Breaking News: Kate Middleton: See Her Wedding Dress!
Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
The moment has arrived!
Kate Middleton -- who becomes a Duchess when she weds Prince William -- made her historic wedding day entrance on Friday.
VIDEO: Watch Kate arrive at Westminster Abbey
Arriving via car with her father Michael Middleton, the royal bride stepped out and at long last debuted her weddinggown: As long predicted, an Alexander McQueen gown custom-designed by Sarah Burton, the label's creative director.
PHOTOS: Inside the royal wedding
The stunning gown features a long veil, with lace covering Middleton's bare arms and shoulders. Middleton, 29, reportedly did her own makeup. Her hair? Half up, half down, with a white veil and white ring atop her head.
As she exited the car to enter the chapel, Middleton's sister and maid of honor Pippa, 26, helped her maneuver the long train.
PHOTOS: Celebs at the royal wedding
An official statement on the Royal Wedding site explains: "Miss Middleton chose British brand Alexander McQueen for the beauty of its craftsmanship and its respect for traditional workmanship and the technical construction of clothing. [She] wished for her dress to combine tradition and modernity with the artistic vision that characterises Alexander McQueen's work."
VIDEO: See Kate and William chat up their wedding -- and babies!
More details on the dress, on which Middleton collaborated: Its bodice and skirt features a lace applique hand-made by the Royal School of Needlework, with lace designed and hand-engineered using a nearly 200-year-old tradition known as Carrickmacross lace-making. Individual flowers -- rose, thistle, daffodil and shamrock -- were hand-cut and hand-engineered onto ivory silk tulle.
The dress itself was made with ivory and white satin gazar and "echoes an opening flower," the statement adds. The train measures two-meters, 70-centimeters.
The gown also features an ivory satin bodice narrowed at the waist and padded at the hips; the back is finished with 58 gazar and organza-covered buttons fastened by Rouleau loops.
Tell Us: What do you think of the dress?
Commemorate Will & Kate’s big day with our Us Collectors Edition: Royal Wedding with all the photos, anecdotes and details of the wedding. Available for pre-order now and on sale May 6.
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hello i am very happy to see you sooni live in uk i come to london about your wedding from kayan
i like the dress and i found one much similar to it on sanseed
The lace on the dress and veil were hand applied by over 50 different seamstresses wearing white gloves. It was hardly polyester, as one poster has said. I didn't care for the 'pointy' aspect, but apparently it wasn't noticeable up close, it was the way the lace was applied. A mistake? Probably - but it didn't detract from the overall beauty of the dress, IMO anyhow. :)
Why call someone hateful because they honestly don't like the dress? IMHO, the bodice area was poorly fitted and too pointy, and the style overall did not appeal to me.
The pointy boob aspect of the dress was quite unattractive, as was the polyester-looking lace. I loved her sister/bridesmaid's gown so much more!
She was stunning. I thought "Grace Kelly" too. If the bottom were ballerina length it would look exactly like my mom's wedding dress from 1957. I like it, but I expected her to be a little more dramatic. I'm too stuck on Lady Di's wedding, lol.
beautiful!
@JuLee Reeves and @Elina Kabakchieva... They officially show her shoes but if you watch the video (or there may be a pic out there somewhere), you can see Kate's shoes as she steps down from the carriage when she arrives at Buckingham Palace after the wedding. I saw them and I thought they were classically beautiful.
Kate looked every bit the princess! Beautiful, stunning and elegant dress. Perfection!
@Lori Corsello-Hannan...Hello!! Grace Kelly was American. Not all Americans know elegance and certainly not all Brits know elegance (Check out Eugenie and Beatrice). Its individual. Stop making this about Americans vs Brits. If having underwhelming style is "elegant" Kate, Duchess of Cambridge s Queen.
@Brian Olsen...Totally agree, I also thought that the bodice of the dress too "pointy", (reminds me of some Madonna costume)and made Kate look flat...everything else about the dress is beautiful.
I have a feeling the tv cameras did not do justice to this dress. Really elegant. Would like to see her shoes. Did Kate life her own veil - I never saw it happen on camera on BBC. Anyone know?
@ Ms. Anonymous..i think you're exaggerating a bit when you say American's know elegance when they see it. Though there are a lot of very knowledgeable people, you still have a lot who are ignorant of such things as culture and elegance. Kate looked absolutely stunning! And finally they get married.
Such a gorgeous dress!
She looked stunning! And her dress wasn't overstated... it was absolutely beautiful!
Frank, Americans know elegance when they see it - and Kate is very elegant. Your comment is like saying all British people are like Hyacinth's relatives on "Keeping up Appearances". You mistake tv hype with the real thing. Americans love the royal family too so get over it!!!
I want see her shoes,please one photo...
@Frank-Her dress resembled Grace Kelly's and although I didn't care for the veil, it was SO refreshing to NOT see a strappless gown for one.
She looks beautiful, but I did not like her veil at all.