How Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress Look Compares to Diana, Kate and Elizabeth

Daniel S. Levine

05/20/2018 07:39 am EDT

Meghan Markle's Royal Wedding dress will be discussed for decades, like the dresses worn by Princess Diana, Kate Middleton and Queen Elizabeth II. Each dress was unique, and made bold statements about the personalities of these women.

The dresses also say much about the eras when they were worn. When Queen Elizabeth II married Prince Philip in 1947, she wore a traditional white satin gown with full-length sleeves. Princess Diana's wedding dress featured a famously long train. Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, wore an Alexander McQueen gown that mixed a modern look with tradition.

Markle, now known as the Duchess of Sussex, wore something different from all three of her predecessors, thanks to the designs of Claire Waight Keller of Givenchy.

Elizabeth Emmanuel, who designed Princess Diana's gown with then-husband David Emmanuel, praised Markle's gown.

"I thought she looked absolutely beautiful," Emmanuel told PEOPLE.

"It was absolutely plain and pure and elegant," she added. "Past royal wedding gowns tend to be very classic and very traditional, and this wasn't because it did not have all the lace and all the decoration and anything on it. It was a new kind of look, but still classical and regal."

Scroll on for a look at the previous royal wedding dresses to compare with Markle's.

Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress

Markle's wedding dress was designed by Claire Waight Keller, the first female Artistic Director at Givenchy.

(Photo: BEN STANSALL, LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)

The dress features a 16-foot veil, with a tribute to all 53 countries of the Commonwealth, the group of countries including the U.K. and former British colonies. The veil represented "the distinctive flora of each Commonwealth country united in one spectacular floral composition," according to Kensington Palace. Markle also included the California Poppy to reference the state of her birth.

Givenchy also designed her shoes. She wore earrings and a bracelet made by Cartier. Her special tiara was originally worn by Queen Mary in 1932.

Queen Elizabeth II's Wedding Dress

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, married on Nov. 20, 1947, before Elizabeth became queen. The dress was designed by Norman Hartnell. Notably, Queen Elizabeth did her own make-up, like Catherine would do before her wedding 64 years later.

"Apparently the Queen did her own make-up on her wedding day too so she's following in a great tradition," Millie Kendall, co-creator of Ruby and Millie, told The Mirror in 2011. "I heard that Kate had lessons with a make-up artist called Arabella Preston, and she obviously learned well. She said she didn't want to move too far away from how she normally looks, and she didn't."

Princess Diana

The dress worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, on the day of her wedding to Prince Charles on July 29, 1981 has become one of the most well-known dresses in the world. It was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel and made of ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown. It featured a 25-foot train.

According to the Daily Mail, the Emmanuels were both in their late 20s and recent fashion school graduates when they got the job.

"When she came out of that carriage, it was the most wonderful vision I'd ever seen. She looked like a butterfly emerging from her chrysalis, unfurling her wings and about to fly. It was so romantic. Oddly, the imperfections seemed to make her even more beautiful," Elizabeth Emmanuel told The Daily Mail in August 2017.

Catherine, The Duchess of Cambridge's Wedding Dress

On April 29, 2011, Kate Middleton stunned the world with her dress designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen. The dress was made of lace applique bodice.

It quickly became known around the world instantly and was put on display at Buckingham Palace.

According to the Daily Mail, the Royal Family said the dress attracted a record number of visitors to the palace the summer after the wedding, and raised £8 million for palace renovations and Catherine's charity fund.

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