Least Favourite Royal Wedding Dress

[Lady Jennifer]

That tiara looks like a tiara you would see in a movie- its a little gaudy (maybe too big?) Its pretty & different, but I don't think it suits the wedding dress. The dress kind of looks like Lady Sarah (Armstrong-Jones) Chatto's wedding dress (which I kind of liked).

 

[Nefertiti]

I thought her dress and veil were beautiful. I think the tiara would have looked a lot better if the base were covered with something that matched her hair color. That dark brown covering is too obvious.

 

[magnik]

I think the tiara would have looked a lot better if the base were covered with something that matched her hair color.

Or with the dress and vail f.ex. like these of the late Princess Margaret or the Duchess de Alba's first wedding dress.

 

[MARG]

Oh I have just discovered this thread. Wow!

From the moment that Diana's carriage came into view I thought ..Whaaat is that? When she tumbled out like an exploding merainge I thought it couldn't get any worse. But no, there was the veil (ugh), the oversized tiara and that awful awful overlong fringe falling in her eyes. As for the creases? As previously posted.... without it fashion in the eighties might never have plumbed such deep and ghastly depths.

Letitzia. Well, least said soonest mended. After her faboulous triumph of style, chic, class at Fredrik and Mary's wedding I was looking for something wonderful. But no. Zip that oversized collar higher and leave off the tiara and she would have looked like a nun! She was getting married not having a stylearectomy!

As for Queen Sylvia's tiara, well as she became not only a wife, but a Queen I guess they were going for the 'Crown' or coronation look. She emerged from the church a 'Queen', so maybe not such a bad look.

 

[Incas]

From the moment that Diana's carriage came into view I thought ..Whaaat is that? When she tumbled out like an exploding merainge I thought it couldn't get any worse.

LOL ! You reminded me of a line from Four Weddings and A Funeral, in the first wedding, one girl was praising the bride's dress. A lady next to her said something like "She looks like a merainge". Almost everyone who wrote something about that dress from that time was fawning over it and that 25-foot train.

 

[princess olga]

Oh I have just discovered this thread. Wow!

From the moment that Diana's carriage came into view I thought ..Whaaat is that? When she tumbled out like an exploding merainge I thought it couldn't get any worse. But no, there was the veil (ugh), the oversized tiara and that awful awful overlong fringe falling in her eyes. As for the creases? As previously posted.... without it fashion in the eighties might never have plumbed such deep and ghastly depths.

Letitzia. Well, least said soonest mended. After her faboulous triumph of style, chic, class at Fredrik and Mary's wedding I was looking for something wonderful. But no. Zip that oversized collar higher and leave off the tiara and she would have looked like a nun! She was getting married not having a stylearectomy!

As for Queen Sylvia's tiara, well as she became not only a wife, but a Queen I guess they were going for the 'Crown' or coronation look. She emerged from the church a 'Queen', so maybe not such a bad look.

Completely agree with your whole post except two minor points.

But firs t of, yes, when I watched Diana coming out of that coach in 1981, on tv natch, my reaction to her outfit was sheer horror rather than gushing admiration.

Many many posters have argued that Diana's dress was great at the time 'as it was the eighties, and that was the fashion', but where I lived, fashion-wise the eighties had hardly begun, and I was still favoring seventies slinkiness to eighties puffiness. Diana singlehandedly made that eighties look 'de rigeur', and it's a miracle that considering this, I still liked the woman as much as I always did. (well of course her unparallelled charisma and down to earth attitude helped!)

As for Letizia, yes what a disappointment! Her hair was terrible, looked like it hadn't been washed in weeks. And the dress in and of itself was ok, but the girl is tiny and it made her look like she was a child playing dress up but drowning in the cloth instead. Of course it was intended to make her look taller, but she still looked like a tiny shrimp compared to her giant groom..
Plus somehow, her chin and nose stood out and looked gigantic...plus the embroiderments on the dress looked cheesy instead of classy. Compared to especially her sister in law's bridal gown, Letizia's was a definite disappointment.

