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Bonnie Fuller

Bonnie Fuller

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Kate Middleton, Please Don't Wear a Sexy Wedding Dress When You Marry Prince William!

Posted: 04/25/11 12:09 PM ET

Kate -- I beg you -- buck the big trend for celeb brides to sex it up. Instead, be glamorously demure like Princess Diana.

From Reese Witherspoon to Khloe Kardashian to Hilary Duff and Carrie Underwood -- the best-known celeb brides have gone strapless, booty-hugging, and often even cleavage-baring.

Where once the key attributes for wedding gowns were modesty -- white, high-necked affairs -- bespoking a young woman's virginity, today thousands of brides see their wedding day as a chance to show off their "wares."

This is why I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Kate Middleton follows the example of the most famous bride of all time, her mother-in-law, Diana. Diana's wedding gown, worn when she married Prince Charles at St. Paul's Cathedral on July 29, 1981, was jaw-droppingly gorgeous, completely original and also royally modest.

Created by the husband/wife design team -- Elizabeth and David Emanuel -- its ruffled V-neckline perfectly set off Diana's fashionable shaggy crop cut, without revealing even a speck of the princess's cleavage. Poofy sleeves, a full skirt, a 25-foot train, and a tiara crown with 150 yards of netting for the veil spelled out royal romance from the top of Diana's blonde head to the bottom of her tulle petticoat.

When women watched Diana walk down the aisle, the first words they thought were taffeta and lace, tulle, and 10,000 sequins. What they didn't think was -- "Wow, that Diana looks HOT!"

Originally posted on Hollywood Life.

 

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Kate -- I beg you -- buck the big trend for celeb brides to sex it up. Instead, be glamorously demure like Princess Diana. From Reese Witherspoon to Khloe Kardashian to Hilary Duff and Carrie Underwo...
Kate -- I beg you -- buck the big trend for celeb brides to sex it up. Instead, be glamorously demure like Princess Diana. From Reese Witherspoon to Khloe Kardashian to Hilary Duff and Carrie Underwo...
 
 
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01:06 PM on 04/28/2011
Since when is "modesty" still a virtue, except among Talibans and Christian Fundamentalists? Anyway, she has shown that she can be lusty, yet also have excellent fashion sense. Whatever she'll pick, I'm sure it will make her look good.

My wife & I will be up at 4AM tomorrow, to watch the show, with English muffins, orange jam and tea!
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Comeplayinmyreality
enter at your own risk
05:47 PM on 04/27/2011
I personally didnt like Princess Di's wedding dress, too much material. I guess for the 80's it was nice but she should wear something like that, but can still wear something that isnt cleavage bearing or too body hugging.
GraceNotes
We live for books.
03:17 PM on 04/26/2011
People who say they know about these things will also tell you that to walk down the aisle at Westminster, you are competing with some pretty heavy architecture, so the dress must be big and over the top, which leads many to speculate that Alexander McQueen's house might be the designer for the main dress.
I also found out this weekend that Katherine is allergic to horses, so maybe that is part of the reason for taking a car to the Abbey.
GraceNotes
We live for books.
02:08 PM on 04/26/2011
Katherine will actually wear three dresses on Friday. One to Westminster Abbey to get married in, and will later change dresses twice. I am sure Diana did something similar, but we never saw either of them.
11:05 AM on 04/26/2011
Well, I think a "woman" 10 years older than the 19 year old Diana would look ridiculous in a dress similar to Diana's, although approprite for her and her age. Catherine is a mature woman, I agree that a royal wedding does not call for strapless and tight body, but a dress as poufy, bowed, and ruffled would not be appropriate either. She has handled herself in her manner of dress up until now, I think she will know along with her designer and family just what is right. Give her the benefit of the doubt.
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08:59 AM on 04/26/2011
I'm a Diana fan, but her wedding dress was ugly. The dress wore her - she did not wear the dress. Maybe a better example of what you want Kate to wear is like Grace Kelly's wedding dress which was the best of both worlds - it was flattering and also modest. Diana was lost in her dress.
12:46 PM on 04/26/2011
That style was fine back in the day, very fashion forward, you are judging it with today's eyes.
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01:17 PM on 04/26/2011
No, I was 18 back in 1981 and I thought it was terrible back then too. Silly bows, crazy sleeves, wrinkled material. I'm not judging based on today.
schatsie
banks are more dangerous than standing armies
09:24 PM on 04/28/2011
That dress had no style.....None what so ever.....not then and not now....
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Fortune27
Loving the ride...
01:04 AM on 04/27/2011
I agree with you completely. Diana's wedding dress was atrocious looking and way too big for her frame. It overwhelmed her. Though I must say she more than corrected that style mis-step over the course of her tragically short life.
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Highball
In Blackest Night
07:39 AM on 04/26/2011
This is the sort of false dichotomy, mock mutually exclusive stuff that I don't understand.

