The designer behind Meghan Markle‘s wedding dress has revealed more details about the sentimental feature included in the gown. Markle previously hinted that her “something blue” was a nod to her first date with Prince Harry but now designer Clare Waight Keller is explaining just how she hid a blue piece of fabric in the stunning white Givenchy gown that took the world’s breath away back in 2018.
Markle was first to reveal that a piece of fabric from the blue dress she wore on her first date was sewn into her veil during an appearance in the 2018 HBO docuseries Queen of the World. “Somewhere in here, there’s a piece of… did you see it? The piece of blue fabric that’s stitched inside? It’s my something blue,” the former Suits star noted while admiring the gown she’d worn on her big day. “It’s fabric from the dress that I wore on our first date.”
Now, in a Vanity Fair profile on Markle’s dress, Waight Keller disclosed that the fabric segment was so subtle that no one could have seen it other than the Duchess of Sussex. “We basically sewed it into the hem of the wedding dress, so she was the only one that knew that it was there. It was a little blue gingham check,” Waight Keller said. “It was the perfect personal memento that was secretly hidden inside the dress.” The serendipitous inclusion gives another clue, albeit somewhat vague, about the couple’s origin story.
A version of this article was originally published in September 2018.
That wasn’t the only surprising and extremely thoughtful detail Markle incorporated into her veil. She and Keller collaborated to include embroidered flowers symbolic of the 53 nations of the British Commonwealth. “[She] felt like she was bringing an element of each of those countries down the aisle with her. So that her new role—and that bridge to the new role—was captured in what she was wearing,” Waight Keller said. “For both of us, we felt it was a really beautiful signature, and I think even Prince Harry was just thrilled at the idea that we really tried to capture something for everyone in that service.”
Markle’s father-in-law was also taken with this detail, according to Waight Keller. “King Charles was just in awe of the dress and the [veil] embroidery, and he asked me about it while we were waiting inside the nave,” Waight Keller said. “He was really very interested, actually, in all the different motifs and the floral representations.”
“It was important for me… now being a part of the royal family, to have all 53 of the Commonwealth countries incorporated,” Markle explained in 2018. “I knew that it would be a fun surprise as well for my now-husband, who didn’t know, and he was really over the moon to find out that I would make this choice for our day together.”
For Waight Keller, who was the first female artistic director of Givenchy before leaving the brand in 2020, collaborating with the British monarch’s wife-to-be was an enjoyable process and she praised Markle for her creative vision. “We talked a lot about what [Markle] really felt represented her as a modern interpretation of the royal role,” Waight Keller says. “She wanted to bring some simplicity and just timeless elegance. Not overly feminine, but not really minimal either. That effortless American style, where it just feels really fresh and personal. But it’s not overwhelming. It’s not specific to any particular decade.”
Before you go, click here to see Meghan Markle’s best fashion moments as a royal.
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