Wedding Wednesday: Your Favorite Bridal Gown of 2011

As we wind down and look back upon what really has been the Year of the Royal Wedding, it's only natural to ask...

Which is your favorite 2011 royal wedding gown?

Catherine Middleton married Prince William of Wales

Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg married Alexander Johannsman

Charlene Wittstock married Prince Albert II of Monaco

Zeina Shaban married Prince Rashid bin El Hassan of Jordan

Zara Phillips married Mike Tindall

Princess Sophie of Isenburg married Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia

Jetsun Pema married the King of Bhutan

Vote here!

Your favorite 2011 gown?
	Catherine Middleton
	Princess Nathalie
	Charlene Wittstock
	Zeina Shaban
	Zara Phillips
	Princess Sophie
	Jetsun Pema
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Wedding Wednesday: Favorite Winter Wedding Gowns

Winter wedding gowns are tricky, especially when you're having a royal wedding with lots of balcony appearances and other assorted outdoor shenanigans. Since that time is upon us now (well, it's upon me - if you're in Australia or something...bookmark and come back in six months I guess?), I thought we'd throw some praise at those royal wedding dresses that have leapt their climate hurdles valiantly.

Two winter brides stick out from my personal list of favorite royal wedding dresses - Máxima (February) and Mathilde (December).

Of course, I have always loved a high collar on a grand wedding gown, that's just me.

But if you want something that just screams winter wedding, fur's the way to go.

Queen Fabiola of the Belgians, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Archduchess Marie-Christine of Austria, Archduchess Catharina von Österreich

I confess, I'm not a huge fan of fur used on a wedding gown, but there is something about a winter wedding that lends itself to things that seem a little farcical otherwise...

...which brings us to a personal favorite in this category, Baroness Francesca Thyssen-Bornemisza's gown from her January 1993 marriage to Archduke Karl of Austria.

At any other time, in any other place, this wedding outfit would have been too much. The lace-up front, the enormous ball skirt, the heavy 200-year-old Habsburg veil held in place with a small pearl and diamond bandeau tiara, even the bride carrying a Mass Book instead of a bouquet - it's a Versace design that could have come straight from a movie set, and borders on comical for use in real life (even for a character such as this bride).

But set in an Austrian winter scene? It's completely enchanting.

What's your favorite winter wedding gown?

Photos: Zimbio/Rex/Hola/The Royal Forums

Wedding Wednesday: Princess Mabel's Gown

HRH Prince Johan Friso of the Netherlands and Mabel Wisse Smit

April 24, 2004

Delft, Netherlands

Goodness me, our little digression into the wedding gown of Princess Mabel in last week's comments spawned an immediate outpouring of Wedding Wednesday requests. Well, I don't blame you. If you've never seen it before you really can't comprehend it in a single glance. So here you go, kids: Bows Gone Wild, starring Mabel van Oranje.

When Mabel Wisse Smit married Queen Beatrix's middle son, Prince Johan Friso (he prefers you just call him Friso now, thanks) in 2004, she turned down conservative designs from the Dutch design duo Viktor & Rolf and requested they make her something "memorable" (mission accomplished). She's not a conventional girl, this one, and stated herself that she was never the little girl with wedding dress dreams.

The end result is actually a very flattering silhouette in snow white double-faced duchesse satin with a bateau neckline, long sleeves, and a flared skirt leading to a 3.15 meter train (10 feet 4 inches - including the bows, of course). She topped it with a short veil and a diamond sunray tiara.

The tiara is actually a pared down diamond-only setting of the large Mellerio Sapphire Tiara (click here to see it in all its glory as normally worn). I find it somewhat, erm, pokey in a photograph, but in movement it works. The huge diamonds capture every last possible bit of light. The tiara itself has a rather two-dimensional effect; it almost seems like a fairytale illustration of a tiara come to life to me. Observe:

But none of that matters, really, because what you want to talk about right now are the bows: 248 of them, to be exact. Yes. Two hundred and forty eight. That's 128 bows for the skirt, 85 on the bodice, and 35 on the train. All handmade from crepe georgette (no wonder the thing took more than 600 hours to make), and symbolizing longevity, commitment, and permanence. Placed on a trelliswork background, they cover every single part of the gown, growing gradually in size from the neckline to the hem and then catching a serious case of gigantism on the train. The pattern covers the seams, so it looks like the gown is cut from a single piece of cloth.

