "Meghan Markle Weds in Givenchy by Clare Waight Keller". The Business of Fashion. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  19. ↑ "Everything You Need to Know About Meghan Markle's Givenchy Gown". ELLE. 2018-05-19. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
  20. 1 2 Givhan, Robin. "Meghan Markle's Givenchy wedding gown was beautiful. But the woman wearing it was unforgettable". The Washington Post. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  21. ↑ http://time.com/5404448/meghan-markle-something-blue/
  22. 1 2 3 "The Wedding Dress, Bridesmaids' Dresses and Page Boys' Uniforms". The Royal Family. 19 May 2018.
  23. ↑ "Royal wedding 2018: Meghan's dress designer, Clare Waight Keller from Givenchy". BBC. 20 May 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  24. ↑ "The Story of Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress". Harper's BAZAAR. 22 May 2018. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  25. ↑ "Princess Diana's Wedding Dress Designer Praises Meghan Markle's Elegant and Classic Gown". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
  26. ↑ "Prince Harry thought Meghan Markle looked 'magnificent' in her wedding dress — and it proves no one else's opinions matter". INSIDER. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  27. ↑ "Royal wedding: Meghan Markle accused of copying dress design". news.com.au. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  28. ↑ "Meghan Markle's Givenchy Wedding Dress Is Very Audrey Hepburn". ELLE. 19 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  29. ↑ "Kate Middleton's favourite fashion designer rips into Meghan Markle's wedding dress". 26 May 2018. Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  30. ↑ Goldberg, Carrie (19 May 2018). "Twitter Is Calling Meghan Markle's Wedding Gown "Ill-Fitting" and "Boring"". Harper's Bazaar. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  31. ↑ "Exclusive: Here come the Meghan Markle royal wedding gown knockoffs". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2018-06-03.
  32. ↑ "Duchess of Sussex's wedding dress to go on display". BBC. 29 August 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  33. ↑ Ledbetter, Carly (29 August 2018). "Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress Is Going On Display This Year". HuffPost. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
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