And Silvia..she was one of the first royal brides I was aware of, so I thought she was just marvelous. I actually liked her 'coronation look', as indeed, the moment she exchanged vows with Carl Gustav, she was queen of the Swedes! So it was a coronation of sorts! I also loved her veil. And the dress..well to me, that was secondary..

I also disagree with Diana's tiara being too large. I thought the thing was beautiful, the only beautiful look the whole outfit featured, in my opinion. Besides of course the beauty of the bride. Even the terrible hair cut under the tiara, and the fact the hair fell flat under the weight of the thing, couldn't dampen Diana's beauty. What a royal bride.

Sorry to be harsh on Kate Middleton but if she'll be Will's bride, she'll have a hard time topping Diana, wedding-karma-wise, despite Di's dress being one of the ugliest nuptial concoctions ever.

As for

I thought her dress and veil were beautiful. I think the tiara would have looked a lot better if the base were covered with something that matched her hair color. That dark brown covering is too obvious.

I think this was a case of "Revenge of the Mother", who said, before the wedding, "oh dahhlingg, you ARE going to wear the lovely family tiara, are you not?"

Without that tiara, this would have been a fantastic bride, with an exquisite veil, and a stunning and sexy dress!

That tiara ruined it! But of course, her mother probably paid for the whole wedding houpla, so the bride didn't have a choice...
by the way..the mother of the bride looks like a giant and the bride is very petite. Possible of course, but a bit different?

 

[Incas]

I think this was a case of "Revenge of the Mother", who said, before the wedding, "oh dahhlingg, you ARE going to wear the lovely family tiara, are you not?"

LOL!! I think the tiara won't have looked so overwhelming with a different hair-do, like the tiara sitting in her hair instead of perched near her forehead.

 

[princess olga]

LOL!! I think the tiara won't have looked so overwhelming with a different hair-do, like the tiara sitting in her hair instead of perched near her forehead.

Very true. Which begs the question: WHAT was she thinking?!!

 

[MARG]

Very true. Which begs the question: WHAT was she thinking?!!

What were any of them thinking?

One after another we have seen stylish, confident, chic women turned into the 'Blob'. Indistinguishable from each other and their fomer public persona's.

Is it just me, or, (do do do do do do) .....you are now entering the twilight zone where TPTB of Royal Houses ( and not so royal houses) have persuaded these vibrant women to become "the epitomy of the perfect princess" a la Stepford wives in reverse. From chic to shriek! From class to calamity! All calm, perfect, inanimate, not making any waves, sometimes even barely smiling.

In short, most have been persuaded (against their better judgment I believe) that others know best. And we have seen the ghastly results! Ugh!

Its like their weddings are destined to destroy any self confidence any of them may have had the audacity to display.

We have discussed at length to overpowering machine that runs the Japanese Royal Family and seen it's disasterous results. My question is, is the same thing happening in Europe only on a more suble and sinister level? I just can't figure it out. How can so many vivacious, chic, classy women suddenly emerge at "the wedding" like something from a fashion faux pas dictionay?

So I put it to you Princess Olga, that in fact none of 'them' were thinking!

 

[Scott]

Personally at the end of the day it does not really matter what any of the Royal brides were thinking or if WE like or approve of their wedding attire. As long as they are/were happy with the result that is all that matters.

I do not think anyone was a major disaster. Some were just more specatacular than others.

I find I just enjoy waiting for each Royal wedding and the anticiaption of what each Bride will stun/disappoint us with.

Roll on the next Royal Wedding - whoever it may be. Any predictions?

Scott

 

[princess olga]

What were any of them thinking?

One after another we have seen stylish, confident, chic women turned into the 'Blob'. Indistinguishable from each other and their fomer public persona's.

Is it just me, or, (do do do do do do) .....you are now entering the twilight zone where TPTB of Royal Houses ( and not so royal houses) have persuaded these vibrant women to become "the epitomy of the perfect princess" a la Stepford wives in reverse. From chic to shriek! From class to calamity! All calm, perfect, inanimate, not making any waves, sometimes even barely smiling.

In short, most have been persuaded (against their better judgment I believe) that others know best. And we have seen the ghastly results! Ugh!

