Tag Archives: Kate Middleton

Kate Middleton’s Wedding Dress – The Duchess and McQueen

by

0

The future queen in McQueen

So the Wedding Dress is known to us all now.  Kate Middleton chose British and Alexander McQueen at that.

My post speculating as to who the royal dress designer proved prescient – I had thought Alexander McQueen – however since my post also speculated on five other designers such a boast is rather like a dart-player who if they sling enough darts at the board is bound to hit the bulls-eye eventually!

Though I did think it likely that a British designer would be chosen I thought that Alexander McQueen even as bequeathed to Sarah Burton would not be conservative enough for a Royal and State occasion.

But fitting it proved to be. The Duchess of Cambridge’s dress was beautiful, feminine and elegant. It was also conservative – but if you want conservative threads why choose McQueen?

Evening McQueen

More McQueen

Her McQueen Evening Dress and the McQueen Maid of Honour dress for sister Pippa were also elegant, feminine and understated.  Understated where an over-statement was needed?

Perhaps not – this was after all a wedding – a celebration of human romance and relationships not a catwalk show.

Though clearly Westminster Abbey was as much a fashion stage for the day as it was a place of worship or house of love. With two billion eyes (or thereabouts!) upon it, the gowns, hats, shoes, clutches and the like sported by the family and their guests will be examined very closely by fashionistas everywhere for a long time to come.

And for the The Countess of Strathearn her every future-filmed outfit awaits such attention.

A British Royal Wedding – a British Royal Marriage

by

1

A Royal Catherine

April 29th is the day that even the most ardent Republican living under a rock on the moon must know that Prince William and Kate Middleton tie the royal knot on. And in Britain we get a Bank Holiday so that we can watch it – or watch Duel in the Sun on BBC 2! – or get out the house and escape the street parties! – or even have an extra lie-in bed – surely not!

A lot of time money and energy will be spent on this wedding like any non-Royal wedding indeed. It is the big day afterall and an event to be marked and celebrated.

But a wedding is only day one of the marriage and that perhaps is where the time money and energy ought to be most spent on.

Divorce numbers have been dropping in the UK – now down to 12% in the last recorded figures in 2007 – at one point they had been rising to one in four suggesting not so much that divorce was too easy but marriage itself was.  Recent figures suggests that it is now being taken more seriously again.

A Royal Aunt still betrothed to her first husband

I know very little about the Middleton family though did recently watch Channel 4′s fascinating profile ‘Meet The Middeltons‘ which traced her family ancestry on both her paternal and maternal side and was an illuminating tale of British social history and mobility as it was an expose of her family – in the same way as the BBC’s Family Tree series Who Do You Think You Are is.

Her husband-to-be I do know a little more about!

Prince William’s father’s marriage broke down as did his Uncle Andrew’s and Aunt Anne’s.

His Uncle Edward’s marriage to Sophie Rhys-Jones is now into its second decade and that is a far more significant feat then how pageant their respective weddings were.

His grandmother too has been married over 60 years and next year 20 November 2012 will be celebrating her Blue Sapphire Wedding Anniversary – 65 years of marriage, now that is a cause of celebration.

Let us hope William and Kate’s marriage similarly endures as that will be far more worthy of celebration than the pomp and circumstance of Friday’s Royal Wedding.

The Royal Wedding Dress – designer speculation

by

2

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29 is inevitably going to influence the choice of wedding dresses for the rest of this year and indeed years to come, in the same way that the wedding dress of Lady Diana in her marriage to Prince Charles on July 29, 1981, influenced wedding dress design for much of the rest of the 1980′s. Even if the designers wanted to move on, their customers did not.

Princess Diana’s wedding dress was watched by a global television audience of hundreds of millions; its influence extended well beyond the shores of the British Isles.

The wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton is likely to match if not exceed this audience figure. This time, in addition to being watched on television, it will be seen on the Web too, where in addition to being streamed live it will be replayed countless times. YouTube’s biggest hit for 2011? Her wedding dress is going to be the most eyed wedding dress in the world, the most discussed and the most copied.

