sabato 1 aprile 2017

Royal Wedding Dresses Exhibition at the Royal Palace of Stockholm: Princess Madeleine

With a longer-than-planned pause between posts (apologies for that!), here we are again to talk about the fourth dress in the Royal Wedding Dresses 1976-2015 exhibition currently on at the Royal Palace of Stockholm, that of Princess Madeleine. Today we're looking at Princess Madeleine's dress, but you can still catch up with my previous posts on the dresses worn by Queen Silvia, Princess Lilian and Crown Princess Victoria.

Princess Madeleine, the youngest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, got engaged to Anglo-American financier Christopher O'Neill on 25 October 2012. It was actually the second engagement for Princess Madeleine, who had previously been engaged to be married to Swedish lawyer Jonas Bergström, but had called it off in April 2010.
From Chris O'Neill, Madeleine received a four-carat emerald-cut diamond with a diamond pavé band (her first ring had also been a diamond):



For the pre-wedding gala dinner hosted on 7 June 2013 by her parents at the Stockholm Grand Hotel, Princess Madeleine followed in her big sister Victoria's footsteps and wore a glittering Elie Saab gown, intricately embroidered in silver-grey sequins.  She accessorized with dramatic aquamarine pendant earrings:






For her big day on 8 June 2013 (you can find my original post on the event here), Princess Madeleine turned to Italian maestro Valentino Garavani to design her dress. Valentino came up with a creation of pleated silk organza with ivory Chantilly lace appliqués. The upper section of the bodice is entirely made of lace, with a deep-cut back, while narrow vertical pleats accentuate the waist and open into a wide skirt and 13-ft train:










 
 

The veil was also made by the house of Valentino, in silk organza, edged with appliquéd tulle and trimmed with silk Chantilly lace in the shape of orange blossom, and scattered with embroidered points d'esprit on a regularly patterned tulle background:




The Princess didn't follow the Swedish royal tradition of wearing the Cameo tiara, opting instead for the so-called Modern Fringe tiara, which is thought to have been a 10th wedding anniversary present from King Carl XVI Gustaf to Queen Silvia, a pair of diamond drop earrings from the Bernadotte collection and a diamond bracelet. The tiara was accented with sprigs of artificial orange blossom:



As for the shoes, Madeleine opted for a pair of bespoke Oscar de la Renta heels in ivory white organdy with woven point d'esprit dots:







The bride's bouquet, created by the Royal Court's florist Claes Carlsson, was made of classic white garden roses with lilies of the valley and a sprig of myrtle:


The bridesmaids wore silk dresses with green silk taffeta sashes and handmade leather shoes. Their Alice bands with pearls and handmade paper flowers. The page boys wore wollen jackets and breeches with green silk taffeta detailing and silver trim. The attendants' clothes were by LIVLY of Sweden:





For dinner and dancing, Princess Madeleine changed into a family heirloom dress, a Nina Ricci evening dress in white tulle embroidered with pearls and sequins, first worn by Queen Silvia for her silver wedding anniversary celebrations on 19 June 2001 and again later that year for the Nobel banquet:





Also on display were copies of the order of service and wedding banquet menu:



I'll see you soon with a post about the final dress in the exhibition, that of Princess Sofia - stay tuned!