Believe it or not, the dress isn't the only infamous part of this love story. Like a few of her princess peers, Mabel's past includes some sketchy bits. She was alleged to have had a relationship with a drug lord called Klaas Bruinsma. When questioned about this by the Dutch government, the couple gave what Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende termed "incomplete and incorrect information". They stated that while they had left details out, they hadn't lied, and repeated that the Mabel had not had a romantic relationship with the man. Nevertheless, the government did not ask parliament for the required permission for the prince to marry. (The scandal flared up again later when Friso and Mabel admitted to changing Mabel's Wikipedia entry themselves to make it less harsh with regards to these events.)

Friso married her anyway, obviously, and lost his place in the Royal House and in the line of succession. I'd say that the bows were an attempt to create a bigger story than the scandal on the wedding day, but she's kept up a string of eyebrow-raising Viktor & Rolf creations ever since...so, this is just her style. And that style, including the notorious bowfest, is entertaining for sure, but it rubs me the wrong way. There's something to be said for a woman that's not afraid to make a splash and is completely comfortable marching to the beat of her own drummer, don't get me wrong. I just think that the best style is one that leaves people with an impression of you and not your just clothes (yes, despite enjoying frivolous fashion discussion so much I started a blog about it, I actually do believe that), and if you've reached the point where your clothes speak louder than you do, you've gone too far.

Some of Mabel's more notable outfits

And, see, the first thing you should know about Mabel isn't that she likes a crazy dress, it's that she's a human rights activist, and not in the standard "princess with a cause" way. This is what she does, and has done since before she married Friso. She is currently CEO of The Elders, a group of public figures including Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter brought together by Nelson Mandela to use their experience for good on some the world's toughest issues. If you'd like to see her in action, click here to see a recent talk she gave at TEDxAmsterdam on ending child marriage. She has a lot to say, and if her clothes are as far as people get into what she's all about, that's sad. And that's the end of my rant on Mabel's style.

Mabel and Friso live in London, and Friso is CFO of URENCO, a uranium enrichment company. They have two daughters, Luana and Zaria. Because Friso lost his place in the Royal House, he no longer carries the title of "Prince of the Netherlands" but retains his family title of "Prince of Orange-Nassau" and the styling "Royal Highness". Mabel is a Princess of Orange-Nassau. We don't see them at formal events like Prinsjesdag, but they do pop up at other events like Koninginnedag. 

Mabel's dress: fun and quirky or weird and wrong?

Photos: People/Corbis/Harper's Bazaar/ANP/PPE

Wedding Wednesday: New Bridal Tiaras

Royal weddings are prime showcases for heirloom tiaras - after all, a girl does need something borrowed - but they're also often showcases for new tiaras. Whether you are honoring a new gift, you just feel like something new, or the family was plain out of tiaras for the new girl to have, there are plenty of weddings that have brought us new jewels to gaze upon.

Left to Right: Princess Claire of Belgium, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway

The Belgian royal family is not sitting on a huge stash of tiaras, so when Claire Coombs married in, they had to rustle up something new for her (reported by some to be a converted necklace from Queen Elisabeth). Norway has a fair amount of diadems, but not really anything that would fill the "all-purpose, small, and diamond" category for a new Crown Princess, so they bought one when Mette-Marit joined up. And though you might disagree with me, I've always thought that was part of the reason Crown Princess Mary got a newly purchased tiara too. Apart from the tiara that now sits on Princess Marie's head, smallish diamond gems that are not already in constant use seem to have been nonexistent.