Diana’s dress cost £9000 and its train was 8 metres long. The 8 metre train of that dress may not be exceeded but the cost of £9000 most certainly will be.

The dress was designed by Welsh fashion designers Elizabeth and David Emmanuel; the designer of Kate Middleton’s Wedding dress still remains a secret and the subject of intense media speculation. Which designer will she choose?  

Princess Diana’s wedding dress was made of silk taffeta and heavily embroidered including 10000 pearls. What might Kate Middleton’s wedding dress look like?

She has been vocal in supporting UK fashion designers and is often photographed wearing their clothing. Could she then commission a dress from a British fashion designer?

Matthew Williamson Bridal Ware

Manchester-born Matthew Williamson, in addition to ready-to-wear, produces bridal collections. The designer describes his bridal range as ‘pieces characterised by feminine, diaphanous silhouettes, great attention to detail through the use of delicate pattern, hand beading and embroidery.

Alexander McQueen

Another British fashion house is Alexander McQueen, currently headed by Sarah Burton.

They have no bridal collections, but their recent Women’s Pre-Autumn/Winter 2011 collection included its usual share of long, exotic, wedding-style gowns.

Or perhaps an extension of this embroidered Fin Mini-Dress?

Jenny Packham Bridal Collection Spring Summer 2011

Jenny Packham is a designer known as much for her bridal as ready-to-wear collections.

She was Bridal Designer of 2008, so could her bridal-ware have resulted in the royal commission for Kate Middleton’s dress?

With dresses called Saskia, May Blossom and Ariadne, in Jenny Packham’s Spring Summer 2010 bridal collection of 39 gowns, Kate Middelton would have plenty of dresses to draw inspiration from.

Marchesa Bridal Spring 2011

Marchesa is New York based but was established by Brits Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig in 2004; is this then the fashion-house Kate Middleton may look to?

Their recent collection featured ruffles, feathers and multi-textured fabrics. Fitting materials for a royal wedding-dress?

Or despite the speculation that Kate Middleton may choose a British designer might she go abroad?

Oscar de la Renta Silk Taffeta and Organza

To Spain for Oscar de la Renta who has his own bridal lines too.  

With a Spring and Fall collection each year Kate Middleton would have much to choose from. His Fall 2011 collection features silk, lace and chiffon. Would any of these fabrics persuade Kate Middelton?

Vera Wang Bridal

Or to the USA for Vera Wang? Her Spring 2011 collection features just 11 gowns, but offers a wider choice of colours than Oscar de la Renta’s white palette.  The fabrics on offer in her latest collection included various silks of Organza, Gazaar and Crepe.

Fashion magazine Vogue, for its May 2011 British issue, is featuring for the first time three different covers in celebration of the British Royal Wedding.  

Each cover has a different model wearing a different wedding gown. One features a silk and lace gown designed by Vivienne Westwood. Another features a silk gown with rose detailing designed by Oscar de la Renta.  The third features a Zibeline dress designed by Bruce Oldfield.  So Oscar de la Renta gets the Vogue approval but two other designers too. 

On Friday April 29 the wedding dress of Kate Middleton and its designer will be revealed; until then speculation will continue.

Princess Catherine Doll – and other Royal souvenirs

by

0

I received an Email today from Gadget site Firebox where all the merchandise listed was to cash in – sorry, honour! – the coming Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

From Top Trumps to Tea Towels.

I think they have likely hit a winner with this Princess Catherine Doll though – at £35 a pop Firebox and its manufacturers really could be minting it.

If I were ever to be famous I think being turned into a mass-production doll would be one of celebrity’s more delightful outcomes!

I was amused by the disclaimer too ‘Poseable doll bearing a purely coincidental resemblance to Kate Middleton’.

I just wonder how many more royal wedding souvenirs with an unintended passing likeness to the future monarch there will be!