Why this royal wedding dress by Giorgio Armani is an ultimate expression of his glamour and grandeur

Giorgio Armani, who has died at the age of 91, dressed some of the most famous women in the world. Among them was royalty and one of his stand out creations was worn at one of the most eagerly awaited royal weddings of the 21^st century. For it was Armani who was chosen to create the marriage outfit of the bride who followed Grace Kelly as Monaco’s Princess.

Charlene Wittstock wore Armani for her religious wedding to Prince Albert II on July 2 2011. The expectations around this royal wedding gown were huge. When Grace married Rainier III in April 1956, she had created the picture perfect image of a princess. This was the biggest royal wedding in Monaco since that famous day and everyone wanted to know what the bride was wearing. And it was Armani who got the gig.

He was no stranger to Monaco’s royals. Albert’s sister, Princess Caroline, was a fan of his designs which had become staples of glamour from the 1980s with many tracing the ascendancy of his star from the moment he created outfits for the 1980 film American Gigolo. However, Charlene’s decision to call on him for her wedding gown gave a royal glow to his career like no other.

The wedding of Prince Albert and Princess Charlene took place at the Prince’s Palace in Monte Carlo in front of hundreds of guests including royalty from around the world. For well over an hour before the ceremony started, HRHs walked an actual red carpet alongside some of the many celebrity friends the couple had acquired through the years in a who’s who with Monaco glitz attached.

The groom, Albert, wore white in the form of a traditional Monaco regimental uniform. The bride’s dress was a subtle shade of ivory.

The design was very modern and very classic and very different from the famous dress worn by Princess Grace. Charlene, who was a former Olympic swimmer, chose an off the shoulder design made of duchesse satin with an off the shoulder cross over neckline.

The full length dress had a fitted shape and featured a short train attached at the waist and a longer, shoulder train. The gown was embellished with 40,000 Swarovski crystals and 20,000 mother-of-pearl teardrops, painstakingly crafted into a floral pattern that ran down the centre of the bodice and into a swirling sea of sparkle on the skirt of the dress.

Charlene’s tulle veil was attached to a diamond decoration that sat in her swept up hair. It had once belonged to Princess Charlotte, Prince Albert’s grandmother, and was loaned to her by Princess Caroline.

However, Charlene told Vogue magazine that ‘’ I did have a tiara made by Van Cleef & Arpels but I decided to put it on display at the Oceanographic Museum, and I will wear it for my first official engagement.”

The dress was the stand out of the whole bridal ensemble and won plaudits almost immediately. Its strong silhouette provided a total contrast to the extreme romanticism of Grace’s wedding dress and gave Charlene her own identity as Princess of Monaco. It was seen to full effect as she left the religious ceremony on the arm of her new husband as white rose petals floated down on them.

Following the ceremony, Albert and Charlene travelled to the Chapel of Sainte-Devote, patron of Monaco, where the bride followed royal tradition and placed her bouquet on the altar. It was there the dress came under even closer scrutiny as the bride wept and TV cameras focused in on her. She later said she had become overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment and laughed off reports that she had tried to flee Monaco days before the wedding as nonsense.

A reception was later held at the Opera Monte Carlo before more music and fireworks rounded off the celebrations. For the evening event, the bride wore another Armani Prive dress, again in white.

Charlene of Monaco would turn to Armani many more times once she was Princess and even dressed her daughter, Princess Gabriella, in Armani Junior for one national event. Her relations, including fashion forward niece in law, Beatrice Borromeo, have also showcased his designs in recent years.

Armani is remembered for his elegant excess and for giving the 80s the glamour that came to define them. The wedding dress he made for Charlene of Monaco has echoes of that but is imbued with enough hint of royalty to make it a regal classic all of its own.