L to R: Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent; Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg (then a Princess of Belgium)

I'm afraid the days of lavish wedding gift jewel hauls are gone for most brides, but once upon a time getting multiple tiaras for your wedding was commonplace for a royal bride. Honoring a relative by wearing their gift on your big day is always smart, but perhaps even smarter is honoring the institutions that give you gifts. Greek Princess Marina wore a fringe tiara given to her by her new home, the City of London, while Belgian Princess Joséphine-Charlotte honored her home country by wearing both the Belgian Scroll Tiara and the Congo Diamond Tiara to marry into Luxembourg's royal family.

L to R: Sarah, Duchess of York; Princess Margaret; Empress Farah of Iran; Crown Princess Sarah of Brunei

Sometimes, for whatever reason, you just want something new. Sarah Ferguson wore a new tiara from Garrard, and Princess Margaret's Politmore Tiara was bought specially prior to her wedding day. Farah Diba wed in the Noor-ol-Ain Tiara which was created by Harry Winston for the occasion. I'd wager a guess that the tiara worn by Sarah Salleh for her wedding to Brunei's Crown Prince was freshly made too. All of these ladies could have worn something from their respective royal families, but for whatever reason - and I would guess the reasoning here is quite diverse - they opted for new instead.

L to R: Sophie, Countess of Wessex; Princess Máxima of the Netherlands; Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau

Finally, if you can't get something new, you settle for a new configuration of old stuff instead. Sophie wore a (new to us) configuration of old pieces when she became the Countess of Wessex, and Máxima put a new spin on an old gem by topping a pearl button tiara with diamond stars instead. Her sister-in-law Mabel did a similar thing by using the diamond-only setting of the family's large sapphire tiara.

As lovely and meaningful as traditions can be, I suppose there's something to be said for making your own mark, or putting special memories together with a piece that you'll call your own for the rest of your marriage. My personal favorite version is Máxima's - that sly little magpie was already showing us just how much fun she intended to have with the family jewel box.

If it was you...would you rather have an old tiara or a new one for your wedding day?

Wedding Wednesday: Queens and their Pre-Wedding Style

A few weeks ago we took a look at some of the pre-wedding outfits of our current crop of crown princesses. Now, it's time to pop back a generation - well, actually, just step up a level and mostly back a generation - to a few sovereigns/sovereign consorts and their pre-wedding ball attire. This is even better, if you ask me, for two reasons: 1. old school glamour, and 2. TIARAS. 'Nuff said, right?

Best First Impression

Fabiola de Mora y Aragón (Queen Fabiola of the Belgians) and Silvia Sommerlath (Queen Silvia of Sweden)

These two ladies didn't just marry into a royal family, they married straight into being queens. Trial by fire! As such, their pre-wedding appearances had a statement to make, and Fabiola wins with her tiara/crown which was a wedding present from General Franco. That's like pinning on a big ol' name tag that says: "HELLO! I am Your Queen!" Silvia obviously needed a little experience before she'd reach her full tiara hair potential, but this outing - her very first tiara appearance ever, friends, this is history in the making - of the Connaught Diamond Tiara is respectable enough. Everything else ended up taking a backseat to the fact that ABBA serenaded her with the first ever performance of "Dancing Queen" that night anyway.

Best of the Things We Need More Of

L to R: Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark (now Queen, with and without coat), Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark (Queen Anne-Marie of Greece), Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands (now Queen, with and without fur)

Let's count the ways these appearances are so much better than what we see today, shall we?

1. Multiple tiara appearances. All of these ladies donned a tiara on more than the occasions shown here before getting hitched. (For the record, Margrethe is wearing the romantic heart-shaped Baden Palmette Tiara, Anne-Marie is wearing the Emerald Parure Tiara, and Beatrix is wearing the Antique Pearl Tiara.) More multiple tiara event occasions, please.
2. Matching coats. Forget throwing a shawl over it and calling it a day! This is how we do evening glam!
3. Opera gloves. Somebody needs to bring the long glove back. Who should we start writing letters to?

