The legendary Italian fashion designer, Valentino Garavani, has died at the age of 93. Many royal brides have turned to Valentino to design an iconic wedding gown for their special day, and in honour of his legacy, we’re looking at three royal brides who wore Valentino.
Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
When Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti married the future king of the Netherlands on 2 February 2002, she chose a sleek silk Mikado wedding gown from Valentino to cement her place in the history books.
Speculation that the future Dutch queen had turned to Valentino reached a fever pitch when she and then-Queen Beatrix were photographed in Rome visiting the designer’s atelier. Indeed, months later, when Máxima stepped out in Amsterdam in this chic wedding gown—with the Dutch Star tiara atop her head—a new star in the royal family was born.
Queen Máxima’s wedding gown featured a cowl neckline, three-quarter length sleeves, and an empire bodice that flowed into a fuller, silk-paneled skirt. A five-metre train trailed behind the royal bride, as did a hand-embroidered silk tulle veil with floral embroidery that was also created by Valentino.
Princess Madeleine of Sweden
Princess Madeleine would later laugh about the circumstances that led to the creation of her Valentino wedding dress for her June 2013 nuptials, recalling how the Italian designer’s pugs would sit on the fabric and frustrate the seamstresses during a fitting. But that doesn’t compare to how she was still being sewn into her wedding dress as the church bells were ringing and her father was waiting to escort her up the aisle to Christopher O’Neill!
“I felt like Cinderella, because the dress is 1,40 metres long and the Italian seamstresses were running around like small mice and sewed up the dress to make it fit,” she told SVT for their programme on royal wedding dresses, ‘Kungliga brudklänningar.’ She’d lost weight in all the running around leading up to the wedding and it suddenly didn’t fit anymore.
Princess Madeleine also revealed that Valentino had mentioned to her that he should design her wedding gown, and she felt it was a natural choice. Her wedding gown was pleated silk organza made with ivory Chantilly lace. Short sleeves and a fitted bodice led down to a wide skirt culminating in a four-metre train; and a silk organza veil anchored the Modern Fringe tiara atop her head.
Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece
In 1995, Valentino was commissioned for his first royal wedding gown. Worn by British-American heiress Marie-Chantal Miller, the gown reportedly cost $225,000 and took four months with 25 people working on it to complete.
At her July nuptials in London, Marie-Chantal arrived in a pearl-encrusted ivory silk wedding gown designed to open like a tulip at the front, and also carried a 4.5 metre Chantilly lace train.
The high neck and sleeves were created from lace with pearl-encrusted floral appliqués that resembled flowers on a lattice and flowed into a fitted bodice and further into a full skirt, which was also embroidered with floral lace. In total, 12 different types of lace were used on Marie-Chantal’s wedding gown.
Her veil, anchoring the Antique Corsage tiara lent to her by her mother-in-law, Queen Anne-Marie, was also Chantilly lace and featured floral and butterfly lace appliqués.
A Royal Legacy
Valentino created everyday looks for many other royal women. Several guests at Marie-Chantal’s wedding wore Valentino. Tatiana Santo Domingo and Beatrice Borromeo both wore dresses designed by Maison Valentino’s creative directors, though not by Valentino himself. Clotidle of Savoy and Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg also wore Valentino on their wedding days.
Speaking to Point de Vue (as shared by Hola! in 2016), Valentino himself said: “Maxima, Sibilla, Clotilde [of Savoy], Marie-Chantal, Madeleine… They were all magnificent. I have never put a foot wrong.”
“His unique style and innate elegance will remain forever,” Maison Valentino, the label he founded in 1960, posted on their social media accounts.
