There is no question that the entirety of the Disney Princess franchise is fraught with controversy and inaccuracy. One issue that has always bothered me from a fashion history standpoint is that the clothing the Princesses wear bears next to no resemblance to actual historical fashions. Los Angeles illustrator Claire Hummel has taken on this issue in a new series of illustrations featuring the renowned ladies in more historically appropriate attire. She did a lovely job maintaining the integrity of the original designs that we have all become so familiar with, while adding more authentic silhouettes and fabrics. Hope you enjoy as much as I did! (She even has prints available in her shop for a mere $10).
Here's a fun little video that features headpieces of past British Royal weddings, speculation on what head wear Kate will wear on her big day, and a collection of de-lic-ious hats!
Prince Albert, Duke of York (later King George VI) and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon were married on April 26, 1923.
After proposing to Lady Elizabeth three times, Prince Albert was finally accepted on January 13, 1923. Elizabeth did not refuse Bertie because she did not love him, but because she was reticent to enter a life of public service and celebrity.
The princess-to-be was given a sapphire and diamond engagement ring, sapphires were said to be her favorite stone.
Lady Elizabeth had eight bridal attendants from the British aristocracy who were dressed in a similar fashion to the bride.
The wedding ceremony took place in London's Westminster Abbey. As the bride began her procession down the aisle with her father, she placed her bouqet of white roses on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in somber remembrance of the fallen soldiers of the recently ended First World War. The bride had lost her brother Fergus in the war and herself had spent the war caring for wounded soldiers.
It is important to remember that when one marries into royalty, they become not just a spouse, but a representative of an entire people. The Archbishop of York reminded the couple of this in no uncertain terms during the ceremony when he stated, "The warm and generous heart of this people takes you today unto itself. Will you not, in response, take that heart, with all its joys and sorrows, unto your own?" This seems to almost foreshadow the unprecedented manner in which Prince Albert was later to reluctantly become King George VI and the tumultuous times in which they would reign together, steadfast and courageous in their commitment to the United Kingdom through the horrors of World War II.
You can learn more about the lives of the Duke and Duchess of York and their controversial rise to the throne in the Oscar nominated film The King's Speech.
King George passed away in 1952, it is believed that the great stress of reigning through World War II contributed to his untimely death. In 2002, at the age of 103, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother died. I was studying abroad in London at the time and I was able to attend her funeral procession. It was clear that she was much beloved by the people of England as well as her own family, I'm sure Prince William will be thinking of his dear great-grandmother on his wedding day this April, 88 years and 3 days after her marriage to Prince Albert.
And here is a sweet video of the wedding day. I can imagine how fun it would be to replicate this style of videography for a present day wedding.
While marriages between commoners and Royals are not unheard of, the love match between American-born and educated Lisa Halaby to King Hussein of Jordan was certainly unusual.
Lisa Halaby was a 26 year old Princeton graduate working as a decorator for Pan-Am in Jordan when she met the thrice-married 42 year old King of Jordan at an airport ceremony in Amman. Halaby, the granddaughter of a Lebanese man who emigrated to the United States, reportedly felt very at home in the Middle East and was already acclimated to life in Jordan when she first encountered King Hussein. However, she took three days to accept the King's proposal which followed a six-week courtship that consisted of being dined every evening. Agreeing to become a Queen is not something to be taken lightly, but she did finally agree, out of love "for the man, not the king."
It is not the custom in Jordan for women to receive engagement rings.
The couple was married on June 15, 1978 at Raghdan Palace in Amman in what Halaby later described as "perhaps the one of the most modest Royal weddings of all time." The ceremony was a small, traditional Muslim affair, with no bridal attendants present, and reportedly was only four minutes long. Halaby looked like many other Western brides of the late 1970s. She wore a modest, simple Dior gown and very little jewelry with a traditional white tulle veil, carrying a cascade of white orchids.
Upon marrying the King, Lisa Halaby's name became "Noor al Hussein" or "Light of Hussein". The two had four children together and remained married until the death of the King in 1999. She remains Dowager Queen Noor to this day, devoting her time to charitable pursuits.
The marriage of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert was one that was essentially arranged for them by family, seen as a means to ensure friendly relations with great nations. However, it is also abundantly clear that the two had a true, genuine, and passionate love for one another (this is the subject of the 2009 film The Young Victoria)
Despite their implicit betrothal, it was essentially the Queen who proposed to Albert. Of course, her offer was accepted and the Prince gifted her with an unusual engagement ring fashioned to look like a snake which was symbolic of eternal love, encrusted with emeralds. It was the fashion at the time to give a woman an engagement ring that featured her birthstone. She loved the ring so much that it is believed she was buried wearing it.
The wedding took place nearly two years after her coronation on February 11, 1840 at the Royal Chapel of St. James' Palace. Despite the rain on Her Majesty's wedding day, crowds of subjects thronged the processional route from Buckingham Palace to St. James', eager to catch a glimpse of their Sovereign and her Consort in their finery. The ceremony was attended by 2100 guests.
Although Victoria was not the first Royal to wear white to her wedding, it was her doing so that set the de riguer trend that continues even to this day. In this way, she is perhaps the Royal who has had the greatest influence on bridal fashion.
She purportedly chose the color because she wished to use some fine lace that she particularly liked that she believed looked best with the rich white satin she selected for the gown. The lace, completely hand made, was four yards in length and three-quarters of a yard wide and reportedly took eight months to make. The pattern for the lace was destroyed after its completion so that it could never be replicated for another client.
