With 100 days to go until the royal wedding, Fleet Street is straining to reveal whatever it can about Kate Middleton’s dress.  How can Buckingham Palace possibly keep the garment hidden until her big day. 

There’s a secret out there, jealously guarded at the highest level of the British state. A secret that millions are desperate to learn and journalists are scrambling over each other to uncover.

The classified information is not some top-secret intelligence file and it isn’t a scientific patent destined to make its inventor wildly rich. It is neither the cure for cancer nor a weapon of mass destruction.

Instead, it is pale-coloured, silky and quite possibly shaped like a meringue. It is a wedding dress, designed for the future Princess Catherine.

As she steps out of her car and makes her way to Westminster Abbey in her final moments as Miss Kate Middleton on 29 April, millions of eyes will be on her gown. Just as with with any matrimonial ceremony, the dress will occupy a status within the event’s hierarchy only just below that of bride herself.

But the level of fascination in this particular outfit has been amplified and multiplied by the UK monarchy’s worldwide fame. Before anyone has even had sight of it, a search for “Kate Middleton wedding dress” throws up more than 300,000 results on Google.

Always alert to public appetites, Fleet Street is deploying the full force of its inquisitorial might to reveal anything it can about the vestment and the identity of its creator.

Indeed, recent paparazzi photographs of Miss Middleton’s mother and sister outside a boutique belonging to designer Bruce Oldfield were scrutinised and picked apart for clues, with a depth of analysis usually reserved for videotapes of Osama Bin Laden.

Republicans and those indifferent to both fashion and the House of Windsor soap opera might be utterly perplexed, or indeed disgruntled, that such an apparently trivial matter could be the focus of such intense attention.

But if the experience of royal weddings past is anything to go by, the palace will have to match this scrutiny with a campaign that is SAS-like in its precision and thoroughness to keep the dress under wraps.

Elizabeth Emanuel should know. In 1981 she and her husband David found themselves swamped by press attention when it was revealed they were designing the wedding dress for Princess Diana.

Overnight guards

Ms Emanuel says journalists scoured their rubbish bins, rang up pleading that they would be sacked unless she could give them information, attempted to bribe her staff and rented an office opposite the Emanuels’ studio in which a round-the-clock stakeout was maintained.

With, she says, no help or guidance from the palace, she was forced to improvise elaborate security measures.

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Why is the dress so sought-after?

Ingrid Benson, editor, Majesty magazine

“One always is interested in the bride’s dress – it’s not just Kate, that’s always true with any wedding. Maybe men don’t care but women certainly do.  “Of course, with any wedding it’s unlucky for it to be seen before the wedding day. There will be huge secrecy. We won’t know what it’s going to look like. They are very good at doing that.

“But there are so many people involved in making a dress, especially if it’s going to be embroidered. I think we will know who the designer is.

“Before, it’s been the fashion press that have found out. They found out who was making Fergie’s and who was making Diana’s.”

 

“We kept the dress in a huge safe,” says Ms Emanuel. “They had to hoist it through the window. We had two security guards, Jim and Bert, who would come in and guard it overnight when we went home.

“It was a huge amount of pressure. In case it did leak, we had a spare dress in reserve. It looked very similar but it had slimmer sleeves. Diana was great when she came over to the studio. There was never any feeling it was too stressful for her, but it must have been difficult.

Since the early 1980s Fleet Street may have grown even more ruthless in pursuit of a story, but so too has the palace become cannier. Ms Emanuel says she believes royal courtiers – now far more conscious of the press’s rapaciousness in the post-Diana era – will take a much greater hands-on role in keeping the dress hidden.

With so many involved in such an ornate outfit’s supply chain, the number of potential insider sources for reporters to cultivate will be considerable.

The prestige of working on such a high-profile design project will, of course, be enough to keep many mouths sealed.  But it is unlikely to be enough for palace officials, who can be expected to insist on all concerned signing confidentiality agreements.  

In addition, wedding planner Siobhan Craven-Robins says there are plenty more tricks of the trade, such as making any appointments under pseudonyms, with which to stay one step ahead of the chasing pack.

“The most important thing is not to be tailed by the paparazzi going in for a fitting,” she says. “I would imagine the designer would come to her or at the palace rather than do it in their own studios.

