Square-Cut or Pear-Shape

So this is Princess May of Teck, in 1893, just prior to her marriage to the man who would become George V. She is wearing, I believe, her famous diamond riviere.




Willed upon her death in 1953 to her grandaughter, Princess Margaret, who wore it on her wedding day in 1960.



It was sold, reportedly for nearly $1 million, along with Margaret's wedding tiara and many other incredible gifts from Queen Mary, in 2006 to pay Margaret's death taxes.


http://www.christies.com/special_sites/woodwork/highlights.asp?s=2&h=15

Fashion Police: Dear Chelsea....

...Because you commanded that your wedding be a no fly-over zone, I assume you are claiming royal status.

If so, there is something you should know.

Strapless, it ain't.


Princess Elizabeth

( The Queen revisits her wedding dress aged 80 )

Princess Victoria


Princess Margaret

Princess Anne, revealing the Guinevere sleeves, modest train and bouquet at about 1:28-2:08




Lady Diana


The former girlfriend of Gary Cooper, William Holden and others whose names I have forgotten clutching a Bible instead of a bouquet


Fergie


Letizia


Donna Paola of Belgium, 1959

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Lillian May Davies captures Prince Bertil after 30-plus years of living in sin


The Parker Bowles, in a crown of feathers, not clutching a Bible. Like Grace's outfit, I think this refers to negligees and nightgowns.

There are many, many things to say here. The two video celebs -- Grace and Letizia -- went very different ways, Grace with a hot 'n' nasty negligee-referent lace bodice, very interesting and probably only achievable by a French designer for a Catholic bride (they do have more fun), and Letizia with Pertegaz, an ancient Cathtilian dethigner who has perfectly evoked Catherine of Aragon (the mantilla, the low Russian/Greek style tiara worn by Queen Sofia at her own wedding), studded the sacrificial woman with symbols of Spain in the carapace of symbolic embroidery, and made a divorcee of 30 look grownup, elegant, and very serious: a perfect rendering.

Diana, the lovely teenage aristocratic virgin, comes off arguably the worst. Her tiara is the best, I think, being Spencer family swag -- ours is bigger than yours, a point made, not for the first time, by her brother at her funeral -- and densely packed with diamonds. Diana's wedding tiara is without doubt older than the Queen's (the George III or Russian Fringe (!) tiara also worn by Princess Anne at her wedding).

(Update:The Spencer tiara has elements older than the Queen's, but is not older than the George III tiara.)

(Margaret had to buy the Poltimore tiara she wore from a 19th century upstart baron. It could also be converted into a necklace and 11 brooches, which shows a certain utilitarian approach to being a crowned head which is odious. It was sold off at a 2006 Christie's auction by her children to pay Margaret's death duties.)

The best wedding dresses, I think, are Anne's, Margaret's, Letizia's and Lilian's. You don't have to wear a dress cut down to your navel to show off the goods, which is one of the things everybody is thinking about at a wedding. Anne and Margaret rock the famous Windsor bosom by covering it up (note well, Grace, you harlot!), Margaret with slightly see-through silk organza over a plain (strapless? bustier) and her 18-inch waist. An interesting and very well-done big skirt for a very petite woman, a choice not everyone would have made. (Note how bad Diana's big poufy skirt looks and how light and flowy Margaret's is: it's a way of doing armored that the slim column dresses chosen by Anne and Letizia flout, but make up for in terms of commanding power bride silhouette with the Guinevere sleeves (Anne) or the standup collar (Letizia).

Thw two actual heads of state, Elizabeth and Victoria, had to choose uniforms of a kind, one going with soft silhouette but armored, or made untouchable, with a great deal of symbolic embroidery and pearl encrustation, and the other with the magnificent, archaic cameo crown with the little ponytail of mantilla and stiff armored faille, I guess it is. Nope, duchesse satin.

(I want to add that Elizabeth was constrained not only by WW2 rationing -- she saved her ration cards to buy the fabric for her dress -- but also by the need to have everything be of British manufacture and design. This may account for the less voluminous, less armored silhouette I keep talking about of her dress.
http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/microsites/royalwedding1947/object.asp?row=0&exhibs=WEDDINGDAY&grouping)