She can look "hot" and elegant and sophisticated at the same time. It's not like she wears *either* some gloriously elegant gown, or she looks like a stripper. Yeesh.

Knowing the little I know of Kate, she seems like someone who will look just lovely on her big day. She's also much more mature than Diana was at the time. And, frankly, although I think I thought Diana looked wonderful at the time, looking back -- ouch. That gown just ate her for lunch.
MyrtleJune
STOP negotiating! End the American hostage crisis!
06:07 AM on 04/26/2011
Um... Diana WAS a virgin and it was a requirement then. It was also a requirement that she wear that dress. Yes, it was thought to be beautiful THEN, however, sister wives are probably the only people wearing such overblown fru fru these days. I don't think for one second kate will wear a hollywood type dress. Please. As IF the queen would even entertain that! sheesh. Besides that, Kate has a little more respect for her particular situation and will probably go sleek and elegant with some measure of ball-gown-ish puff.

It's kind of insulting to even consider she would dress all hooochie for the royal wedding. Please.
10:40 PM on 04/25/2011
I watched when Diana and Charles were married and years later I even saw the wedding dress in person when it came to town and it was really too, too much. Diana was such a young girl and her fashion sense when she first married was like poufy. As she matured she was ever much the fashionatist. I would think Kate's dress would be in keeping with something respectful yet more sophisticated than Diana wore and I sure hope so. Oh first seeing Diana's dress I never thought she looked "hot" but more being swallowed up in billowing material.
12:48 PM on 04/26/2011
Everybody wore poufy then and the trend to looking sexy on your wedding day was not in vogue yet. It still isn't in style for upper class British or European royalty.
Hookedonfashion
You can't judge a book by its cover, or its name.
04:06 PM on 04/26/2011
That style might have been popular, but Diana had the world's designers to choose from and did not have to choose that monstrosity she wore. I was married in 1987, I found a gown with more of an A-line skirt, princess seams, not a gathered waist, and it was much prettier. No bows either!
schatsie
banks are more dangerous than standing armies
09:27 PM on 04/28/2011
poofy is one thing, the dress looked like whipped cream and would have been the perfect topping for a cake....She kept doing poofy for a while, but not a over the top as the wedding dress...
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RadioRhoda
GOP = Government so small it fits in my uterus
07:22 PM on 04/25/2011
Kate appears to have beautiful style and I can't imagine she'd wear anything inappropriate. And while I agree that Diana looked the part in her dress...it was a mushroom cloud wrinkled nightmare in retrospect. I hope Kate wears something with less poof and circumstance. Something regally elegant to stand the test of time.
Hookedonfashion
You can't judge a book by its cover, or its name.
07:53 PM on 04/25/2011
I agree. IMO, Diana's dress was ugly and a total disappointment. The color made her face look extremely pale and she seemed to just fade into the dress. It was a very poor choice.

If you want a gown that was perfectly romantic, modest, and made for a princess, I would write about Grace Kelly's gown.
schatsie
banks are more dangerous than standing armies
09:28 PM on 04/28/2011
Yes, now there was a dress with class all over it. and she wore it with such dignity and grace....Diana's dress was absurd....
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Bluepagan
05:58 PM on 04/25/2011
Rest easy, Ms. Fuller, I feel confident the department-of-protocol-and-all-things-modest has this covered (so to speak).
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beyondliberal
Forward, never straight.
05:25 PM on 04/25/2011
I would think the Queen would have something to say about the choice of the dress. She seems to have a lot of say about the entire affair.
08:32 PM on 04/26/2011
Ya think? Whew, Bonnie had me all consternated there! But as the Queen holds the purse strings . . .
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ghs246
03:45 PM on 04/25/2011
the media needs to stop comparing the two. i swear princess di must be the media's patron saint 'cause they cant get enough of bringing her up. is princess di the unofficial queen of america or something? but i agree that wedding gowns have gotten out of hand in recent years. it seems only 'mature' brides know how to kp it classy. kp the 'wares' (lol) left to the imagination of ur guests.
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Kendall Hawley
Great stories, told well. www.blogfreako.com
03:42 PM on 04/25/2011
I clicked on this hoping it would be an article encouraging her to not feel that she has to dress a particular kind of way (i.e. sexy) to be popular. Instead, I found an article encouraging her to dress a certain way ("modestly") because she should feel ashamed of her body and obligated to cover up.

So let me offer up my own advice: Wear whatever you're comfortable in, ladies, (especially on your wedding day!) and don't let other people's hang-ups about the human body effect how you feel about your own.
12:58 AM on 04/27/2011
Thank you.
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edejan
02:47 PM on 04/25/2011
Kate seems to be a stylish young woman, with modesty to boot. I hope she does choose a suitably elegant and classy dress.