This is why Meghan Markle chose Stella McCartney to design her wedding dress
Stella McCartney previously spoke about the special meaning behind Meghan Markle's evening wedding dress, and the fact it symbolised the transition into her new life.
Now she's revealed the reasons the Duchess of Sussex actually chose her to design it, and it's rather thoughtful.
Speaking in Elle's sustainability issue, Stella said that first off, it's because they already had a friendship going.
She said, ‘I have had moments in my career where I’ve caught up with Gwyneth or Madonna and was like, “Can I dress you for that?” But this time around, they were drawn to me. [Meghan] approached me and we worked on other things. She wore other pieces of mine and we had a friendship. And then she asked me to do her second wedding dress. I was honoured and I still am.’
Secondly, the fact that the designer is such a sustainability advocate was seemingly important to Meghan. In fact, if you look closely, a few aspects of the wedding were environmentally friendly, from the electric car she and Prince Harry drove in, to the locally-sourced food and sustainable flowers.
Stella explained, ‘I think Meghan chose me for reasons other than just a beautiful dress — plenty of people can do that. She is not a difficult client to make look beautiful. Amal called me and asked me to do it, as did Oprah. I look at that Amal dress, and it is made of sustainable viscose that took us three years to develop.'
Finally of course, there was the fact Stella is not only a British designer, but a female one as well, something close to the heart of Meghan (she's spoken out about supporting female film directors before) and that of other wedding guests.
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'And I think, obviously I am a British designer, but I think being a woman and being a women’s woman played a part. They are all women’s women. It’s a big deal,’ she added.
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.