Meghan Markle Wears Givenchy Designer Clare Waight Keller to Wed Prince Harry

Meghan Markle opted for stunning simplicity with the Clare Waight Keller-designed dress she decided to walk down the aisle in for her royal wedding to Prince Harry. Though she is British, Waight Keller is the artistic director of the French house of Givenchy, and is notable as the first-ever female artistic director in Givenchy’s history.

Anticipation over the bride’s dress had been steadily building for weeks and reached fever pitch yesterday when Page Six reported that Meghan Markle, now the Duchess of Sussex, had chosen Stella McCartney to dress her on her big day. Waight Keller had not been on any of the bookie’s favourite lists up until now, yet the dress the world has been waiting for certainly did not disappoint.

Rather than going the frilly, tiered wedding cake route, Markle’s dress was a classic, long-sleeved affair featuring a wide boat neck that just barely exposed the bride’s shoulders, a relatively short train and -- gasp -- no lace to behold. The veil of the dress is particularly significant - Waight Keller designed it to feature the distinctive flora of all 53 Commonwealth countries, because as Kensington Palace says, the bride had wanted to include all of the Commonwealth with her on her wedding day.

The sober minimalism of the gown meshes well with Markle’s royal style we’ve seen so far: confident and bold, defined by clean, architectural lines.