The Royal Wedding Details: The wedding outfit

In the December 15th numerous designers were asked for their wedding gown design suggestions for the upcoming nuptials of Kate Middleton to Prince William.

Well-known couture wedding gown designers like Monique L'huillier, Badgley Mischka, Reem Acra and Vera Wang, fashion design houses such as Gucci and Chanel and even J.Crew submitted their beautiful sketches.

Peter Copping (Nina Ricci)

Karl Legerfeld (Chanel)

Vera Wang

Frida Giannini (Gucci)

Rebecca Taylor

Pier Paolo Piccioli and Maria Grazie Chiuri (Valentino)

Alberta Ferretti

Angela Missoni

Elizabeth Emanuel

The bridal dress, designed by the London-based designer Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen, was made of satin and featured an overlaid lace bodice and appliqued skirt. The lace bodice incorporated machine-made lace, sourced from manufacturers in France and Britain. Floral motifs were cut from lengths of these and then appliqued by hand onto tulle by workers from the Royal School of Needlework. The veil was held in place by a Cartier Scroll Tiara, made in 1936 and lent to her by the Queen. It was purchased by the Queen's father, the future King George VI, for his wife Elizabeth three weeks before his accession. Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) received the tiara from her mother on her 18th birthday. In order to avoid her tiara falling off, as had happened for Lady Diana Spencer while wearing a Spencer family tiara during her 1981 wedding to the Prince of Wales, Catherine's stylists "backcombed the top of her hair to create a foundation for the tiara to sit around, then did a tiny plait in the middle and sewed it on."

 For the customary bridal themes of "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue", Middleton's gown had lace appointments (the "old"), diamond earrings given by her parents (the "new"), the Queen's tiara (the "borrowed"), and a blue ribbon sewn into the bodice (the "blue"). The shoes were also from Alexander McQueen and had a lace pattern matching the dress with appliques made by the Royal School of Needlework.

 

The bride's shield-shaped wired bouquet, designed by Derek Connolly, contained myrtle, Lily of the Valley, Sweet William and hyacinth.

Middleton's hair was styled in loose curls for the occasion by hair dresser James Pryce of the Richard Ward Salon. She received private make-up lessons from Arabella Preston and the entire bridal party received "makeup artistry assistance" from Bobbi Brown make-up artist Hannah Martin prior to the event, but ultimately Middleton did her own makeup for the occasion. The look was described as a "soft smokey eye" with pink lips and cheeks. Her nails were painted by manicurist Marina Sandoval in a mixture of two polishes: a "barely there pink" and a "sheer beige" to complement her skin tone and gown.

 All in all, it was the perfect outfit for the royal wedding.