The Best Royal Wedding Dresses of the Last 70 Years What were regal brides wearing the year you were born? An inexhaustible source of wonder for us commoners, royal weddings offer us a glimpse into a world filled with Dior-embellished grace and Manolo Blahnik heels. Designer Norman Hartnell had the honor of designing Her Majesty’s rich duchess satin dress, which drew inspiration from Botticelli’s painting Primavera. Leaving her film career behind to marry Prince Aly Khan—a son european bride hairstyle Sultan Muhammed Shah, Aga Khan III—Rita Hayworth found inspiration in Christian Dior’s 1947 New Look collection.
Her third wedding dress embodied Dior’s classic elegance with its small bust and long, ample skirt. The last Empress of Iran opted for a custom Christian Dior wedding gown. Thirty-seven yards of silver lamé embellished with 20,000 feathers and 6,000 diamonds were used to create the opulent dress. 1953: Jacqueline Onassis and John F. Often referred to as America’s royal family, the Kennedy’s put together one of the 20th century’s most high-profile nuptials for the wedding of John F. Ann Lowe, a relatively under-the-radar designer from Alabama, created Jackie’s stunning gown.
Making Lowe’s creation all the more impressive is the fact that a flood nearly destroyed the dress just ten days before the wedding. When Hollywood star Grace Kelly married the Monegasque leader, she wore a gown by MGM costumer Helen Rose, who had dressed her for her films High Society and The Swan. The most expensive dress ever made by Helen Rose, the gown used lace that was over one hundred years old, as well as 25 yards of silk taffeta, and 100 yards of silk net. The granddaughter of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, a member of the British royal family, chose a romantic long-sleeved, satin ball gown for her wedding to Scottish politician David Liddell-Grainger.
Queen Fabiola, a Spanish commoner who had been a nurse when she got engaged to the Belgian king, opted for a drop-waist dress made of ivory satin with white mink trim. The glamorous and exotic bridal look included a traditional ankle-length Sikkimese kho. Princess Anne Marie of Denmark wore a flowing, empire waist gown with three-quarter sleeves by Danish designer Jørgen Bender, when she married her love to become the Queen of Greece. The bride sported a slender, high neckline gown with a lengthy train made by Caroline Bergé-Farwick of Maison Linette, a couturier to the Dutch royal family. Her groom was a German diplomat. Queen of Denmark opted for a gown by Jørgen Bender, when she wed just three years later.
