By Simone Andrea Mayer Jan 26, 2012, 3:06 GMT
Berlin - The brides in last year's highly publicized royal weddings in the UK and Monaco were both commoners who proved that the wedding gown of a princess doesn't have to look like a swirl of meringue.
Both Kate Middleton and Charlene Wittstock scored points among fashion gurus with their selection of form-fitting dresses that included modest embroidery and a whisper of lace. Women who are planning weddings in 2012 are finding that those dresses are still inspiring wedding gown design, although experts say the fashions are not truly trendsetting.
'You currently see a lot of lace elements - reinforced of course by the dress worn by Kate Middleton,' said Susanne Sixtus, a wedding gown designer and member of an association of fashion and fabric designers in Germany. 'But it was a trend long before her wedding. She just went with the trend.'
There's a lot of lace on display in bridal catalogs for the 2012 season. Sixtus points out gowns that have individual lace elements. The back bodice of one gown in this year's Cymbeline of Paris collection has a deep cut that is slightly obscured by an overlay of transparent lace. Another gown in the Cymbeline line includes a sort of see-through blouse worn over the shoulders and arms decorated with bits of lace.
Berlin-based bridal shop Kisui is showing a dress with one sleeve made of densely stitched lace and the other sleeve sheer. The German bridal and formal attire maker Linea Raffaeli has a mermaid dress completely covered in lace.
Although the new princesses swam with the current in terms of their bridal fashion selections, they also created a new image of the perfect bride.
'Kate Middleton looked very delicate and fabulous in her dress without it being tacky or overdone - a modern princess. She expressed exactly what she is,' said fashion consultant Silke Gerloff. Wittstock's dress had a more classy look due to the simple elegance of the fabric. 'It was very mature, which reflected her life.'
Gerloff and Sixtus came to the same conclusion that both brides correctly expressed their own self-image and their roles through their dresses. The brides of 2012 should do the same. Their tastes, self-perception and age should be criteria when selecting a wedding dress. Their figure also plays an important role.
The dresses worn by Kate and Charlene emphasized their delicate figures, which not every bride has. Slender women may wear the same styles as the royal brides, but extremely thin women shouldn't, said Gerloff. Shapely women should go toward styles that create form and contour through sturdy fabric and they should not buy a dress that is too tight.
Women who want to hide a few pounds should wear fuller cut dresses, said fashion consultant Andreas Rose. 'A ball dress is good for de-emphasizing wide hips,' he said. 'An empire waist sits high and the skirt falls from there in pleats, which can cover a flaw or two.'
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