Its like their weddings are destined to destroy any self confidence any of them may have had the audacity to display.

We have discussed at length to overpowering machine that runs the Japanese Royal Family and seen it's disasterous results. My question is, is the same thing happening in Europe only on a more suble and sinister level? I just can't figure it out. How can so many vivacious, chic, classy women suddenly emerge at "the wedding" like something from a fashion faux pas dictionay?

So I put it to you Princess Olga, that in fact none of 'them' were thinking!

I agree that process of transformation can easily conjure up images of someone joining a cult. Which these monarchies are to a certain extend, wouldn't you say? See, what I think is that these hip female commoners marrying into the varyous royal folds, are <deliberately> letting themselves get, well, 'brainwashed' a bit.

If they didn't, if they really didn't buy into the whole circus and its perks, they'd get a nervous brake down not unlike Prince Claus suffered, Claus is a 'Prince Philip' equivalent, the guy was married to lovely Queen Beatrix. I have the sneaking suspicion that at the end of the day, both Claus and Beatrix, but definitely more Claus than Beatrix, don't/didn't buy into the whole royal thing at all whatsoever. That is, they are/were down to earth enough to be able to see the whole royal phenomenon for what it really is: an outdated medieval undemocratic concept.
But if you are a monarch and you keep on pondering about how medieval and nonsensical your role really is, you won't be able to keep your sanity.

And I think this is what these new princesses on some level realize: they better buy into this, they better look like a cream-colored blob carrying flowers for one televised day of their lives, or there won't be that wonderful existence full of cartier jewelry, private jets and being the center of forever admiring applause that they dreamed of in their former lives of waiting tables, slogging over Excel spreadsheets at a windowless desk at Deutsche Bank or crafting marketing collateral for real estate companies down under.

To me, it's pretty clear: these girls want the job, the status, the blue-blooded in-laws. They're kindof like Katie Holmes: the high-profile husband comes with a price-tag indeed: you can only get into the fraternity/cult/royal family through an age-old hazing process. The meringue look is part of that process.

 

[bluebess]

Well, if the merengue look is part of the hazing process then Diana passed with flying colors! I remember being 16 (yeah, I'm dating myself there) and watching on tv waiting with great anticipation for Diana to get out of the carriage. And then she did. And it was awful. Not only the HUGEST dress I had ever seen but wrinkled. I sat there in disbelief. My father looked up at the tv just then and said "What the h*** has she got on?" My mom and I knew it was bad when my fashion illiterate father took notice. I was especially disappointed in her hair, they had done nothing special and not only was it boring but it had gone totally flat in the carriage. She could have and should have looked so much better on her wedding day.

 

[har]

I have to agree about Diana's dress. I was watching on TV and expecting something magnificent (it was the first royal wedding I had seen) and it was so disappointing when she got out in that crumpled huge dress. It spoilt the whole day.

 

[princess olga]

Well, if the merengue look is part of the hazing process then Diana passed with flying colors! I remember being 16 (yeah, I'm dating myself there) and watching on tv waiting with great anticipation for Diana to get out of the carriage. And then she did. And it was awful. Not only the HUGEST dress I had ever seen but wrinkled. I sat there in disbelief. My father looked up at the tv just then and said "What the h*** has she got on?" My mom and I knew it was bad when my fashion illiterate father took notice. I was especially disappointed in her hair, they had done nothing special and not only was it boring but it had gone totally flat in the carriage. She could have and should have looked so much better on her wedding day.

Gosh, I had the exact same experience, down to my normally fashion-blind dad noting the dress was a total disappointment! And yes the hair, what a washout! The dress's style was victorian-ish romantic, and the hair was a late-seventies short practical cut, what a mismatch!

 

[LadyK]

I liked the dress for the fairy-tale-ness of it, and I still like how it seemed to go with the image I have/had of Diana in that time. When she was married, everyone saw her as this porcelain skinned, pretty woman who had something very soft about her (soft being a good thing here, but I'm not sure I'm making this very clear). She seemed like a porcelain doll, you know, the kind someone gives you and you want to play with, but she is so pretty your mother puts her on a shelf and said that that doll is to look at, not to touch? Does that make any sense at all? The dress was so flowy and soft, not too shiny, and romantic and a little victorian, very fitting for her at the time. I'll agree about the wrinkles, but, well, that wasn't part of the original design.

