Least Favourite Royal Wedding Dress


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Wow now I know what everyone is talking about with the bow princess. Gee I bet her and Sarah duchess of york would get on great. I liked the idea of Diana's I loved the sparkle on the veil and lace it just looked great as she walked down whenever the light reflected of the sparkles and her tiara. The top part would have been better if it had off fit better I don't know why the designers didn't do a better job all brides lose weight before their wedding. The material was all wrong and that was admitted even back then. I remember being disappointed at first but then loving the sparkly bits. Princess Anne's dress was too plain and seemed more for a themed wedding but she looked lovely. Sarah I liked the material and parts of her dress. The huge bow and the anchors and the bees and the big A and S and whatever else she chucked on it was a little overboard. I did like her flowergirls etc that was cute. Sophie was very disappointing the jewels were ugly and the dress was so baggy and unflattering she could have done so much better. Lady Helen Taylor looked good as did Lady Sarah. I also checked out the one with the huge puffed sleaves they were very in fashion for awhile but hers where like airbags not a good look on anyone!
 
The only thing I loved about Diana's gown and veil was how the lights sparkled off both, especially inside St Paul's, and how she literally seemed to FLOAT down the aisle in it.

As I have posted, if she had filled it out more and if a different material had been used, I probably would have really loved it.
 
Kate's dress was much better than Diana's and calling it memorable doesn't take away from how the fact that it hasn't aged well, when talked about the things that frequently come up are wrinkled, 80s fashion, overwhelming along with fairy tale princess. Bjork's Oscar dress was memorable doesn't change that it was ugly and she looked like a fool. Some movies are memorable while at the same time being bad. There are many things that are memorable but aren't necessarily good. I have a theory that the only reason the dress gets praise is because it was worn by Diana and everybody loves her. If Sarah Ferguson had worn it people would probably be more honest; but that's just a theory I have.
And I would rather see a dress like Kate's, Grace's, Elizabeth's, Sarah's and Margaret's which were all praised, then a dress that embodies "everything bad about the 80s". There is a way to be memorable, Grace Kelly, without having an ugly dress.

@Meadow, I think Diana's dress would have worked well if some things were just toned down. I have seen sketches of it and it looks pretty on paper. Sarah had puff sleeves as well but they weren't as big; and yeah she was bow happy but at least the dress overall looked good despite the cliches on it.
After Kate's wedding I have been browsing other royal brides and a lot of them do the lace over over bare shoulders and arms look. It seems that Grace's dress is the one most copied or that inspires the most brides and it has been 6 decades since her wedding.
Sophie Rhys Jones, good gawd that was a bad dress. I think I saw someone wear that to one of my high school dances. I guess I kind of get what she was going for, she is marrying a low ranking royal....or I guess that's what she meant by choosing that dress.
I like the big grand ball gown wedding dresses, my favorite royal wedding dress is Princess Margaret! And one of my favorite celebrity wedding dresses is freakin Celine Dion So I don't mind extravagance, I just think with Diana it went terribly wrong.
 
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This is an interesting thread. Here are my thoughts on some of the brides dicussed. I apologise for going into more detail about the dresses I have a negative opinion on. Words fail me when I see a picture of a beautiful bride :flowers:

Anne (1973) - I love her, but that dress was wrong. The batwing sleeves and the too high collar. What was she thinking?

Caroline (1978) - The leak was no excuse for looking like Princess Leia, and those sleeves were ugly

Diana - That dress hasn't stood the test of time. It looked like it had stuffing in it. Too puffy and crumply

Lady Helen Windsor - Stunning

Lady Sarah Armstrong Jones - Absolutely beautiful

Mette Marit - Very nice. I don't know why so many on here hate what she did with her tiara and veil. I love it

Mabel - Those bows were excessive

Mary - I like the way the veil was placed
 
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I agree about Diana cause you can tell what era she got married in I have a couple of friends married back then and there was a certain look! Puffy seemed very fashionable. I have seen a sketch of Diana's too and it was a case of not being able to deliver what was promised the designer chose the wrong material and that is a large part of the problem something heavier wouldn't have crushed so bad. I remember mum at the time saying it was such a pity and her hair was the worst I had ever seen it. I forgot about Princess Caroline she was another disappointment. I liked Princess Mary's except the bottom of the dress. I have always loved Princess Margarets it was just lovely, I like part of Serena's but not the back it was a mess for some reason and her hair was huge. Zara's will be interesting I doubt she is going to go for her mothers look.
 
:previous: I agree that Margaret's dress was another nice one. As for Mary's ensemble, I must add that I like all of it. I only limited my praise to the veil because that was the part of it that was criticised on here. That bouquet was a mess though. On the topic of what Zara will wear, my mind cannot form the image of her dressing how her Mother did. Even though it would look virtually identical :ROFLMAO:

Another thing about Diana's dress. It reminds me of a duvet I had when I was a kid.
 