In order to emphasize the solemnity of the occasion, Victoria chose to rely more on adornments of orange blossoms than on her Royal jewelry collection, although she did wear large diamond earrings and a diamond necklace. Her veil, which did not conceal her face, was of hand made Honiton lace and took six weeks to complete.
She had twelve bridesmaids, who all dressed in a similar fashion to the Queen, wearing primarily white with accents of light blue and many floral embellishments.
Victoria and Albert, by all accounts, enjoyed a rich married life, producing nine children in the twenty years that they were married. After his death in 1861, the Queen wore only black for the rest of her life to pay homage to the mourning she felt at his loss. She continued to reign dutifully over the largest empire the world has ever seen until her own death in 1901.
To celebrate reaching 100 posts on this blog, I have a little roundup of fashion images from the past 100 years. It certainly is not exhaustive, but gives a fun look at the way silhouettes have changed over the last 100 years, and what elements have been recycled over time.
Possibly one of the most iconic weddings of modern times, the marriage of Prince Ranier III of Monaco to American actress Grace Kelly was exceedingly glamorous, sparking the romantic imaginations of millions worldwide.
Ranier and Grace first met in May 1955 at the Cannes Film Festival. They were engaged by December. Grace Kelly actually received two engagement rings. The first was a Cartier infinity band of rubies and diamonds.
However, apparently upon a trip to Los Angeles, the Prince saw that the American actresses were all sporting large diamond engagement rings and thus he bought his betrothed a ring with 12 carat emerald cut diamond flanked by baguettes.
The actress-turned-Princess also had two weddings. The first was an intimate civil ceremony held in the throne room of the Monaco palace on April 18, 1956, followed by a grand gala where citizens of Monaco had the opportunity to personally shake hands with their new Princess. The Princess wore a modest and chic two-piece ensemble* of pink taffeta with an overlay of cream Alencon lace and a charming pink Juliette cap.
The religious ceremony was held then next morning at St. Nicholas' Cathedral, witnessed by 600 church guests and an estimated 30 million television viewers in Europe alone. (To give readers an idea of the immensity of the viewing audience, in 1960 there were an estimated 52 million television sets in the United States).
Princess Grace, widely known as a fashion icon, was downright luminescent in her Helen Rose gown of Brussels rose point lace and silk, thought by many to be the most beautiful wedding gown of all time. The gown was simple in design and impeccably constructed, giving center stage to Grace's natural beauty and elegance.
Given the scale of the affair, Kelly's entire appearance was understated yet undeniably sophisticated. The high neckline, long sleeves, chapel-length train and diminutive bouquet of lilies-of-the-valley lent a modest, pious and unassuming brilliance to the gorgeous actress.
Kelly's six bridesmaids (you can read about them in this book) wore unadorned yellow silk organza Priscilla of Boston gowns.
The wedding's uncomplicated, graceful style belied the glamor of the event. Included among the guests were various heads of state and diplomats, Cary Grant, Aristotle Onassis, Gloria Swanson, Ava Gardner and hotelier Conrad Hilton (acting as a representative of US President Eisenhower).
Grace Kelly's gown has a timeless quality that was widely emulated in the 1950s and 1960s, and continues to provide inspiration to this day.
I decided to start with Charles and Di, because they are going to be the most obvious point of comparison when Kate and Wills tie the knot.
For all the highly publicized drama that their relationship came to be known for, it is impossible to imagine a marriage getting off to a more spectacular beginning. Diana, a mere 20 years old on her wedding day, was certainly a 1980s version of a fairy-tale princess. She possessed a grace, charm, charisma and beauty that was (in this fashionista's humble opinion) a bit lacking in the Royal family. Her shy eyes, friendly smile, and compassionate manner stole the hearts of millions worldwide. The couple became engaged in February 1981. Diana's engagement ring was a Garrard Jewelers 18 carat oval sapphire surrounded by 14 diamonds set in white gold. The ring gained additional significance and attention when Prince William offered it to Kate Middleton upon his proposal.
The wedding, touted by many as "the wedding of the century", took place on July 29, 1981 at St. Paul's Cathedral. Royal weddings traditionally take place at Westminster Abbey, the change in venue was decided upon because St. Paul's offers more seating and church guests numbered 3,500.
At least 600,000 people lined the streets of the processional route in hopes of gaining a glimpse of the Princess Bride while an astounding 750 million viewers watched the nuptials on television.
Diana's gown was so enormous that she and her father could not comfortably fit into the glass coach that carried her along the processional route and when she emerged from the conveyance, the skirt was noticeably crumpled.
The silk taffeta gown, designed by Elizabeth and David Emanuel (who have since written a book on the subject), boasted a 25 foot train, 10,000 hand-stitched pearls and sequins as well as hand-worked embroidery. Despite its grand opulence, the gown possessed a modesty befitting the decorum of the Royal nuptials.
Diana had five bridesmaids, ages 5-17 in attendance with her. Their gowns are in many ways mini-replicas of her gown.
After their ceremony, and before their relatively intimate palace reception of 120 guests, Charles and Diana stepped onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace to acknowledge their admiring subjects. It was at that time that the Prince and his new Princess shared the first public Royal kiss. Diana's gown and the grandeur of her wedding were hugely influential on 1980s weddings. Leg o' Mutton sleeves, lace appliques, and ballgown sillhouttes dominated bridal fashions of the decade.
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