Clare Waight Keller reached many milestones during her three-year tenure as artistic director at Givenchy. Foremost, she was the first woman to hold the title—a rarity in the male-dominated French fashion world. She revitalized the brand’s ready-to-wear and couture business, bringing a high dose of strength and femininity to her collections. But she is best known to the general public as the designer of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex’s wedding dress, an ensemble that will have her name etched in pop culture for generations.
On the second anniversary of the grand nuptial ceremony, Waight Keller took to her Instagram to walk down memory lane. “Two years ago today I was in the final fittings for a very secret dress,” she began.
“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,” she continued.
It is this sensitivity, this attention to emotion and how it can be translated to clothes that made Waight Keller one of the duchess’s go-to designers. It also won her the British Designer of the Year Womenswear Award, which was presented by the duchess. Indeed, the relationship between the two women seemed close, and, as the post denoted, she chatted in length with Meghan to create a dress that was a testament to her status as a royal and stayed loyal to the DNA of Givenchy.
“Through hours of conversation, meetings together, and research, slowly all the pieces of that story came together,” Waight Keller continued on the social media platform. “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.”
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