Kensington Palace Releases Sketches of Meghan Markle’s Wedding Dress

Kensington Palace released sketches by Meghan Markle’s wedding dress designer, showing how the iconic gown came to be.

Markle’s wedding dress was designed by Clare Waight Keller. The 48-year-old designer hails from Birmingham. She is the first-ever female artistic director at Givenchy. Keller reportedly agreed to design Markle’s dress shortly after they met at the beginning of the year.

The two of them worked closely together on the project, according to the posts by Kensington Palace. Keller had to research fabric mills all across Europe in order to create a double bonded silk cady specifically for the occasion.

“Sketches of The Duchess of Sussex’s #RoyalWedding dress, designed by Clare Waight Keller, have been released,” wrote the official account. “The Duchess and Ms. Waight Keller worked closely together on the design, epitomising a timeless minimal elegance referencing the codes of the iconic House of Givenchy.”

“Ms. Waight Keller designed a veil representing the distinctive flora of all 53 Commonwealth countries united in one spectacular floral composition,” the account added.

The tweets also linked to a post on the Royal Family’s website with more details on the dress. It went over the intricacies of the design and the inspirations from around the world that went into the project. It also listed the history behind the jewelry, shoes, hair and make-up that Markle wore for her wedding day. It even covered Markle’s bridal bouquet, and the bridesmaids’ dresses, which Keller also designed.

All told, Markle’s wedding dress cost a staggering £200,000, or $269,420.20. That includes £78,000 for custom-made fabric and £4,000 for fittings. Markle was reportedly willing to shell out for the dress because she is a big fan of Keller, and their admiration is mutual.

“It has been an immensely rewarding experience to get to know Meghan on a personal level, one I will forever carry with me,” Keller said in a statement. “The House of Givenchy joins me in wishing her and Prince Harry every wish of happiness in their future.”

The gown certainly achieved its purpose on Saturday, pushing the emotional Prince Harry to tears and even causing him to whisper compliments to his bride during the ceremony.

“You look amazing,” he said. “I’m so lucky.”

Still, the dress wasn’t unanimously popular. Allison Langdon, a reporter for 60 Minutes, and Channel Nine, was one of the many journalists covering the royal wedding proceedings on Saturday morning. As Markle arrived at St. George’s Chapel and her dress was on display for the first time, Langdon noted that it was similar to the one worn by Princess Mary of Denmark at her own wedding.

“I think it was probably Meghan’s version of Hollywood meets the history of the British family,” said Langon’s co-host Kerri Elstub. “Ali, it was your comment when watching it that the dress seemed familiar.”

“It was Princess Mary,” Langdon said confidently. “My first thought was that we had seen the dress before. I don’t think she’ll be setting wedding trends, because I think she’s copied. It wasn’t an Australian designer in the end, but I think she copied our very own princess, Princess Mary.”

Princess Mary’s wedding was held back in 2004. She has been married to Prince Frederik ever since. Langdon pointed out that Princess Mary also wore a long-sleeve gown with a boat-neckline. She went even further, questioning the color of Markle’s dress.

“I think she did copy Princess Mary. It looked stunning on her but she went with pure white,” she said. “A lot of people thought she might go with an ivory number since this was not her first wedding.”