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“Start Quote

   You are honoured to be creating the Royal dress and in return you are expected to keep your trap shut” —  End Quote Jennie Bond Former BBC royal correspondent

“You would think the royals wouldn’t have a problem arranging security, after all.  Indeed, the palace has itself become adept at outfoxing the press pack.

Ex-Daily Mirror Royal editor James Whitaker suspects the photographs of the Middletons outside Oldfield’s boutique may have been arranged by Clarence House as part of a complicated diversionary strategy.

“I’m sure right now editors are kicking backsides, saying, ‘I want to know who the designer is,’” he says. “And any self-respecting journalist will be trying to find out.

“But while it’s their job to do so, it’s the palace’s to keep it a secret. I don’t know if they are going to be able to, but the dress is always going to be the last thing you find out about.”

However, former BBC royal correspondent Jennie Bond suspects that, even in the Britain of 2011, courtiers have an even more powerful weapon at their disposal: old-fashioned deference.  “They’ll use honour,” she insists. “You are honoured to be creating the royal dress and in return you are expected to keep your trap shut.

Who, after all, wants to be the cad who spoils a bride’s big day? As long as that remains a factor, the monarchy is in with a shout of preserving the country’s best-embroidered state secret.

 Source: BBC

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Oscar de la Renta, the designer, posed with Oprah Winfrey, one of the hosts of the Costume Institute Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

It could have gone any way last night, considering the theme of the Costume Institute exhibition: “American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.” There could have been neo-jazz babies, flappers, debutantes, feminists, disco queens, Hollywood sirens, Nouvelle Society matrons and Playboy bunnies.

And that’s just a few archetypes off the top of a stack. But most of the women attending the gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among the 725 guests, dressed elegantly, more so than in recent years, and they did their best to heed Anna Wintour’s e-mail messages to be on time.

At 6:30 p.m., Ms. Wintour, the editor in chief of Vogue, was waiting at the top of the red-carpeted grand staircase, a tiny figure in a gold Chanel dress and jacket. If the gala’s other leaders, Oprah Winfrey and Patrick Robinson, the executive vice president of design for Gap, had ascended the front steps, they still had a climb before they reached Ms. Wintour and the receiving line.

Asked if she felt any pressure to wear clothes by American designers, Ms. Wintour smiled and said, “Well, if you see the exhibition, they’re all wearing French clothes.” Ms. Winfrey wore a design of Oscar de la Renta, who had invited Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Barbara Walters, among others, to sit at his table.

In recent years, the themes of the Costume Institute exhibits have included “Anglomania,” superheroes and models. That at least provided some direction for how to dress for the party, where this year the top table price was $250,000 and Lady Gaga sang after the dinner. But this year’s exhibition, organized by the curator Andrew Bolton, looked at styles between 1890 and the 1940s, relying on exceptional pieces from the Brooklyn Museum’s collection like Worth gowns, gray walking suits and bicycling outfits.

It’s a serene view of American style, set against murals, and it was almost shocking to see how tiny the figures were, with tiny waists and tiny feet.

Naturally, everyone had her own idea of what defined American style. 

“I think it’s confidence,” said Vera Wang, in a long white dress, as she talked to members of the Newhouse family and then Wendy Murdoch, who wore a fitted green silk dress with a long black train. Its designer, Prabal Gurung, was new to her. She said that Ms. Wintour had recommended him.

A few feet away, and trying to avoid the train of Mrs. Murdoch’s dress, were Nicole Richie, in a silvery Marc Jacobs dress, and Margherita Missoni, in a long black dress that sort of left her bare on the sides. “It’s my idea of grunge,” Ms. Missoni said. “I want to bring back the ’90s.” Ms. Ritchie said she wanted to dress up more these days. “I actually wear long dresses a lot,” she said.

Across the Petrie Sculpture Court, where cocktails were held, Lauren Santo Domingo was channeling the ’90s as well. “Tom Ford,” she said, mentioning a designer whose name seemed to be on a number of people’s lips. Ms. Santo Domingo’s long beige beaded dress was actually a Proenza Schouler. She was standing with Chloë Sevigny, who had on a bright turquoise Proenza dress with a short belled skirt.

“I couldn’t pull off your dress,” Ms. Sevigny said to Ms. Santo Domingo, “and you couldn’t pull off mine.” They seemed agreed about that.

Christopher Bailey, the Burberry designer, had his idea about American style: “It’s easy, functional, comfortable with an earthy sexiness. I still think of Lauren Hutton as the epitome of that style.”

