Just a quick follow-up to Wednesday’s blog which offended some strapless dress wearers and speculated as to what the now-royal bride would wear today. Personally, I was wearing a blue maternity robe while I watched The Kiss(es) on the Balcony. The whole scene was sweet and romantic, but I loved the curmudgeons among the wedding party–Queen Elizabeth hustling off the balcony in her lemon-yellow dress once she’d had enough and grouchy little Grace van Cutsem, Prince William’s goddaughter/bridesmaid, who just did not care for all that noise.
First of all, kudos to Kate Middleton for wearing a dress that looks absolutely nothing like something a senior would wear to her prom (although she did switch into a strapless dress and ski-bunny angora bolero-!-for the evening dance party).
But THE dress, for the ceremony, was covered in lace handmade in her sweetheart’s monarchy, which was far too delicate to allow for fist-pumping the bouquet, or removing of any garters, at least until after all the festivities are over. Kate’s dress looked regal, it looked elegant, it looked…a lot like Grace Kelly’s, as so many commentators pointed out. (I read in Vanity Fair that, months ago, she was overheard discussing how much she loved Grace Kelly’s dress with her future stepmom-in-law, Camilla, at lunch; I guess that rumor was true.)
Sure, Kate’s dress was high fashion (Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen), and Grace Kelly’s was high Hollywood (designed by MGM costumer Helen Rose). But it makes sense to me that Kate (or, as I’ve noticed in the blogosphere, people now call her, Princess Catherine) chose Princess Grace as her sartorial role model. I don’t think there’s one bride out there today who dreams of wearing a dress as fluffy and mushroomy as Princess Diana’s. And furthermore, a smart bride shouldn’t resemble her groom’s mother on their wedding day (or should she? That’s a question for the Freudians out there). So dressing like Lady Di was out.
But then there’s also the fact that Kate has something in common with Grace Kelly. And I guess just inadvertently made a pun, because that similarity is that neither of them were royals when they married; both were commoners. But each of them looked every inch the princess.
And that’s enough about Royal Weddings for now. Kate may want to look like Grace Kelly, but my Mercury-retrograde-caused technological troubles continue to plague me, so my role model is officially Grace van Custom, who reminds me of a Hello Kitty t-shirt I once saw and coveted that read “Cute on the outside, angry on the inside.” Grace, I may be a 36 year old with a large pregnant belly, but on the inside, I look just like you.
