This royal's wedding dress took 3,900 hours to make
Clare Waight Keller has announced she is stepping down as the artistic director of Givenchy after three years. Her autumn/winter 2020 show presented in early March at Paris Fashion Week was her last, and while she will be remembered for her feminine and luxurious couture designs, her biggest achievement is arguably creating Meghan Markle's wedding dress.
When her creation was revealed on the big day, she said she underestimated how popular the dress would be, as the last time there had been a royal wedding, there was no Instagram.
However, when you know how much work went into the gown, it's easy to see why people loved it so much. Did you know it took 3,900 hours over the course of four months to create?
Clare Waight Keller told WWD added that a team of 50 people worked on the dress, the shoes, the veil and the bridesmaids dresses. And we can imagine the veil took a very long time, as it was embroidered with no less than 53 flora and fauna from each of the Commonwealth countries.
And all those hours are on top of the actual consultation process, during which the designer and Meghan Markle met to discuss design ideas.
She revealed working with the Duchess was, 'the magic of that being so intimate and so personal for so long felt incredibly special because it evolved from a designer and client relationship very quickly into a friendship, in that we’ve got such a comfort level with one another and shared so many special moments.'
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Penny Goldstone is the Contributing Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK. She writes about catwalk trends and the latest high street and Instagram sartorial must-haves. She also helms the Women Who Win franchise.
She has worked in fashion for over 10 years, contributing to publications such as Cosmopolitan, Red, Good Housekeeping, and Stylist.
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