It was nicknamed the merengue – the sprawling wedding gown that sparked a million copies worldwide. the style had a stronghold on bridal fashion for more than a decade following the wedding when princess Diana stepped out of the royal carriage at St. Paul’s cathedral in her romantic fairy tale-inspired gown made of ivory silk taffeta and frilled lace. And for even longer the extravagant cake-style gowns have been ridiculed as the tackiest of 80s fashion. But, like all things fashion it’s back.
When Chanel revealed their Fall-winter haute couture collection 24/25 the bride – a runway unavoidable – Australia’s Angelina Kendall— stepped out dressed in a meringue-like off-white gown with long, puffed sleeves, a camellia embroidered bodice and a ballooning taffeta skirt with a tulle train. All it lacked was Diana’s plunging neckline and 25-foot silk train – apparently the longest in Royal history – the veil and tiara – and all of a sudden it was July 1981 again.
The dress – designed by husband-and-wife team David and Elizabeth Emanuel -had a fitted, boned bodice, a curved neckline, and endless intricate details: a full skirt over a multi-layered tulle petticoat, with intricately designed bodice panels, and the entire gown was hand embroidered with more than 10,000 tiny mother-of-pearl sequins and pearls. The 25-foot silk train, which remains the longest in Royal history, added a touch of theatricality to the day.
The wedding was was nicknamed “the wedding of the century” – sorry Jackie , Audrey and Grace. Not only was princess Diana a royal-to-be, she was also entering life as the world’s most famous celeb of her time. An estimated 750 million people tuned in worldwide to witness the wedding of Prince Charles, Prince of Wales to Lady Diana Spencer. According to the Royal Family Channel round 600,000 watched not on television but from the streets of London, through which the spectacular procession passed from Buckingham Palace to St Paul’s Cathedral and back again. The event blew all other celebrity weddings out of the water for its extravagance, it broke new records and set global fashion trends—while also breaking with royal wedding dress traditions in refreshing ways. Lady Di had fallen in love with a blouse from the Emanuel fashion house earlier which was used for a tabloid photo shoot, it sealed a golden relationship between Di and the Emanuel couple who later designed many of Diana’s most memorable and iconic gowns as Princess of Wales. Of course, the décolletage on the wedding dress sparked quite a scandal, by early ’80s Royal standards, and earned Diana the tabloid nickname “Daring Di.”
But – lets move forward, to Paris 2024. According to the show notes the Chanel Fall-Winter 2024/25 Haute Couture collection paid tribute to the Opera Palais Garnier, and the rest of the collection – a rather disturbing one – I will get back to later. But to sum it up there were feathers, tassels, cabochons and embroidered flowers, precious braids, lacquered jersey, supple tweeds, silky velvet, illusion tulle, taffeta and duchesse satin are all opulent materials that delicately rustled as the models cat-walked the clothes. For the bride, there was even a guy running alongside the model with a mike pointed towards the floor so all that could be heard was the rustle of the big skirt. The volumes were diaphanous, the sleeves puffed, and the flounces pleated, richly embroidered, to present the houses with a romantic twist.
Still – this dress was pure princess Diana, even sans the neckline. Now the question remains: will this spark a new wave for the big meringes? Personally I think not. But I could be wrong, I often am. And if so, taffeta-makers everywhere can stop doing the lottery, because you will most likely become richy-rich-rich.
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