Sammi Wong | Fashion Feature Friday: Wedding Dress Royalty

Like many people, I started watching The Crown last year. I've always been interested in watching because of my love for period pieces. The shot of Princess Diana's wedding dress in the season four trailer was what got me to finally start. Sometimes, I judge the accuracy of historical dramas not just on the cast and the plot, but the costumes. Unless the film or show is meant to be anachronistic, I want them to demonstrate that they've done their research. I especially love the quality of the costumes in movies like Brooklyn, Colette, Little Women, and Emma.

When I was studying fashion, I took a course called History of Costume. For our final project, we had to make a presentation on a specific historic style and its influence on present-day fashion. My presentation was called "Fashion History of Royalty". I focused on China, Russia, and France. They were known for having very specific rules for court dress. I talked about dress regulations, symbols and colors, and influential figures like Madame de Pompadour and Marie Antoinette. I also briefly covered royal wedding dresses. In this post, I will talk about royal wedding dresses throughout history.

Queen Victoria's wedding dress, 1840. (Photo via Grand Ladies Site)

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, 1923. (Photo via Vogue Australia)

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip, 1947. (Photo via Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor, 1937. (Photo via The Crown Chronicles)

Grace Kelly, 1956. (Photo via Beyond Grace Kelly)

Crown Prince Akihito and Michiko Shōda, 1959. (Photo via The Court Jeweller)

ROYAL WEDDING DRESSES THROUGHOUT HISTORY

In 1840, Queen Victoria married Prince Albert at St. James Palace in a white dress. This was highly unusual at the time. Most women wore colorful dresses so they could be repurposed for other events. White was an indicator of wealth because it meant one could afford to have it cleaned. Victoria chose white not for its symbolism, but to show off the lace in her gown. Her wedding dress has become known as the classic wedding dress ever since.

When Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the Queen Mother, married the Duke of York, King George VI, in 1923, her wedding dress was "roaring 20s" in style. It had a drop-waist and was embroidered with pearls. Their daughter, Queen Elizabeth II, married Prince Philip in 1947. Elizabeth's wedding dress and its 13-foot train were inspired by Botticelli's "Primavera" painting. It took 350 women seven weeks to make. She purchased the fabric using World War II ration stamps.

Wedding Dresses Worn by Non-Royals

Wallis Simpson, an American socialite, married the Duke of Windsor in 1937. Instead of wearing white, she wore a pale blue that was custom-made for her called "Wallis blue". Next, actress Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956. Her dress was made by Helen Rose, an MGM Studios costumer who she'd worked with before. It featured a 10-foot train and 125-year-old Brussels lace. Lastly, commoner Michiko Shōda married then-Crown Prince Akihito in 1959. She wore a jūnihitoe, an elaborate kimono worn by court ladies. It took her three hours to get dressed in the twelve-layer robe. Later on, both of them changed into Western-style formalwear for the choken-no-gi, the First Audience Ceremony.

Princess Diana, 1981 (Photo via PA Archives/PA Images)

Catherine "Kate" Middleton, 2011. (Photo via Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, 2018. (Photo via Getty Images)

Princess Eugenie, 2018. (Photo via Neil Hall/EPA-EFE)

Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Beatrice, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, 2020. (Photo via Vogue)

THE CONTEMPORARY ROYAL WEDDING DRESS

One of the most memorable contemporary wedding dresses of all is Princess Diana's. She married Prince Charles in 1981 in a silk taffeta gown with a 25-foot train and a 153-yard veil. It was embroidered with sequins and approximately ten thousand pearls. The train featured lace that had been worn by Queen Mary. Her dress inspired many 1980s brides who wanted something just as show-stopping. Copycat dresses appeared in stores a mere five hours after the ceremony.

Later on, Catherine "Kate" Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, married Prince William in 2011. Her dress was designed by Alexander McQueen's Sarah Burton. Its lace detailing and silhouette has often been compared to Grace Kelly's wedding dress. She also wore a Cartier tiara, loaned to her by Queen Elizabeth. It was a gift she had gotten from the Queen Mother for her eighteenth birthday.

Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, married Prince Harry in 2018. Her dress was designed by Clare Waight Keller, the first female Artistic Director at Givenchy. Her 16.5-foot veil was embroidered with fifty-three different flowers that represented each country in the Commonwealth. It also had the state flower of California and a piece of the dress she wore on their first date.

Queen Elizabeth's Granddaughters

Lastly, Queen Elizabeth's granddaughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, recently got married as well. When Princess Eugenie got married in 2018, she specifically requested her dress have a low back. That way, people could see the scar down her spine. It was from the scoliosis surgery she had when she was twelve years old.

When Princess Beatrice got married in 2020, her "something borrowed" was her wedding dress itself. Queen Elizabeth had worn the dress to a state dinner in 1961 and the premiere of Lawrence of Arabia in 1962. She also wore the Queen Mary diamond fringe tiara, which Queen Elizabeth and Princess Anne had worn at their weddings.