It was everything I had hoped for: the right designer, the right style, at the right mo ment. This 29-year-old woman from Bucklebury sure knows herself. And that was trumpeted to the world with this understated perfection.
Her master stroke was that she looked back to look forward. Tapping royal and Hollywood brides of old, her lace and satin gazar dress was reminiscent of another iconic wedding dress — worn by Princess Grace for her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956.
The retro beat didn’t end there. Princess Margaret, the queen’s sister, wore a similar silhouette for her jet-set union with Anthony Armstrong-Jones in 1960. It even bore a resemblance to the wedding dress Julie Andrews wore as Maria von Trapp in “The Sound of Music” in 1965.
PHOTOS: KATE MIDDLETON’S DRESS
COMPLETE ROYAL WEDDING COVERAGE
Sarah Burton and Kate were obviously a perfect pairing themselves. Burton is clearly a genius, taking the familiar of old Hollywood nuptial glamour and marrying it seamlessly to the house that McQueen built. There was no need for a press release: The lace-overlay top, with its high-backed neck and narrow plunging V, is pure McQueen. The strapless bodice, smooth in its molding, is another look created by the late designer.
The dress was literally priceless.
“The lace is hand-applied. It’s sewn on by the royal seamstresses, and it’s a unique lace designed for her,” says Millie Martini Bratten, editor in chief of Brides magazine, watching in London.
“It was much less ornate than Melania Trump’s gown, and that was $25,000. So I would say $20,000 would be a reasonable figure, for the one-of-a-kind unique factor.”
As for McQueen, it was a controversial choice. But the bride evidently understands that McQueen was one of the greatest designers of the 20th century, and one to be embraced as a British institution. And her choice, heralding her sophistication and self-possession, makes this commoner a new style icon for her generation.
As the pictures live on — and the dress copies roll out — she’ll be known in fashion as Kate the Great.