Kate’s Wedding Dress & Accessories on Exhibit

As many readers are already aware, Kate’s wedding gown is part of a special exhibit this summer at Buckingham Palace.

The exhibit officially opens today. The Duchess and Queen previewed the exhibit on July 20th.

The way the dress and tiara are displayed has caused a bit of a to-do.  Here is more from The Telegraph on Queen Elizabeth’s reaction to the display yesterday:

“The Queen and the Duchess were given a sneak preview of the exhibition, which opens to the public tomorrow.

The monarch led the way and, with her hands clasped behind her back, strode into the Ballroom and stopped about 10 feet from the dress with Kate standing beside her.

As the pair chatted, the pitch of the Queen’s voice raised and she said ”horrible” and then ”horrid”.”

More from The Telegraph’s story:

It appeared the mannequin’s lack of a head may have perturbed the Queen, who added: ”It’s made to look very creepy.”

Kate countered with her own view and said it had a ”3D effect”.

Another view of HM and the Duchess looking at the exhibit. 

We move on to the exhibit itself, clearly, Sarah Burton’s design for Alexander McQueen is the star of the show. Below, the dress bodice.

More on the dress via The Royal Collection:

“The ivory satin gazar from which the dress is made is backed by white satin gazar which gives the dress its pale ivory colour. The lace appliqué is in a design unique to the wedding dress as it is made from six types of lace including Cluny and Leavers lace…”

I hadn’t realized the level of detailing at the waist on the back of the gown. (If you are counting, there 58 gazar-covered buttons on the dress.) More information from The Royal Collection:

“Once the lace design for each panel was finished it was pinned to lengths of silk tulle which were sent to the Royal School of Needlework to be appliquéd to the tulle by a team of embroiderers. Once completed the appliquéd lace was cut away from the silk tulle and sewn onto the satin gazar by the seamstresses at Alexander McQueen.

A closeup of the lace.

The Cartier Halo tiara. 

Here is a different view in a photo The Jewellery Editor acquired from the Cartier archives.

The Jewellery Editor

The Alexander McQueen shoes are also displayed.

The earrings by Robinson Pelham. 

And a silk replica of Kate’s flowers.

It looks like an amazing exhibit, even if the display strikes some as eerie.  A number of WKW Facebook community members are actually going to see the exhibit, it will be wonderful hearing their reactions.

Kate wore a dress by Joseph for the preview. 

She also had on her Annoushka earrings and her Asprey pendant.

Here are a number of sites that may also be of interest:

• To see the BBC story with the Queen’s comments on the exhibit, click here.
• If interested in seeing The Royal Collection site, click here.
• The Daily Mail‘s story is here.
• The Telegraph‘s stories are here and here, the photo gallery is here.
• The Huffington Post story is here.