Franca Sozzani, the editor of Italian Vogue, had on a beige silk satin Valentino dress (“From way, way back,” she said, waving her hand), and she stood surveying the jam-packed, train-tripping room with Donatella Versace.

“To me, American fashion is Charlie James,” Ms. Sozzani said.

Ah, Charlie. Someone was summoning him, too. Dr. Lisa Airan, the Manhattan dermatologist, had wanted to wear a real James dress to the party, but her friend, the designer Gilles Mendel, had told her that wasn’t such a great idea. So she went to the Met library, did some research, and asked Mr. Mendel to make her dress in the James spirit.

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Source: www.huffingtonpost.com

CHICAGO — In Michelle Obama’s hometown, working women hustle back and forth from home to the office in stylish shoes they can walk fast and far in. They wear chic but commonsense coats that keep them warm in the winters – and those famous sleeveless tops favored by the first lady in the summer.

It’s that Midwestern pragmatism with a cosmopolitan edge, personified by Mrs. Obama, that is shining a runway spotlight on Chicago’s fashion scene, say style watchers, retail experts and fashion designers.

“It shows you can fashionably be from Chicago,” fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger said this month at a Chicago event where he was introduced as mentor for emerging young designers from the city. “You don’t have to be from New York, Paris or Milan.”

Earlier this year, The Washington Post dubbed Chicago’s fashion industry, home to Obama stylist and tony boutique owner Ikram Goldman and Maria Pinto, a favorite designer of the first lady, “The Milan of the Midwest.”

“Her (Obama’s) fashion instincts and how she puts herself together are a direct reflection on fashion in Chicago,” said Terry Lundgren, the chairman, president and chief executive of the national department store chain Macy’s Inc.

Obama’s style is pure Chicago: She favors comfortable but hardworking off-the-rack separates that reflect the city’s down-to-earth roots and livable style.

“She dresses like an urban working woman as opposed to dressing like a first lady,” InStyle fashion director Hal Rubenstein said. “Chicago isn’t showing off. Chicago is going through the day. She comes out there well-dressed but accessible.”

Her everywoman appeal is clear – note the spikes in sales of the Obama family’s J.Crew outfits, for example – but Mrs. Obama is also drawing attention to new, under-the-radar talent. She’s already been named a fashion icon by the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Obama largely puts her confidence in Chicago’s designers to guide her White House style, Rubenstein said. Goldman’s boutique ikram in the city’s Gold Coast district is a favorite of the first lady.

“Her hotline is not going through New York,” Rubenstein said. “Her hotline goes through a place where she feels comfortable. She trusts this voice from her hometown. It’s not about, ‘I have to get a Washington D.C. coordinator to find out what to wear to a state dinner.’”

And the source of Obama’s fashion inspiration is enjoying a newfound respect for its designers and boutiques. The style-conscious sets in California, New York and Europe now pay attention to Chicago, said Barbara Glass, a Chicago fashion commentator and image consultant.

The city had been viewed as having conservative taste. Its previous run as a fashion capital came and went in the early 20th century when it was home to many menswear manufacturers.

At one time, “people weren’t necessarily impressed if it was a Chicago designer,” Glass observed. “It didn’t have a good ring to it. She’s changed that.”

Now, shoppers are seeking out the designers behind the first lady’s signature style.

“They’ll ask me, ‘Is this something Michelle Obama would wear?’” said Melissa Serpico Kamhout, 32, describing the clientele at her boutique, Serpico, in the Wicker Park neighborhood. A particular pale blush-colored dress caught a lot of customer eyes, she said.

“A lot of people have mentioned they think it would be a beautiful color for her,” Kamhout said. “You can tell how influential she is. It’s on their minds what designers she wears.”

Although a major one, Obama is just a single factor in the growth of Chicago’s fashion scene, said Beth Wilson, Chicago correspondent for Women’s Wear Daily.

In 2006, Mayor Richard Daley convened the Mayor’s Fashion Council to put support behind the city’s designers. Two years later, the city partnered with Macy’s to form the Chicago Fashion Incubator to give young designers space and training for their work.

“That started creating momentum and awareness,” Wilson said.

Both Chicago and Obama set fashion standards for themselves that are acceptable to most of the world, Glass added.

“The Midwest is all about no nonsense,” she said. “She maintains that philosophy. We are not about glitz. We are not fluff, but we do enjoy looking glamorous and pretty.”

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