I’m currently watching a Diana show on Hulu, and I don’t care what anyone says. That wedding gown was spectacular in its opulence and over the topness. It truly was a princess gown, no matter the ending. Watching her emerge from that carriage and the train just keeps coming and coming was wondrous. I saw the dress in person when it was going around the country on exhibit. Amazing. Surprisingly, it didn’t have many embellishments at all.
@conmama -
I agree with you. Diana’s dress was a wedding dress. Meghan’s, not so much, IMHO.
I guess it’s really all in the eye (and preference) of the beholder. I thought Diana’s wedding dress was overblown and hideous. It looked like she’d been swallowed by a giant marshmellow.
@techmom99 , at the exhibit, they had this life size photo of her next to the wall by her dress. (The first pic on the left). They positioned it with lights and magic and it looked liked she was really there and you could see that train in all its glory attached to the picture. Hard to describe, but it was very cool.
So, if William becomes king, George becomes Duke of Cornwall? On a slight aside, I actually recall watching the televised ceremony of Charles being invested as the Prince of Wales and just to check myself, I googled and found that it was televised in the US on July 1, 1969, when I was a pre-teen. I was into royalty then and had a habit of telling people I met that my grandma was the Grand Duchess Anastasia - Grandma played along.
I find Diana’s dress overblown and dated. But chacun a son gout. Maybe in 30 years Meghan’s dress will look dated.
Most wedding dresses will look dated at some point. Even the classic ones, like Grace Kelly’s, have dated elements.Meghan’s has a bit of a 60s vibe in its structural simplicity and yes, that too will age when Diana’s overblown 80s look comes back into fashion. (Because it will.)
Princess Grace’s dress doesn’t look dated 60 years later, and I think Meghan’s and Kate’s will hold up too. I actually liked Sarah Fergusson’s too, although a little shiny.
Now Sarah’s hair was ridiculous, and I just saw a piece where she wanted to walk into church a girl and out of church as a princess (duchess, countess, whatever) so she wore a flower wreath into church and a tiara out of church. The hair person had to go into the rectory, make the switch while they signed the book, and get the veil switched over - all in about 5 minutes, and all while the royal family mulled around. No pressure.
oh those poofy 80s sleeves. I see photos of myself in Kathryn Conover dresses in my twenties that I loved and wonder what I was thinking. Diana’s dress was of the minute but now it really does look “funny” to our eyes. I was in Minneapolis and she was a local designer so went from Diane V. Wrap dress to poofy sleeves. I agree Meghan may not love her dress in 20 years but that is fashion. I got married in the late eighties and I don’t love my wedding dress and tossed it a decade ago and buried the pictures for the kids to laugh at some day.
I didn’t like it back when she wore it for her wedding even though it was totally in style for the time. I always loved Princess Diana and thought the dress totally overshadowed her. But, she seemed to develop a real sense of self and style as she matured and I loved many of her later outfits.
Yeah, there were a lot of the 1980 Princess Di outfits that were questionable. Until after Harry was born, a lot of them just didn’t look good, with the ruffles and bows.
Meghan has said that her style changed a lot from working on the show and being ‘dressed’ by professionals. So far, all hits IMO.
I just saw a piece on the many mistakes of Eugenie, and I disagreed with a lot of them. It said royals aren’t supposed to show cleavage, but Diana certainly showed a lot. Royals aren’t supposed to go with stockings or wear shorter skits, but really, things have changed since the 60’s. Princess Margaret certainly did what she wanted for the times. I think Eugenie does fine, but her sister, who is supposed to be a big fashion setter, misses the mark a lot.
@twoinanddone – I said elements of Princess Grace dress look dated – and yes, her puffed up behind does. I think.
And honestly if anyone wore that dress today, she would be condemned to the ends of the earth here on CC because the bottom looked wrinkled. (When it’s really probably just the lay of the silk.)
With Princess Grace’s and Kate Middleton’s dresses, they accentuate their tiny waists. If you don’t have a tiny waistline, you might opt to highlight another of your features. What does that leave? Bustline? Shoulders? So the dress would take on different lines.
“I guess it’s really all in the eye (and preference) of the beholder. I thought Diana’s wedding dress was overblown and hideous. It looked like she’d been swallowed by a giant marshmellow.”
Marshmallow? I thought it looked more like a deployed parachute.
LOL @Scipio
Perfectly stated @Southmom! Felt the same way - I remember, as a kid, not liking Diana’s dress and thinking it was wrinkled (!) though she certainly achieved the princess effect. She went on to be such an amazing style icon.
It was ironic that I loved Meghan’s dress as much as I did because I didn’t think it was possible to love a modern bride’s dress more than Kate Middleton’s. Somehow Meghan carved out her own very special look which was amazing.
To me the gold standard was and always will be Princess Grace! I would never in a million years pick that dress but it was dazzling on her. And it still looks stunning in pics today. How perfect for Meghan to carry on that glamour.
I never understood how Dianas designers wouldn’t know her dress would be a wrinkled mess when she got out of the carriage? It surely must have wrinkled while being made at some point. Same with Meghan. I wouldn’t want a dress that did that in the front when I stood up straight from sitting down.
I love Grace Kelly’s dress…just love it. I thought Kate’s rather boring, even if inspired by Grace’s.
Don’t see this posted elsewhere. Pretty funny.
Those of you who are enjoying @skieurope’s explanations would probably like this book, which includes lots of rules about titles as well as lots of background that helps you understand 19th-century British literature. It’s great fun.
https://www.amazon.com/Austen-Charles-Dickens-Whist-Nineteenth-Century-ebook/dp/B008O58KKK
Because they were crazy? The husband designer was on a lot of the pre-wedding shows and he thought it was all just wonderful and ‘all it needed was to be fluffed’ which he did when she got to the top of the stairs. He made the train that long because no other train had been that long. It was really clear that it was all about him and not about the best dress for her.