Best of the Way Things Change

Princess Grace of Monaco, Princess Charlene of Monaco

My, my, how things do change. From tiaras and gowns and fur wraps to strapless palazzo pants, all in the course of a generation change. (Obviously these sovereign consorts are the exception to our queens and Charlene is our generation exception!)

Best of the Best

Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark (now Queen Sofia of Spain)

She's Glinda the Good Witch! This dress is some serious fairy godmother business, plus Sofia's already got the fairy godmother smile to boot, that's just the way she rolls. Can you see all the detailing and the petal effect on the skirt? It's amazing. Also, she gets double bonus points for wearing not one but two tiaras, both of which were given to her as wedding gifts: the Mellerio Shell Tiara on her head and the floral tiara around her neck. My absolute favorite of this lot.

Who did pre-wedding the best?

Photos: Corbis/Daylife/Hola

Wedding Wednesday: Alice, Duchess of Gloucester's Gown

HRH Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott

November 6, 1935

London, England

Today's gown belongs to something of a backstage royal - one of those that never grabbed the main headlines, but was always working away behind them - who had a rather backstage wedding. But despite all of that, this gown would lead to a royal trend that lasted for decades to come. And yes, it is pink.

It was an unusual colored gown, but she was something of an unusual bride. As the daughter of the largest landowner in Scotland, the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry, Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott grew up alongside her future husband, the third son of King George V and Queen Mary. But despite her aristocratic background, Alice was no typical royal bride - by the time she married, she was 34 years old (quite old for the time - oh, how things have changed!) and had traveled the world for years.

The particular significance of this dress is due to its designer: Norman Hartnell. Today that seems like a "typical" royal choice, but Alice's dress was actually the first major royal commission for the royal couturier. It led to the then-Duchess of York (the future Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother) visiting his studio and ordering a few frocks, which in turn led to work for Queen Mary. Eventually, all of this led to his becoming the sole man in charge of the style of the major royal ladies for decades, including such significant royal milestones as wedding gowns for both Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, and the coronation gown of Queen Elizabeth II.

Owing to her age, Alice did not want to marry in a pure white gown - a desire certainly enhanced when her father died only a few weeks before the wedding day. So, Hartnell created a satin gown in a pearl pink shade with a matching tulle veil and an unusual cluster of orange blossoms at the neckline. On her head she wore a crystal headdress specially made for the day instead of a regular tiara.

Her father's death was a shadow over the day itself. A planned public ceremony at Westminster Abbey was scratched in favor of a wedding in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace, though the bride did still make her entrance in the glass carriage and there was still a balcony appearance afterward.

The whole affair took a backseat to the more glamorous nuptials of Henry's younger brother Prince George, Duke of Kent, and his wife, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark the year before. In fact, the Gloucesters would stay in the background of the family, still dutifully going about their royal business, for the rest of their lives.

They had two children, Prince William (the oldest) and Prince Richard. William died in an airplane crash at the age of 30, in 1972; Prince Richard became the current Duke when his father died in 1974. After her husband's death, Alice was granted the courtesy title of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester by the Queen, despite the fact that she was never a princess of the blood herself (she didn't want to be known as the Dowager Duchess of Gloucester, and this move gave her the same styling as her sister-in-law Princess Marina). She died in 2004; at 102 years old, she was the oldest living royal in history.

What do you think of Alice's pink concoction?

Wedding Wednesday: Princess Alexia's Gown

HRH Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark and Carlos Morales Quintana

July 9, 1999

London, England

Another popularly requested wedding gown today - that of the eldest of the ex-King and Queen of Greece's five children, Princess Alexia.

Today, Alexia and Carlos live in the Canary Islands with their four children. But before she could marry her cute, younger, sailing-mad Spanish architect, there was a pre-wedding bash to be had, and Alexia showed up in my favorite Alexia look of all time:

She married Carlos in London's Greek Orthodox Cathedral of Saint Sophia in an understated gown from Austrian designer Inge Sprawson (a favorite of her mother, Queen Anne-Marie).

