Kate Middleton wedding dress designed by Alexander McQueen label
The British designer Sarah Burton was handpicked to design the beautiful Kate Middleton wedding dress. After the death of Alexander McQueen, Sarah Burton was promoted to the position of creative director, and has gained global publicity after it was announced that she designed the dress for the royal wedding. Although Burton has designed dresses for many A-list celebrities before – including Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga and even Michelle Obama – nothing compares to the exposure that she gained from designing the most influential wedding dress of the year. It is said that Kate’s choice was homage to the late Alexander McQueen, and British fashion as a whole.
Not only was the Kate Middleton wedding gown a piece of fashion history, but it was also extremely intricately made. Unlike many of the bohemian wedding dresses popular at the moment, Kate’s dress was very structured. The whole dress was hand-stitched by the Royal School of Needlework; twenty-four seamstresses worked on the dress for months, painstakingly stitching on the exquisite dress. However, none of the women who worked on the marvellous dress had any idea what the finished article would look like as they were ordered to work in shifts. Furthermore, none of them even knew it was a Burton design, or that it was for the future Duchess!
Although it was inevitable that many details of the royal wedding would be kept under wraps, Kate was adamant that no one was to leak any information regarding her dress. In fact, when Sarah Burton went to visit Kate Middleton at her hotel in Belgravia the night before the wedding, she wore a huge furry hat to obscure her face and hide her identity. Nevertheless, the Kate Middleton wedding gown was undoubtedly worth the wait and it’s set to be a popular design choice for wedding dresses 2011.
However, the magnificence of the Kate Middleton wedding dress cannot be solely attributed to Burton, as it is said that Kate herself had a lot of input when it came to designing the dress. It has been rumoured that the dress was intended to echo the design worn by another bride who married into royalty, Grace Kelly (later Princess Grace of Monaco). It has to be said, the beautifully intricate lace on the bodices of both the dresses are remarkably similar, as are the classic shapes and delicate veils. Either way, the dress was certainly a triumph for British fashion.
