Prince Harry & Meghan's Wedding: Your Guest Fashion Predictions

First, a little housekeeping:

Yes, we will have an open post tomorrow for wedding watchers. The wedding is at noon (that's 7 am Eastern), members of the royal family arrive from 11:20, and other guests start to arrive at 9:30.

Yes, the post will include links to livestream the wedding. Many regular broadcast stations are also showing it; here's a guide for viewers in the U.S.

Second, a little troubleshooting: I've heard from a few readers who can't see the comments section, which can happen when Disqus does updates. Clearing the cache/cookies on your browser usually fixes it; if not, try a different browser.

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With that out of the way, let's move our fashion predictions on from the bride to the some of the guests!  

What will the royal guests be wearing?

A few designer predictions from me for the main ladies of the royal family...

The Queen: While QEII doesn't exclusively wear Angela Kelly's designs, she's usually up for the big occasions and I don't expect this to be any different. Maybe she'll even go ~*wild*~ like she did at William and Kate's wedding and abandon her traditional black accessories for beige! There's a post open for brooch speculation over at the Jewel Vault, by the way.

The Duchess of Cornwall: I'm hoping for Anna Valentine but Bruce Oldfield also does a lot of work for Camilla. Surely a Philip Treacy hat will top it off.

The Duchess of Cambridge: Packham or McQueen are the safest bets, do you agree? McQueen would be a little nod to her own wedding day.

Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie: I have no idea what we'll see from Beatrice, except to say that she'll cause disappointment no matter what she does with her hat - from those hoping for something wild or those hoping she learned from last time! For Eugenie, I'm wishing for a reunion with Vivienne Westwood, if only for the promise that they might be working together on Eugenie's own wedding gown. Tatler reports that it will be a blue dress from Gainsbourg, a bespoke tailoring/couture label, with a hat from Fiona Graham of Fi Graham Millinery.

The Countess of Wessex: I already put my predictions up earlier this week, either Suzannah or Emilia Wickstead. Certainly a Jane Taylor hat, and probably another Jane Taylor creation for Lady Louise.

The Princess Royal: William and Kate's wedding warranted something new, and I expect something new here too from the royal family's most dedicated repeater.

Autumn Phillips and Zara Tindall: They've both used a lot of different designers, so this is a wide open field.

Lady Sarah Chatto and the Countess of Snowdon: Sarah will wear Jasper Conran (her own wedding gown designer) and a Stephen Jones hat, which is not a surprise as this team crafts most (if not all) of her special occasion looks. For Serena, I'd guess a Rachel Trevor-Morgan hat and maybe something by Dior.

Your turn! What are you hoping and predicting for the guests?

May 18, 2018

Prince Harry & Meghan's Wedding: Your Tiara Poll Results, and Dress Prediction Time!

I asked, you answered: Which tiara will Meghan Markle wear on her wedding day? Your poll results, coming right up...

Something New or New-to-Us

Almost 30% of you put your money on something we haven't seen before, and the ideas for what that could be were plentiful: a discreet new purchase, something we haven't seen before from the Queen's vaults, something created from existing pieces in the Queen's vaults, or even the creation of something new from Diana's personal jewels.

The Strathmore Rose Tiara

Coming in second, 25% of you guessed that the Strathmore Rose Tiara, a wedding gift to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother from her father, will make a grand reappearance after decades in the vault.

The Queen Mother's Cartier Bracelet Bandeau, or No Tiara on the Wedding Day

Tied at about 10% of the votes apiece, many of you were led to the small Cartier Bracelet Bandeau or to a no tiara conclusion based on your interpretations of Meghan's personal style so far. She did, after all, once cite Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy's sleek wedding look as a favorite, and it's hard to get further from the fuss of a tiara than that. There were also plenty of wishes for the use of some brooches in the hair, because a) that would be interesting and different, and b) we've seen that approach yield stunning results in the past (hi, Princess Charlene). 

The remainder of the votes were pretty evenly split. In the comments, those of you that disagreed with my selections held out hopes for other options like the Spencer Tiara, the Lotus Flower Tiara, or the Teck tiaras. While the Spencer Tiara, owned by the Spencer family, would be a touching choice, I'd much rather see her in something loaned from the royal family. The Teck Circle Tiara was the Teck tiara most mentioned, but as it is in the collection of the Earl of Snowdon, I think that's out; the Teck Crescent Tiara is still around and has been loaned to the Duchess of Cornwall.

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With our tiara opinions out of the way, it's time to move on to the next burning question: Who will design Meghan's wedding gown and what will it look like? There will be an evening reception too, so double those questions.

Many predictions are veering towards Ralph & Russo at this point, with Stella McCartney and Erdem among those whose names are still in the game...along with Burberry, Jenny Packham, Roland Mouret, and more. Is there a designer at this point who hasn't had their name thrown into the hat as a potential designer of the royal wedding gown?

The bride at Ralph & Russo's Spring 2018 Couture show
Vogue

Ralph & Russo's designers are two Australians based in London, and they've got the couture skills to handle a royal wedding gown. I've been hoping a British royal would adopt them as a fave, so I'd love to see what they could do. Meghan already wore one of their gowns for the engagement portraits.

Even though it seems like a long shot at this point, I keep thinking back to 2016 and the gown Emilia Wickstead created for Lady Charlotte Wellesley. I said she leapt to the top of my royal wedding gown wish list at the time and I still want to see what she would do.

When it comes to everything else...I don't know. And so I turn it over to you and your guesses...

May 17, 2018

Royal Hat of the Day: The Countess of Wessex's Lattice (x3)

The Countess of Wessex joked at an event last week that she has her royal wedding outfit all ready to go, and I'll be shocked if it doesn't include a new hat from Jane Taylor, her favorite milliner. Sophie warmed up for a hat-tastic weekend by attending the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the season yesterday, selecting a Jane Taylor hat we've seen in two different versions with three different outfits. Comparison time!

Embed from Getty Images

Royal Ascot 2017

Here's the hat's debut, with a black accent on top and a green Emilia Wickstead dress. I loved the lattice effect on this hat and so did many of you; the whole look garnered enough mentions to be in the running for your best day outfit of 2017.

Attending the Sultan of Brunei's Golden Jubilee celebrations
RTB screencap

Luckily for us, Sophie wasn't nearly done with the hat. Come October, the black twist on top was swapped for matching beige twists and coral feather accents to match a new outfit from Suzannah with a white top and coral skirt.

Embed from Getty Images

Attending a Buckingham Palace garden party yesterday

Now we have our third hat appearance, still in its coral version and worn with a red dress from Alaïa. (I assume she's informing the guests that she's wearing, like, a totally important designer).

Royal Family

Props to Sophie for repeating the same hat three times and managing to make each look completely different, right? Three times in less than a year and I'm not tired of this hat yet. That's a feat.

Azzedine Alaïa Scalloped Wavy Stripe Knit Dress, per the Countess of Wessex Blog

I'm still gonna ask the question, though: When did she wear it best? Give me Ascot any day, really. Can we get the black accent back? Coral might be my very least favorite color, so I'm biased.

(While we're at it, the first two outfits here contain some safe guesses for the designer behind Sophie's wedding outfit: either Suzannah or Emilia Wickstead, her current go-to designers for all her bespoke needs.)

May 16, 2018