 

[bonnita]

for the 80s, Diana could be forgiven!

 

[Lovelydiana]

I am getting the feeling that the wrinlkes in Diana's dress is what put most poeple off about it and I would like to say that Diana's dress is beautiful with or without the wrinkles Overall her dress was the style of the 80's and i do agree that she was made to be the royal princess that everyone could look at but they didn't want her touched on her wedding day.

 

[bonnita]

Did any one see mathilde sister wedding dress,it looks good but I tawt Chatholics arent allowed to show their shoulders in church?

 

[puppigurl2005]

I think, from what ive seen, only princesses, or women marrying princes, wear a wedding dress that covers their shoulders....well...Infanta Cristina could be a exception, but i may have to check. Anyways, Ive been to a catholic wedding and the bride didn't bother to cover her shoulders (or maybe its just a american thing?) So, since Elisabeth is only related to Mathilde by blood, therefore not a princess herself (which is obvious because of the title), she must have been excluded from the shoulder covering rule.

 

[*SofiaM*]

I think, from what ive seen, only princesses, or women marrying princes, wear a wedding dress that covers their shoulders....well...Infanta Cristina could be a exception, but i may have to check. Anyways, Ive been to a catholic wedding and the bride didn't bother to cover her shoulders (or maybe its just a american thing?) So, since Elisabeth is only related to Mathilde by blood, therefore not a princess herself (which is obvious because of the title), she must have been excluded from the shoulder covering rule.

I'm Catholic and all of the Catholic weddings that I've been to were a mix, as in some brides did cover their shoulders and some didn't. I'm not sure if there is a 'rule' about it, perhaps it is down to preference?

 

[bonnita]

I think it down to royalaly as u said,like modesty?

I have seen any Brides with sleeveless or of shoulder,except Infanta Cristina and Prince Claire!

 

[kimebear]

I'm Catholic and all of the Catholic weddings that I've been to were a mix, as in some brides did cover their shoulders and some didn't. I'm not sure if there is a 'rule' about it, perhaps it is down to preference?

I'm Catholic too, and I was married at our cathedral that is so strict I couldn't have "Here Comes the Bride" because it is not considered "appropriate". I wore an off the shoulder dress with no problem.

 

[puppigurl2005]

guess my theory about rules was wrong...oh well...it wouldnt be the first time people have proved me wrong. But anyways, has anyone seen other royal brides that seemed to have trouble picking out the right dress for their big day? Ive looked through this thread and have seen the same ones over and over again. I found some (but apparently im supposed to have them in my photobucket account since they are old and havent been successful in tracking down the original photographer).

 

[bonnita]

of whom are they?

 

[puppigurl2005]

people seem to be posting alot of Princess Mathilde, Crown Princess Maxima, Princess Mabel, Queen Rania of Jordan, Laura Ponte, Stephanie of Monaco, Princess Annette, Crown Princess Mary,and Crown Princess Letitzia, as far as i can tell. but im not complaining. I agree that Mabel might have indulged in bows too much (the bows on the train was a interesting touch) and that Diana's dress pratically screamed out cream puff (though my aunt has a large figurine of the princess in her wedding dress in her house, so i cant complain much, having seen it every time i visit my aunt). I just think that there has to be some other royal brides (not neccesarily from the reigning houses of Europe or the Middle east) who also looked a little... um...misguided as to their choice of bridal wear. I personally loved Crown Princess Mary's dress and Crown Princess Letitiza's. And I LOVE Crown Princess Mette-Marit's gown.
(Oh, and Princess Astrid of Belgium's sleeves...where did that idea come from?)
The dresses that i found were of Countess Diana Bernadotte (Don't know if she's somehow related to the Bernadotte royal line), Princess Dorothea von Loewenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, and Princess Marie zu Weid. I found these at worldroots.com, but apparently thats not where they originated from. So far i located Rex Images (Dorothea), Corbis (Marie zu Weid), and im still looking up the photographer for the wedding of Countess Diana

 

[Elsa M.]

