This is what happened to Keira Knightley’s second (secret) wedding dress

(Image credit: Shutterstock/Rex)

When Keira Knightley got married to James Righton five years ago, she got everyone talking because she pulled a Kate Middleton and recycled a Chanel wedding dress for the ceremony - and I loved it. At the time, she said she said 'I just wanted to be in something I had had a great time in, something I would have a great time in again.'

However it later emerged that she had a secret second wedding, and she wore a custom Valentino gown for it. It apparently had layered lace and was embellished with tiny pink flowers.

Sadly, no one ever got to see the dress as the actress kept it private (rightly so), but she reveal what she's done with it though. I sat down with her to discuss her latest role in the biography Colette, which is out in January, and she had some interesting ideas for it.

'I have kept my wedding dresses. I've worn one of them a lot, the Chanel one, because that's easy. The proper one, the big old one, I don't know what to do with that? You're not meant to get rid of it are you?,' she said.

Like most brides, Keira revealed she hasn't cleaned the dress ('too frightening!') and it's still hanging in her wardrobe: 'Could you frame it? I don't have the wall space. Then I thought I could cut it up and make it into something I could wear, but then that's a shame. It's not ballgown, but it had a bit of a train.Unless I just wear it again and ruin it, like a party somewhere. Or maybe somebody could organise a wedding dress party, like in Friends. Yeah that's quite cool.'

But whilst she said it would be a good dressing up dress for her daughter Edie, she doesn't want to pressure her to wear it for her own wedding one day, 'what if she doesn't like it but feels like she had to? Too much pressure.'

modern wedding dresses the celebrity style edit

Keira's first wedding dress, by Chanel

The actress hasn't just kept her wedding dresses though, she's also kept little mementos from her films, though in case you were wondering, they don't include that dress from Atonement *sob*.

'I've got the corset from Pirates, I've got corsets, gloves and a couple of hats from The Duchess. Just as ornaments, and I'm not sure what the f**k I'm going to do with gloves, they're quite out there. They're in a box somewhere. Sometimes I don't want to have any of it though, occasionally I'll ask for something small, otherwise it takes up loads of space, and we don't have that much storage in London. I guess Edie can use it as dressing up at some point?,' she told me.

We also chatted about wearing suits on the red carpet (she's all for it), but that she found it tricky to shop for them.

Keira said, 'I'd love to find a suit that fits, you can't find anything for an arse and thighs. I'm always on the hunt, I've got some arriving today from Matches, I've literally been through about 10-15 trousers this year and had to send them all back.'

Fingers crossed you've found a winner there.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.