Looks like Yvonne Yorke was wrong – Sophie Cranston did not design Kate Middleton’s wedding dress. The speculation finally came to an end when Kate Middleton stepped out of the vintage Rolls Royce with Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, wearing an ivory royal wedding dress fit for a queen.
As predicted by fashion insiders, the Sarah Burton wedding dress worn by Ms Middleton is a flawless combination of tradition and modernity, royal history and romantic heritage. The wedding dress is made of ivory and white satin gazar, and has an ivory satin bodice narrowed at the waist, a hallmark of Alexander McQueen’s designs. The long sleeves have a lace overlay, which reminds me a lot of Grace Kelly’s lace wedding dress. However, the lace in Kate Middleton’s wedding dress was hand-appliqued using an Irish lace-making technique called Carrickmacross.
Individual rose, thistle, shamrock, and daffodil flowers were painstakingly cut from lace, then hand-engineered onto silk tulle to create a unique design. The bodice and skirt of the lace gown has hand-cut French Chantilly and English lace. Ms Burton and her team made sure that each flower from the lace came in the same color for a uniform look.
The veil is every bit as lovely as the wedding dress. Made of soft, ivory silk tulle and trimmed with hand-embroidered flowers by the Royal School of Needlework, the veil is kept in its place by a Cartier tiara lent by The Queen. The Cartier tiara is a vintage beauty made in 1936 and purchased by the Duke of Yorke (later King George VI) for the Duchess (later Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) shortly after he became King. The Queen Mother later presented the tiara to her daughter Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen) during her 18th birthday.
.
Sarah Burton’s design kept with tradition with a 2.7m Cathedral train that was long and elegant enough to sweep across Westminster Abbey’s aisle. In this photo, Kate’s sister Pippa helps her navigate the dramatic train.
According to the description on the official Royal Wedding website, Kate Middleton chose a McQueen wedding dress because of the beauty of its craftsmanship, technical construction of clothing, and respect for traditional workmanship. She worked closely with Sarah Burton on the design, and ended up with a dress that successfully combined tradition, modernity, and the artistic vision of Alexander McQueen. Oh, if only he were still alive to see this.
Much like the horribly poufy wedding dress Princess Diana wore when she married Prince Charles in 1981, Kate Middleton’s Alexander McQueen wedding dress will surely set a new trend in the bridal industry. Somewhere in China, sweatshops are hard at work creating knockoffs and several other lace wedding dresses.