The dress featured a wide v-neck with a strong shoulder shape formed in heavy off-white satin. The slim fit bodice has a cross seam detail and the long sleeves and back are accented with embroidered and beaded buttons. A longer train extended from her waist at the back.

Like many family members before her, Alexia opted to drape her great-grandmother Crown Princess Margaret's Irish lace veil over her chignon, and topped the whole thing with the family's traditional wedding tiara, the Khedive of Egypt Tiara, and a pair of diamond earrings.

I'm usually a sucker for a simple gown paired with a lace veil, but I go back and forth on Alexia's dress. In some pictures, the tight fit is incredibly flattering, and in others, it betrays her. I suppose, in the end, I can't get behind a dress that's dicey like that. I can, however, get behind the use of purple as one's wedding colors:

Bridesmaid Princess Theodora (Alexia's little sister) escorting Princess Mafalda (daughter of Kyril and Rosario of Bulgaria) and Princess Maria Olympia (daughter of Pavlos and Marie-Chantal of Greece)

Click here to see the fashions from the royal guests at this wedding.

Alexia's gown: a favorite, or not?

Photos: Tim Graham/Getty Images/Gammarpho/Hello

Wedding Wednesday: Queen Soraya's Gown

 HIM The Shah of Iran and Soraya Esfandiary-Bakhtiari

February 12, 1951

Tehran, Iran

A reader request today, for one of the most fairy tale royal wedding gowns of all time, worn by a royal bride that ended up living a fairy tale gone wrong.

The beginning was certainly straight out of a storybook: the recently divorced (from Princess Fawzia of Egypt) Mohammed Reza Pahlavi fell in love immediately with a picture of the young half-Persian, half-German Soraya. He asked for her hand in marriage after just one meeting, and sealed the deal with a massive 22.37 carat diamond engagement ring.

The fantasy continued at the couple's grand wedding at Golestan Palace. Soraya's Christian Dior gown is quite possibly the most couture couture gown ever seen at a royal wedding; it's just utterly, unabashedly over the top. Made of 37 yards of silver lamé studded with pearls, 6,000 diamond pieces, and 20,000 marabou feathers, the creation weighed a whopping 44 pounds (20 kilograms).

The strapless dress came with a matching jacket and veil for the ceremony itself as well as a full-length white mink cape to keep the bride warm. In the evening, both jacket and veil were discarded and an emerald and diamond parure from the crown jewels was added.

 

But as we all know, things are rarely what they seem, and not even the wedding was as much a fairy tale as it appeared. The ceremony, originally scheduled for December 27th, had to be postponed when Soraya came down with a serious case of typhoid fever. She still wasn't entirely well in February but further postponement wasn't possible, so she had to soldier on. The bride could barely move in her heavy gown, as you can see in this video:

Seeing her stagger, the Shah ordered a lady-in-waiting to take a pair of scissors to the priceless gown and cut the petticoats and train until she could walk again. She also had to deal with the chill in the non-heated palace; there were wool socks underneath that voluminous skirt.

Seven years later, the Shah and his Queen found themselves in a predicament: Soraya had not been able to have children, and the Shah needed a son to continue the dynasty (he had one daughter with his first wife, but a boy was required). In 1958, the Shah tearfully announced their divorce. It was "a sacrifice of my own happiness," Soraya said. Given the title HIH Princess Soraya of Iran and generous funding, she lived the rest of her life as a jet-setting socialite in Europe, but she never managed to find real happiness. Even a romance with director Franco Indovina ended tragically with his death in a plane crash. Soraya became known as the "princess with the sad eyes" and titled her memoir Le Palais des Solitudes, or The Palace of Solitude. She died on October 26, 2001; her belongings were auctioned off and that famous wedding gown sold for $1.2 million.

The Shah married again, to Farah Diba, and had four children including two boys. The Shah was exiled in 1979 and the heir he fought to have has never had the opportunity to rule Iran.

What did you think of Soraya's gown?

 
Photos: Life/Corbis