Princess Beatrice Weds In Norman Hartnell

Like everything in 2020, the most recent royal wedding was a little different than the normal pomp and circumstance. But that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t rather lovely, and that Princess Beatrice, a lady who has been maligned for her fashion choices in recent years, may just have worn the most memorable royal wedding dress in recent years.

The beautiful gown was designed by the classic royal designer Norman Hartnell and was originally designed for The Queen, Princess Beatrice’s grandmother. She wore the original dress for a royal engagement in 1960. It was a classic royal gown in satin with embellishments, and originally had shoulder straps. Beatrice had the gown adapted for more formal Royal wedding style by adding sheer, puffed sleeves to the straps, with similar stone embellishments to the rest of the dress.

I think that this dress is perfect for a modern royal wedding, with both the cachet of being a vintage gown with a story (what can be more glamorous than a dress originally worn by a young Queen), and also the fact that it is, essentially, a recycled gown, something that totally fits in with ideas about abandoning fast fashion, looking at more sustainable ideas – green carpets rather than red, etc.

It’s true that many recent Royal brides have looked to the past for inspiration for their dresses, a case in point being Kate Middleton, whose dress was inspired by both Princess Margaret and Grace Kelly’s gowns. But I love that Princess Beatrice has actually took this a step further and actually worn vintage, a dress with a real provenance, and has just slightly changed it to make it her own.

We are all trying to be a little more greener, and make our wardrobe work for its keep, and I’m sure that Beatrice will now inspire other 2020 brides to look at wearing a vintage wedding dress,

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