Time to learn all about the gown. Here comes the bride...
Ms. Meghan Markle arrived at the South Door of the Chapel, giving the world the first glimpse of her wedding dress. Although the bridal gown blog posts began long before the first actual appearance, actually seeing the dress had set off a new frenzy for posting news about her appearance. If you are ready for one more blog post about Meghan Markle's wedding gown, you are welcome to continue learning about the dress below.
Who designed the royal wedding gown?
Technically a collaboration. Officially, the designer was Clare Waight Keller. However, the beautiful Meghan Markle contributed with ideas as well.
Ms. Meghan Markle’s wedding dress has been designed by the acclaimed British designer, Clare Waight Keller. Ms. Waight Keller last year became the first female Artistic Director at the historic French fashion house Givenchy. Between you and I, I am wondering if Ms. Keller should have been required to leave the "French" fashion house and work for a "British" fashion house before being hired to design a British Royal family wedding gown. Ms. Markle and Ms. Waight Keller worked closely together on the design. The dress epitomises a timeless minimal elegance referencing the codes of the iconic House of Givenchy and showcasing the expert craftsmanship of its world-renowned Parisian couture atelier founded in 1952.
Meghan Markle Wedding Gown Design Details
True to the heritage of the house, the pure lines of the dress are achieved using six meticulously placed seams. The focus of the dress is the graphic open bateau neckline that gracefully frames the shoulders and emphasizes the slender sculpted waist. The lines of the dress extend towards the back where the train flows in soft round folds cushioned by an underskirt in triple silk organza. The slim three-quarter sleeves add a note of refined modernity.
An exclusive wedding as well as an exclusive new fabric. Yet another reason that royal weddings are so special. Following extensive research by Ms. Waight Keller in fabric mills throughout Europe, an exclusive double bonded silk cady was developed. Perfect for the round sculptural look required, the silk cady has a soft matt lustre whilst the bonding process and pure white color chosen by Ms. Markle and Ms. Waight Keller bring a fresh modernity to the dress.
Lovely Veil. Don't you agree?
The veil is five meters long and made from silk tulle with a trim of hand-embroidered flowers in silk threads and organza.
The Royal wedding veil is very important as well. Ms. Waight Keller designed a veil representing the distinctive flora of each Commonwealth country united in one spectacular floral composition. She did this because Ms. Markle expressed the wish of having all 53 countries of the Commonwealth with her on her journey through the ceremony. Significant time was spent researching the flora of each Commonwealth country and much care was taken by Ms. Waight Keller to ensure that every flower is unique.
Each flower was worked flat, in three dimensions to create a unique and delicate design. The workers spent hundreds of hours meticulously sewing and washing their hands every thirty minutes to keep the tulle and threads pristine.
Did you know that a touch of the United States of America had been added to the dress? Well it is true and justifiably done so that it shows great respect for the Royal Family as well as the bride. In addition to the flora of the Commonwealth, Ms. Markle also selected two personal favorites: Wintersweet (Chimonanthus praecox), which grows in the grounds of Kensington Palace in front of Nottingham Cottage, and the California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica) the State flower from Ms. Markle’s place of birth, California.
Symmetrically placed at the very front of the veil, crops of wheat are delicately embroidered and blend into the flora, to symbolize love and charity.
Let's not forget the bridal shoes? Important for walking but also for appearance. The wedding shoes are based on a Givenchy refined pointed couture design made of a silk duchess satin. Although Meghan is not officially a princess, she certainly looked like one on her wedding day. Possibly she had two primary choices of material for her shoes. It was a difficult decision between the silk duchess satin and going with glass. Glass slippers are known to be fabulous for future princesses, but she would not be a princess. The silk duchess satin was more appropriate, because she was becoming The Duchess of Sussex.
OK, time to talk about the exquisite jewelry.
The lovely bride was wearing earrings and bracelet made by Cartier.
The veil is held in place by Queen Mary's diamond bandeau tiara, lent to Ms. Markle by The Queen. The diamond bandeau is English and was made in 1932, with the centre brooch dating from 1893. The bandeau, which is made of diamonds and platinum, is formed as a flexible band of eleven sections, pierced with interlaced ovals and pavé set with large and small brilliant diamonds. The center is set with a detachable brooch of ten brilliant diamonds.
The diamond bandeau was made for Queen Mary and specifically designed to accommodate the centre brooch. This brooch was given as a present to the then Princess Mary in 1893 by the County of Lincoln on her marriage to Prince George, Duke of York. The bandeau and the brooch were bequeathed by Queen Mary to The Queen in 1953.
Hair and makeup is not clothing, but is part of the wedding day experience. Plays a role in the overall appearance so we will consider hair and makeup part of the fashion look on any wedding day.
Although beautiful when rolling out of bed and without makeup, going with none was not the choice of the day. Ms. Markle's hair was styled by Serge Normant, with make-up by long-time friend and make-up artist Daniel Martin.
How many blog posts have been created about the Meghan Markle wedding dress? Well, if you print them out on paper, crumble them into a ball, it may weigh several thousand pounds. When I say "pounds", I am talking about The pound-mass (abbreviations: lb, lbm, lbm, ℔) which is a unit of mass used in the imperial, United States customary and other systems of measurement. Not referencing the pound sterling (symbol: £; ISO code: GBP), commonly known as the pound and less commonly referred to as Sterling, is the official currency of the United Kingdom.
Learn more about The Royal Family.
By the way, just in case you wanted to know about the clothing Meghan wore to the Royal Wedding evening reception at the Frogmore House here is a brief description of the dress and shoes. This was a private evening reception with close family and friends. Unfortunately, I was traveling and unable to attend, but this is truly what she wore. The Bride's evening dress was designed by Stella McCartney and is a bespoke lily white high neck gown made of silk crepe. The Bride was wearing shoes from Aquazurra made in silky satin, with nude mesh, with soles painted in baby blue. Ms. Markle's hair had been styled for the Evening Reception by George Northwood.
If you are interested, you are welcome to learn more about bridal gowns in our women's clothing guide section.
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