Diana : I like it, for the moment of time it has been made! For a young, fairy tale girl, marrying the Prince of the most important royalty in the world. Now, times changes... it is not realistic any more!

Mary: Perfect

CP Victoria : Perfect

CP Letizia : a catastrophy!!!!!, for me the worst, considering how she is normally a pretty woman, and well dressed.
 
I thought Mary of Denmark's gown was an ugly mess. I didn't understand it at all.

The bodice and the neckline were lovely. But the skirt?? It looked like someone slashed it with a pair of scissors.

I saw a designer's sketch of the gown and it was just beautiful...I don't know why it didn't come out so well.

When I first saw CP Letizia in her wedding gown I thought she looked like the Wicked Queen in Snow White...and the gown just swamped her tiny frame. Her hair also looked unwashed.

But i recently saw a video of the Spanish wedding and I like it a little more than I used to. It looks better in video than in photos, and Letizia's face looked RADIANT.
 
I did'nt like Mary's dress too.The color,fabric,and train did nothing for me.

I know a lot of people did'nt like Mathilde's gown because of course that type of style is not popular,but loved it.It is very unique.

The rest of the CP's were perfect:Maxima,Mathilde,and Victoria.

Almost perfect:Mette Marit.

Not so perfect:Mary and Letizia
 
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Mathilde and Letizia wore gowns that looked very similar, IMO, and I disliked them both because they seemed poorly fitted.

Mathilde's overcoat looked too big, and Letizia's entire enesemble simply overwhelmed her.

But both their faces looked radiant.
 
I also don't like Letizia gowns :), the dress look to big for her IMO
Like is 2 size bigger :) IMO
 
:giggles: I'm the only one here who liked Mary's dress from start to finish. :whistling:
I don't know if I mentioned it, but Mathilde looked horrible on her big day. The hair, the makeup, the dress it just looked horrible. IMO
Speaking of Letizia and Mathilde, does anyone like that high collared overcoat look for a wedding dress?
 
XeniaCasiraghi, the Countess of Wessex wore that same sort of outfit, and so did the Duchess of Cornwall for the church blessing, though hers was not white, and I can't recall how the collars were designed. That style can be done very well, and I'd say those two were good examples. But I'll agree that something was off about Mathilde's and Letizia's.

I really disliked Crown Princess Mary's dress. The ruffled effect on the front, along with the way she wore her hair, made me think of flamenco dancers.
 
XeniaCasaraghi said:
:giggles: I'm the only one here who liked Mary's dress from start to finish. :whistling:
I don't know if I mentioned it, but Mathilde looked horrible on her big day. The hair, the makeup, the dress it just looked horrible. IMO
Speaking of Letizia and Mathilde, does anyone like that high collared overcoat look for a wedding dress?
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HAAAATE the high collared overcoat look...it made both brides look like fairy tale witches...especially Letizia! :bang:
 
Try to imagine being Diana on her weddingday. Getting dressed and off to church and then look down when standing at the steps of St.Paul and thinking F...........ck! 1 billion people are looking and my dress is a mess. I myself probably would have sprintet in the other direction and strangled my designer.
 
Poor Diana probably didn't realize the full effect until she looked at video and photos later.

But regardless, I don't know how she maintained her poise. I don't know how ANY Royal bride maintains her poise under those circumstances.
 
Perhaps like the penguins in "Madagaskar": "Just smile and wave...smile and wave"
:)
 
I have always thought the Duchess of York looked fabulous - it was classic in every detail.

Liked the Duchess of Cambridge's choice, too. Though her makeup - especially through her veil, oddly enough (looked better without the veil) - was wince-able. Big mistake not to have consulted a professional IMO.

Diana's was a missed chance. It didn't look good then - it looks worse now. One wonders what the designer was thinking. :sad:
 
I think the Duchess of Cambridge's makeup and face looked breathtkingly beautiful BEHIND her veil...it's when she lifted her veil that it didn't look as nice.

I thought her hair was a big disappointment...I didn't like it at all.
 
@ Xeniacasaraghi: I liked Mathildes weddingdress, but thought Mary's was AWFUL!!!!
We seem to heave the opposite taste :)
I quite like the high collored overcoat look. I had a wow moment when I saw Mathilde. The only thing I did not like was that giant bouquet..
Letizia's dress was nice but was too big for her.

But Mary. She is so nicely dressed most of the time, but that wedding dress was a real mess. Maybe when it would have been a straigth skirt.. now it looked like an apron and the worst was her hairdo. Honestly she looked like a milkmaid with enormous ears ( have you noticed that ??? the hairstyle made her ears look really big.
Well every one is entitled to his/her own opinion but in this case I think my taste is better ( joke) but really how can you like Mary's weddingdress as it actually made her look more ugly than she is.

