Since we were little girls, we have dreamt of our future wedding dress, and even if not everyone would admit it, we want to be fabulous as queens or VIPs.
If you have finally received a fantastic marriage proposal with a BIG DIAMOND and you want to get inspired for your wedding dress, here is the 10 top iconic wedding dresses of the last century.
09.20.1947
The Queen, called “Lilibeth” by her family, married the love of her life at Westminster Abbey in 1947. The two initially met when she was just 13, but it was just few years later, when the two were at the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth, that the love story begun.
Their wedding was an important event aired worldwide thanks to the determination of Prince Philip, who realized that the Royal Family needed modernization. Queen Elizabeth’s wedding dress was designed by Norman Hartnell, who signed the dress with his famous embroidery. The dress has a heart-shaped neckline with long tight sleeves, made of Chinese ivory silk and decorated with crystals, 10,000 white pearls, tulle and silver thread and a 13-foot decorated court train attached at the shoulders. Everything was enriched with a silk tulle veil and the Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara. The designer took inspiration from Botticelli’s operas, particularly with the flowers, which have been embroidered in the dress.
06.05.1950
The purple-eye diva, has collected 8 weddings during her life, but the dress of the first one, was maybe the most beautiful. She got married when she was just 18 with the rich heir of the Hilton’s at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills. The off-shoulder silk satin gown was decorated with pearls and lace inserts.
Liz Taylor in person worked with the designer, Helen Rose, the costume designer of the important Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studio, on how the dress would have been, and it took 3 months and 15 people to realize it.
On 2013 this amazing dress was auctioned for £ 122,000! Super affordable, right?
09.25.1954
The iconic and incredibly charming actress Audrey Hepburn, married in Switzerland in 1954, the American director and actor Mel Ferrer; she was just 25 but she was already a style icon. In fact, she chose a design for her dress that has become one of the most famous and inspired wedding dresses of all time.
The designer, Pierre Balmain, founded 10 years before his French fashion house and created a dress that has remained in history: the tea-length, fit and flare dress has beautiful and dreamy ballgown sleeves, elbow-length gloves, a high neck collar and a cinched waist with a bow at the back. Instead of a veil, she distinguished herself with a simple crown of roses. So chic!
04.18.1956
Grace Kelly, the famous and beautiful actress, wore one of the most elegant and best remembered bridal gowns of all time. The designer was Helen Rose, the same of Audrey’s, and it took 36 seamstresses and 6 weeks to realize the dress. The dress was gifted by the Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studio, since Grace was one of the Studio’s main actresses.
As Queen Elizabeth’s wedding, also this ceremony was broadcasted worldwide by the Studio, and was seen by 30,000,000 spectators.
The masterpiece is composed by a full lace bodice with an under-bodice and skirt support. Two other skirts were attached to it. The mise was completed by a headgear, veil, shoes, pearls and a prayer book that Grace brought down the aisle. The dress was realized with 25 yards of silk taffeta, 100 yards of silk net and hundreds of seed pearls.
After more than 50 years, this amazing dress is still influential: Kate Middleton’s dress was said to have been inspired by it. Down we’ll see together if the similarity is real.
07.29.1981
One of the most adored members of the Royal Family, called “People’s Princess” because of her humanity and global humanitarian efforts, Princess Diana married Price Charles at the majestic St Paul’s Cathedral.
Her wedding dress is one of the most famous dresses of the world and was designed by David and Elizabeth Emanuel who pictured it as a dress that "had to be something that was going to go down in history, but also something that Diana loved", and which would be "suitably dramatic in order to make an impression". The dress was realized with ivory silk taffeta and antique lace gown which was decorated with hand embroidery, 10,000 pearls and sequins that recreated a heart motif. Probably Diana was a bit superstitious, in fact she wanted a horseshoe stitched into the petticoats, realized with 18-karat gold, as a sign of good fortune. Moreover, she had a little blue bow in the waistband as her “something blue”.
The large puffed sleeves became a fashion trend and many designers started to copy it.
But the most incredible thing of Diana’s wedding dress was the court train: it was 25-foot long, the longest in royal wedding history!
04.29.2011
A real dreamy and princely wedding, awaited by the entire world: Kate and William, after many years of relationship, got married at Westminster Abbey. The dress was revealed when she stepped out of the car in front of the Church and the rumours were well-founded: the designer was Sarah Burton, creative director of Alexander McQueen.
