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Clare Waight Keller Opens up About Creating Meghan Markle’s Royal Wedding Dress

"Purity and simplicity were the guiding principles."

Date April 23, 2020

It’s been almost two weeks since news broke that Clare Waight Keller was stepping down for role at the helm of Givenchy. The first woman to lead the brand in its history, Waight Keller has left an undeniable mark on the French luxury house. One of her, ahem, crowning moments was dressing Meghan Markle for her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018. Today, the designer has taken to Instagram to reminisce about creating one of the most iconic wedding dresses in history.

“Two years ago today I was in the final fittings for a very secret dress,” she began a lengthy post detailing the “incredibly beautiful relationship of trust and intimacy” that comes from creating a wedding dress for someone, not least the newest member of the British royal family. “So many emotions were running through me during those months leading up to the big day. A wedding dress is one of the most exquisite and beautiful moments for a designer, but also personally as a woman artist [and] creator, there is a lot of sensitivity that flows through the process from the knowledge and understanding of the feelings that you have as a bride.”

Waight Keller added that the process of creating Meghan’s dress brought back memories of her own wedding 20 years prior. “You remember every moment so clearly and realize the significance of every detail and decision. In so many ways you are capturing your dreams, that as a girl and as you become a woman you will have been thinking about for many years.”

The designer writes that “purity and simplicity were the guiding principles” for Meghan’s dress. She also added that there was also the “narrative of nature through the 53 florals of the Commonwealth to bring the world into the journey of the ceremony” and that “classical timeless beauty” was what Meghan wanted to achieve with the look.

Speaking of the wedding, Waight Keller wrote, “It was obvious the significance of this occasion was more than any other, it would be a very personal ceremony with so many choices that would reflect both the bride and groom’s heritage and their unique way of being incredibly inclusive, genuine and generous.”

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The Royal Wedding Dress – Two years ago today I was in the final fittings for a very secret dress. So many emotions were running through me during those months leading up to the big day. A wedding dress is one of the most exquisite and beautiful moments for a designer, but also personally as an woman artist, creator there is a lot of sensitivity that flows through the process from the knowledge and understanding of the feelings that you have as a bride. It’s a unique point of view when you have been through it yourself, as I did at my wedding to my beloved husband 20 years ago, you remember every moment so clearly and realise the significance of every detail and decision. In so many ways you are capturing dreams, that as a girl and as you become a woman you will have been thinking about for years. Learning to let go of my emotions and embrace the feelings of someone you are designing for brings about an incredibly beautiful relationship of trust and intimacy. Through hours of conversation, meetings together, and research, slowly all the pieces of that story came together. Purity and simplicity were the guiding principles, a narrative of nature through the 53 florals of the Commonwealth to bring the world into the journey of the ceremony and subtlety bringing the lines of Givenchy and the history of the Maison to capture the classical timeless beauty i knew she wanted to achieve. It was obvious the significance of this occasion was more than any other, it would be a very personal ceremony with so many choices that would reflect both the bride and grooms heritage and their unique way of being incredibly inclusive, genuine and generous. Here are some of those moments from the day. @givenchyofficial #hautecouture #sussexroyal #meghanmarkle #royalwedding

A post shared by Clare Waight Keller (@clarewaightkeller) on Apr 23, 2020 at 3:34am PDT

Creating Meghan’s wedding dress was the first step in a very stylish relationship between the pair, with Waight Keller going on to create some of Meghan’s best royal looks throughout her two years as a senior royal. On the pair’s one year anniversary, Waight Keller also reflected on the day via Instagram writing that “it was truly so extraordinarily beautiful and an honour and privilege to be part of a moment in history and their lives.”