The dresses that i found were of Countess Diana Bernadotte (Don't know if she's somehow related to the Bernadotte royal line), Princess Dorothea von Loewenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg, and Princess Marie zu Weid. I found these at worldroots.com, but apparently thats not where they originated from. So far i located Rex Images (Dorothea), Corbis (Marie zu Weid)

We have a thread for the wedding of Princess Marie zu Wied:
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forum...ke-friedrich-von-wuerttemberg-1993-a-761.html

 

[princess olga]

We have a thread for the wedding of Princess Marie zu Wied:

The Wied bride looked great on her wedding day, except perhaps for her hair.

I'm confused though: I thought Marie had wed the eldest Liechtenstein prince an d is now with him ruler of Liechtenstein?

 

[Henri M.]

I see quite a lot of critics on the wedding dress worn by HRH Princess Mabel, Countess van Oranje-Nassau van Amsberg.

But technically seen, it was a true masterpiece by the couturiers Viktor & Rolf, who had a hell of a job to make a fitting bodice with all these bows excactly sewed on the trimmings and without one single seam to be seen.
I see quite a lot of critics on the wedding dress worn by HRH Princess Mabel, Countess van Oranje-Nassau van Amsberg.

The Royal House stated that the wedding dress took more than 600 hours to create. There were 248 handmade bows which covered the points where the checkered pattern of the dress met. The dress was made of satin duchesse lyonnais and the bows from silk georgette.

If this gown was meant as a proof of craftmanship, then the couturiers passed with flying colours!

But indeed, it is a most remarkable dress, but I think that in the endless row of white 'dream-brides' at least Princess Mabel managed it to be noticed.

The pictures are from Eindhovens Dagblad and uploaded via my own webspace.

 

[fandesacs2003]

Eugenia Martinez de Irujo (daughter of the Duchess of Alba) looked bad on her wedding. I mean, her veil looked so misplaced and the tiara was too big for her.
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/f31/duchess-eugenia-martinez-de-irujo-francisco-rivera-ordonez-1998-a-9329.html

I'm sorry but I think we all should understand a very important point. Eugenia wore this tiara, not because she just bought it from a window while shopping
Eugenia belongs to one of the most prestigious families of Europe, and to the most prestigious family of Spain. Her mother, Duchess of Alba, (a descendancy of Cayetana Alba - Maya painted by Goya) has more titles that the King of Spain himself, she is many times "grand d'Espagne" ! and her family has more quite 800 years of prestigious story !
From her mother Eugenia is also a descendancy of Eugenia de Montijo, Empress of France, whose vale she wore on her wedding.
Her father was also Grandee d'Espagne
This tiara is a prestigious family jewel, and this is why she wore it, idependanrly of its form.
Our Spaniard friends could say more than me.
This tiara was also worn by her mother, for he own wedding

 

[MARG]

I see quite a lot of critics on the wedding dress worn by HRH Princess Mabel, Countess van Oranje-Nassau van Amsberg.

And this was a surprise?

But technically seen, it was a true masterpiece by the couturiers Viktor & Rolf, who had a hell of a job to make a fitting bodice with all these bows excactly sewed on the trimmings and without one single seam to be seen.

But isn't that what tailors dummies or manniquins are for!

The Royal House stated that the wedding dress took more than 600 hours to create. There were 248 handmade bows which covered the points where the checkered pattern of the dress met. The dress was made of satin duchesse lyonnais and the bows from silk georgette.

To borrow from the question "It's good, but is it art?" One has to wonder who decided it wasn't a bridal gown after all but a masterpiece?

If this gown was meant as a proof of craftmanship, then the couturiers passed with flying colours!

So let them take out an advertisement like everyone else. This was a wedding not an avante garde fashion show.

But indeed, it is a most remarkable dress, but I think that in the endless row of white 'dream-brides' at least Princess Mabel managed it to be noticed.

No indeed, 'dream-bride is not the first word that springs to mind.