Princess Kate controlled the power glamor at the coronation… but Charlotte stole the show
As the coronation procession made its way down the aisle of Westminster Abbey yesterday, the Princess of Wales was the woman under the most fashion pressure.
All eyes were on this woman who has developed into a stunning beauty with world class style and has honed her taste over the years into something exquisite.
‘Royal’ decoration can sometimes lead to a stiff, bourgeois appearance. Kate has elegantly avoided this and stands out next to her European peers as a lesson in adult glamour.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been asked a million times which designer Kate would choose to wear to the coronation.
For me it was a no brainer. I was sure it would be Sarah Burton with Alexander McQueen.
As the coronation procession made its way down the aisle of Westminster Abbey yesterday, the Princess of Wales was the woman most fashion-pressed
The Alexander McQueen dress Kate wore yesterday — underneath her red, white and deep blue Royal Victorian Order mantle — gave the Princess of Wales all the protection she needed
Burton is the British designer that Kate has put her trust in in so many of her most important moments.
It was Burton who designed her enchantingly beautiful wedding dress. She has dressed the Princess of Wales for state visits and numerous daytime occasions.
McQueen’s signature style — that fitted, structured, tight waist, flared skirt, and slim arm — exaggerates Kate’s incredible figure. It gives her a silhouette to die for.
Early in my fashion career, I was lucky enough to work with the late Alexander McQueen and was often dressed by him.
He designed my wedding dress when Sarah Burton was his chief assistant and helped carry out his vision with the seamstresses at the studio in London’s Hoxton.
Alexander was typically blunt when I suggested on my first fitting that I might have a very trendy silver lace wedding dress because I loved the way he worked with lace.
He replied that this was a terrible idea – ‘You’re not supposed to look ‘trendy’ on your wedding day. The dress must be white,’ he warned me. “You must look flawless.”
For all his East End rogueness, Alexander was a sophisticated man who understood that fashion should be appropriate for the occasion.
He believed that a well-considered silhouette, and its construction, made for great clothes and gave the wearer an innate confidence.
He trained as a tailor in Savile Row before attending Saint Martin’s School of Art, and whether he designed a coat or an evening dress, every piece was based on serious construction.
For him, seams were the invisible architecture that supported a piece of clothing like the walls of a building.
He often said that his clothes were like armor for a woman, a sartorial protection. And everything Sarah Burton has done since she took over as creative director of the brand has kept that principle alive.
The extraordinary headpiece, created by British milliner Jess Collett for Alexander McQueen, with its crystal and silver three-dimensional leaf embroidery – you could call it a non-tiara tiara – was an ultra-modern touch
But between the velvet and ermines, the sashes and garters, there was an unexpected fashion moment I won’t soon forget. Such was the sight of little Princess Charlotte, who followed her parents into the abbey
The Alexander McQueen dress Kate wore yesterday — underneath her red, white and deep blue Royal Victorian Order mantle — gave the Princess of Wales all the protection she needed.
Crafted from ivory silk crepe, with its silver bullion and embroidered wirework featuring rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock motifs – symbolizing the four nations of the United Kingdom – the dress was a work of art that ticked both the chic and the grand box.
It matched the pomp and circumstance of the occasion without being stuffy or old-fashioned.
The extraordinary headpiece, created by British milliner Jess Collett for Alexander McQueen, with its crystal and silver three-dimensional leaf embroidery – you could call it a non-tiara tiara – was an ultra-modern touch.
Combined with the pearl and diamond earrings that belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales, and the glittering George VI Festoon necklace made in 1950 at the request of King George VI for his daughter Princess Elizabeth, Kate was a vision of power glamour.
But between the velvet and ermines, the sashes and garters, there was an unexpected fashion moment I won’t soon forget.
Such was the sight of little Princess Charlotte, who followed her parents into the abbey.
She was dressed in a three-quarter ivory silk Alexander McQueen gown, with matching cape, and donned charming white ballerinas along with her own silver Jess Collett headpiece – all echoing her mother’s outfit.
It was a vision of purity, of childlike innocence, yet chic.
When it comes to red carpet rankings, Charlotte stole the show.
Plum Sykes is a novelist and editor at American Vogue