Designed for Kate… What Does it Say for You?
(Vera Wang)
WWD ran an article this week in which they asked a wide variety of designers to sketch their dream wedding dress for Kate Middleton to wear when she marries Prince William in the spring. Twenty-nine designers leapt into the fray. They ranged from international superstars like Christian Lacoix to budget mavens like J. Crew to half the team that created William’s mother’s famous wedding gown, Elizabeth Emmanuel.
Of course Miss Middleton won’t actually be wearing any of these designs. Her choice of designer has not yet been made public, but dollars to donuts she will be patriotic and choose a British designer… one who hasn’t already made the design public.
But Twistie, you cry, what does all of this have to do with me, a simple commoner not marrying into royalty and without the budget to blow on Missoni originals?
Read on, my dears, read on.
SLEEVES!
(Monique Lhuillier)
Seriously, out of twenty-nine designs, only a couple were strapless, a couple were sleeveless, but at least twenty designs had SLEEVES!
That’s right, it looks as though the tyrannical reign of strapless is on its painfully slow way out. Vera Wang and Monique Lhuillier, Badgley Mischka and Torey Burch all put sleeves on their designs.
My personal fave? This sleek, elegant design by Gucci:
But no matter what your favorite or least among the bunch, it looks like at long last designers are listening to our cries for sleeves as at least an option… or perhaps are finally sated with the design options of the strapless winter formal. I don’t care which. I’m just thrilled that at long last sleeves will become available for those who wish to wear them.
I think this has to do more with the fact that in royal weddings, strapless is inappropriate. Hear that, princess wannabes? REAL princesses wear sleeves.
Nicole Richie just got married in a Marchesa confection that called to mind a cutting-edge Grace Kelly. And that crazy skirt was detachable. She definitely rocked it, but I don’t think her sleeves (or whatever sleeves Ms. Middleton will have) will start a trend. The most raves – by far – for a celebrity wedding dress this year were for Chelsea Clinton’s strapless ballgown. Perhaps it’s because it bore a fleeting resemblance to 70 percent of the wedding dresses out there. Sigh.
@37 Butter Knives: I do think her marrying into royalty plays a part in this, and I don’t think strapless will go away overnight. It’s just another big chip in the wall. Also, never forget the influence a royal wedding in Britain has on American wedding fashion. When William’s parents got married, Diana’s gown was available in knock off form within the week, and while it played on popular trends, it was different from most other gowns on the market at the time. The same happened when William’s Aunt Fergie got married, though it was closer to most gowns on the market that year.
Mark my words, while it’s going to take more time, the reign of the ubiquitous strapless gown is coming to an end. Every season there are more gowns with straps, with cap sleeves, with options for sleeves. In a few more years people will look at all these strapless gowns and wonder ‘what the hell were they all thinking?’
There will always be – and always should be – some strapless gowns for women who wear them well and really want them. But things are moving in a direction where women who don’t want them or don’t like how they look in them have the chance to have the gowns they want, too.