The dress is realized with ivory and white satin gazar featuring long sleeves and a bodice covered in a splendid couture lace which includes roses, thistles, daffodils and shamrocks, representing the national flowers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It was completed with a beautiful veil made of ivory tulle and with a borrowed thing: the Cartier Halo Tiara donated by Her Majesty the Queen.
As her mother-in-law’s dress, also this gorgeous gown inspired many designers and, this style, is still very requested by many brides. Are you one of these?
05.04.2013
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication is probably the best quote for Keira’s wedding. She married the musician in a low-profile ceremony with just 11 guests at the town hall of a tiny village in the South of France. A real elopement!
The actress, one of the main sponsors of Chanel, wore a strapless mini dress that already used years before to attend different events (and used for 3 times in different occasions).
The dress is made of light pink/greige chiffon, presented on the Chanel’s Spring 2006 Haute Couture collection. For the wedding day, she completed the outfit with the iconic Chanel boucle jacket customized by the great Karl Lagerfeld, a pair of ballerina-style shoes and a flower crown.
The paparazzi photographed Keira and James after the ceremony, and she was so self-confident, so relaxed with the undone hair and a pair of black sunglasses.
Using something old brought her luck: she’s still in love with her husband, and together they had 2 fantastic kids!
So, girls remember: during your wedding day, use also something old!
08.23.2014
Angelina Jolie wore a real customized dress! It was created nothing less by Atelier Versace, since the actress is a long-time fan of Luigi Massi, the designer of the Italian Fashion House.
At first glance, the dress seems simple, a gorgeous ivory silk gown with a ruched bodice and a full A-line skirt. But, when Angelina turns, the surprise is revealed!
Both the veil and the train were covered with her children’s drawings: the designer sewed dozens of colourful and funny designs made by their six kids.
Angelina Jolie got married three times, but this dress really made history! Something that is really unique and unforgettable.
05.19.2018
We know that you were crying when Prince Harry proposed to Meghan Markle. The desired and rebel Prince has been a dream for every girl. And we can say that Meghan really realized the all-women’s dream: marry a prince!
Since they got engaged, they were in the spotlight and the expectation about her wedding dress were huge. On May 19th 2018 everyone was watching the streaming of the ceremony and we can say that the expectations were have been fulfilled.
The gown, realized by Clare Waight Keller, Artistic Director of Givenchy, was the result of a collaboration between the designer and Meghan. She chose her to create her wedding dress due to her “relaxed demeanour and the elegant aesthetic” and because she wanted to highlight the talent of an important British designer.
The dress is made of white silk with three-quarter-length sleeves with a boat neckline; the look was enriched with Queen Mary’s diamond bandeau tiara and an embroidered veil. The 16-feet veil has been fully decorated with 55 different flowers: the Wintersweet that grows close to Nottingham Cottage (where they used to live before leaving for the USA), the California poppy from where she was born, together with the other 53 flowers representing the countries of Commonwealth, which demonstrate the interest of the couple in the work of the Commonwealth.
09.01.2018
In Italy, shortly after Meghan Markle’s wedding, we had the one that was considered “the Italian Royal Wedding”: Chiara Ferragni and Fedez got married in Noto, Sicily.
She’s maybe the most important influencer of the entire world, and her wedding was a real international event. Just think that the planning and the wedding day, were recorded for her documovie that was presented at the Venice Film Festival.
She had not one, but two wonderful dresses realized by the talented hands of Maria Grazia Chiurli, creative director of Dior.
For the ceremony she wore a crochet jumpsuit with long sleeves, high neck enriched with a fluffy tulle-skirt over the top. They chose the crochet style because both Chiara and the designer, wanted to recall and demonstrate this ancient technique, practised in the southern Italy and France.
The second dress was worn during the reception and has a very sweet details: the beautiful tulle gown had the couple’s love story stitched on it. From the lyrics of Fedez’s song “Favorisca i sentimenti”, to the eye of a little lion recalling her son Leone, the entire gown narrates the most important moments of their life together.
I’m not crying, you are!
So, which one is your favourite wedding dress? Would you like to have yours similar to one of these? Share your thoughts in the comments below!