I have never liked Diana's weddingdress... I think the idea of Sophie Wessex weddingdress was nice but is was very ill-fitted, like Letizia's dress was as well.
 
Gardot said:
Kates top was a little bit weird. As if she wore a mini version of Madonnas Gaultier bra :ROFLMAO:

I didn´t liked the fabric of Marys dress, and she looked so unfinished.

Awful: Astrid of Belgium

http://www.fortunecity.com/skyscraper/inner/387/belgwed1984.jpg
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I like Astrid very much, but her gown was a big flop.

Obviously the sleeves were not a good idea...she could have used them as a water life raft to stay afloat in dire circumstances.

Also, she was seriously mistaken not to take advantage of wearing one of her mother's beautifu tiaras...she was a Royal Princess marrying an Imperial Highness and Royal Duke.

If ever a wedding called for the bride to wear a tiara, it was that one IMO.
 
Diana's dress was just overwhelming for her. I suppose she chose the Emanuels because that black strapless dress caused such a sensation, but she'd have done better to go with a more-experienced designer.

Sarah Ferguson's would have looked much nicer without those big shoulder-pads; Anne's sleeves could have been tapered a bit. I disliked Sophie's very much.

CP Victoria's dress was very very plain; it didn't impress me, and her hairstyle did not flatter her.

Grace looked perfect, but then it would be hard to detract from that cool elegant beauty under any circumstances.; I think Kate looked lovely as well.
 
The thing about Grace's gown is that on any other bride I don't think it would have been as memorable or as beautiful.

Grace's swan neck, wasp thin waistline, long arms and above all FLAWLESS face are what made her such a beautiful bride in that particular gown.

Even on another beautiful woman, I am not sure Grace's bridal gown would have been as successful...even though it WAS an exquisite bridal gown.
 
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It was designed for her, by a Hollywood designer. It was very special. I hated Diana's gown, but they did get most of the wrinkles out before she walked down the aisle. Sarah's gown was beautiful and in the style of that time. Sophie's dress was too big and for all that money, it wasn't altered. I though Mary, Matilde and Maxima looked beautiful.
 
Moonmaiden23 said:
I think the Duchess of Cambridge's makeup and face looked breathtkingly beautiful BEHIND her veil...it's when she lifted her veil that it didn't look as nice.

I thought her hair was a big disappointment...I didn't like it at all.
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I can't remember which way I preferred her makeup but it was a little bit too much. The hair was actually quite disappointing but I don't know why that side swoop bang urks me so much. I did like that she curled her hair though; it was different while at the same time being completely Kate. She loves to wear her hair down.
@olebabs, that is hilarious. I can imagine her designers telling her "don't look down at the dress". If she was aware how wrinkled it was she hid her emotions and possible disappointment well.
 
If you look closely at photos of Kate's wedding day hair, some of the curls look like they didn't quite "take"...they look wirey and limp and weird close up...it was just such a lackluster hairstyle that did NOT go with the exquisite elegance of her gown at all.

If she had added height at the crown and done away with the side part it might have worked, imo.

The side swoop was just sooo boring.

She was such a beautiful bride, but with a few little bitty changes she would have been an over-the-top unforgettable one, imo.(different hair, longer veil and train, slightly fuller skirt on the gown.)
 
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XeniaCasaraghi said:
I can't remember which way I preferred her makeup but it was a little bit too much. The hair was actually quite disappointing but I don't know why that side swoop bang urks me so much. I did like that she curled her hair though; it was different while at the same time being completely Kate. She loves to wear her hair down.
@olebabs, that is hilarious. I can imagine her designers telling her "don't look down at the dress". If she was aware how wrinkled it was she hid her emotions and possible disappointment well.
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There is documentary made before Will and Kate's wedding, based around Diana's wedding and they have Mr. Emmanuel saying that the gown got wrinkled in the small coach, but he and his wife, "zhushed", there is no word, back into place. I still didn't like it.
 
I think, no royal bride looked terrible, but the two worst ones for me are Duchess Matilde of Wurrtemberg and Mabel of the Netherlands. Matilde had a strange hair creation, a weird necklace turned into a tiara and an odd dress, and Mabel, well what is their to say that hasn't already been said?
 
Moonmaiden23 said:
HAAAATE the high collared overcoat look...it made both brides look like fairy tale witches...especially Letizia! :bang:
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I will second that! I have never seen a "coat-dress" style wedding dress that I liked. As for high collars, I think they can look nice when done on a smaller scale, as for an evening gown, but they do not work on wedding dresses, especially royal wedding dresses (IMO). Combined with a full skirt, long train, and especially a veil and tiara already framing the face, a stand-up collar is just too much. I think Mathilde managed to pull the look off a little better than Letizia, who looked like she had been swallowed whole by her dress.
 
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