Royal Wedding – Best Dressed

An autumn wedding is always going to be tricky when you’re planning an outfit in advance. The gusty winds in Windsor yesterday saw plenty of hats fly off the heads of guests filing into St. George’s Chapel, revealing those who had and had not utilised the hat pin! The most successful headwear on a day like yesterday were the small discreet pill box style hats/headpieces, secured with an elastic band, or the alice band style headbands that are more popular lately, as worn by the Maid of Honour, Princess Beatrice. For dresses – heavier fabrics, longer hemlines or fitted dresses/skirt suits were the best choices to avoid any unfortunate Marilyn Monroe moments. Autumn/winter weddings are a great time to wear rich jewel shades and there were a lot of them on show – forest green being the most popular, worn by Princess Anne, Autumn Phillips and Pippa Middleton – also berry pinks and burgundy reds. My top three favourite outfits go to those who seemed to nail the autumn wedding look in colour, style and appropriate headwear.

Alessandra de Osma

Alessandra de Osma wore a forest green midi dress by Andrew Gn, with ¾ sleeves and scattered floral embroidery. This was definitely my favourite dress of the day amongst the guests. I love the deep green colour, the slightly fluted sleeves and flounce hem and the floral scatter embellishment adds just the right amount of autumnal floral detail to glam it up a bit. Forest green was a really popular colour at the wedding but I like the combination of green with berry pinks here. Alessandra picked out the berry of the embroidery in her headpiece by Mimoki, with burgundy velvet clutch and patent heels.

 

 

The Duchess of Cambridge

 

The Duchess of Cambridge’s outfits are fairly predictable at formal royal events as she rarely strays from her two favourite designers for formal wear – Alexander Mcqueen and Catherine Walker. For yesterday’s wedding she opted for Mcqueen – wearing a lovely raspberry shade of pink, matching it with a velvet veiled headpiece trimmed with handcrafted flowers – a bespoke variation of this velvet calotte from the AW18 collection of Philip Treacy. If Alessandra wore the best dress this is definitely my favourite hat from the wedding – a variation of the style was also worn by Kitty Spencer at a wedding earlier this year and on Michelle Dockery at Royal Ascot in June. Kate’s dresses by Mcqueen tend to be variations on a theme, but I’m not holding that against her as the hat was the standout element in this ensemble anyway, so it needed to be set against a simple block colour to shine. Her burgundy velvet accessories were the perfect final touch to the look.

Cressida Bonas

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cressida Bonas wore a blue devoré velvet dress by Tory Burch. The dark velvet fabric could have drowned her delicate frame if worn with the wrong accessories but she matched it perfectly – with a velvet headband by Juliette Botterill and contrasting burgundy shoes by Rupert Sanderson. The hemline and fabric were perfect for the weather and season and the headband adds a touch of youth to freshen up the look. Big ticks all round from The Lady’s Maid.

Other Best Dressed Guests:

Demi Moore

I think Demi was the “Amal” of this wedding – dressed head to toe in burgundy red. Dress: Stella McCartney, hat: Philip Treacy, bag (appropriately named “Demi”): Gabriela Hearst, shoes: Malone Souliers.

Princess Beatrice

Princess Bea has never looked better – loved this royal blue skirt suit by Ralph & Russo with lilac suede accessories, also by Ralph & Russo, and a blue/purple headband by Sarah Cant. The bee brooch is adds a nice elegant touch too.

Jane Gottschalk

I love this belted blush/burgundy shirt dress by Luisa Beccaria – I featured it on my Instagram page last week so I’m glad to see it make an appearance at the Royal wedding!

Lady Natasha Rufus Isaacs

Loved the autumnal florals of this midi dress matched with a dusky pink hat by Laura Cathcart.

Alice Naylor Layland

A bold and beautiful teal floral jacquard tiered coat by La Double J with hat by Laura Cathcart.

 

Ayda Williams

A stylish silver look – love the patent pewter accessories. Suit: Armani, hat: Philip Treacy.

Autumn Phillips

Dressed in the colour of the day – a forest green jacquard dress by Suzannah.

Caroline Sieber

Chic in lilac Chanel.

Lydia Forte 

There were a lot of veiled hats at this royal wedding – and this one by Jane Taylor was one of the chicest – love the statement brooch too.

Anya Rowland

Monochrome chic in a tailored ecru dress from The Fold with hat by Jane Taylor.

Lady Gabriella Windsor

Here comes the next royal bride – Lady Gabriella Windsor in turquoise Claire Mischevani.

Nicky Malone 

Beautiful in burgundy by Claire Mischevani with matching floral headband by Juliette Botterill

Clare Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford-Haven

Wearing an elegant navy blue Claire Mischevani dress coat.