(Re-)Making Royal Fashion History, Pt. 2

After reading our post yesterday about Butterick's new Kate Middleton-inspired wedding gown pattern (#B5731), our friend Laurie from Teacups in the Garden alerted us to two additional royal wedding gowns that have been commercially patterned.  The first is Grace Kelly's iconic 1956 gown for her wedding to Prince Rainier of Monaco.  The gown was designed by Helen Rose and made by the costume department at MGM, as a gift to the bride from her former studio.  It was reportedly made of 25 yards silk taffeta and almost 100 yards of silk tulle.  Valenciennes rose point lace decorated the bodice and sleeves, and the veil was trimmed with lovebirds in appliquéd lace and embellished with thousands of tiny seed pearls.

Grace Kelly's wedding gown.

Photo linked from fashionbride.wordpress.com.

Vogue has created a lovely Grace Kelly look-alike pattern (#V2979) that closely adheres to the details of the original and successfully captures its old time Hollywood glamour.  That this is a recent pattern release is unsurprising, considering the degree to which Kate Middleton's gown (and her overall sense of style) has been compared to Grace Kelly's.

Grace Kelly in her wedding gown (left), with the Vogue reproduction V2979 on the right.

Photo of Grace Kelly linked from Hollywooddame.com.

Vogue photo linked from Voguepatterns.mccall.com; follow the link to purchase the pattern.

The second pattern Laurie discovered is an old and (alas!) now out-of-print Burda pattern (#7940) for Princess Diana's wedding dress. I wish this was easier to find now because it would be such fun to try to recreate such a fairy tale gown, with the big poofy sleeves and all the lacy frills and bows.  This pattern seems to appear occasionally on ebay and etsy, so check those sites if you're looking for one.  If you'd like to read more about the original gown, visit our earlier post here.

Burda pattern envelope for Princess Diana's wedding dress.

Photo linked from a recent etsy listing.

A big thank you to Laurie for sending us these links and permitting us to share them with you!

And while we're still on the topic, just two final notes.  To complement your reproduction Kate Middleton wedding gown, a reproduction of the diamond Cartier tiara lent to her by the Queen is, of course, an absolute must (because who can resist a tiara?!). This is by far the closet reproduction I've been been able to find (and it's even affordable, too!): click here.  If you'd like to compare it to the original, check out the photos here.

And if you're interested in recreating Kate's sapphire blue Issa engagement dress to add to your royal wardrobe, a combination of Simplicity 2145 (quite obviously inspired by Kate's) and McCalls 5974 should do the trick.  Happy sewing and don't forget to let us see what you create!

(Re-)Making Royal Fashion History

Because we've discussed Kate Middleton's wedding gown at such length and admired and sighed over its details in such depth, I thought it would be fun to share something I just so happened to stumble across yesterday.  Butterick has designed a pattern (#B5731) so that you, too, can make and wear a copy of the Duchess of Cambridge's Sarah Burton/Alexander McQueen wedding gown!  From the photos and line drawings on the pattern envelope, it seems to be a fairly good replica, though they didn't quite capture the clever and oh-so-elegant way the skirts of the original were draped (which was one of my favorite parts of the gown).  And, of course, any recreation won't be able to boast the world-renowned handiwork of the Royal School of Needlework, and few reproductions can incorporate genuine Irish Carrickmacross lace, and I don't think that Butterick notes any of the placement and patterning of the applique lace designs that added such an amazing texture and dimension to the skirts of the original.  But then again, the rest of us wouldn't be marrying a future king in our reproduction gown, so these are tiny details indeed!  So in general, I think they did quite a nice job with the pattern; visit the Edelweiss Patterns blog for a more detailed comparison of the pattern and the original.  If anyone attempts a reproduction using this pattern, we'd love to see your final product and how it turns out!

Kate Middleton's wedding gown (left), with its Butterick (B5731) counterpart.

To purchase the Butterick pattern, click here.

Left photo linked from wallang; Butterick photo (right) linked from the Butterick website.

And for a bit of added fun, Butterick has also released a pattern (#B5710) that closely replicates the style of Phillipa Middleton's bridesmaid's gown and another that copies the adorable dresses of the young flower girls (#BP248)!  Now if we can just convince them to pattern some of the other historic royal wedding gowns...  :-)

A Royal Display from "that" Special Day

The Duchess of Cambridge's Sarah Burton/Alexander McQueen wedding gown,

currently on display in the regal surroundings of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace.

Photo linked from the British Monarchy flickr stream.

Today, the Duchess of Cambridge got a new perspective on some of her last memories as Kate Middleton.  Side by side with Queen Elizabeth, she toured a new display that will open tomorrow at Buckingham Palace and which will be a featured part of the Palace's Summer Opening public touring season.  "The Royal Wedding: A Story of Great British Design" features the Duchess's now-iconic Sarah Burton/Alexander McQueen wedding gown, along with her veil and shoes.  It also showcases the stunning jewels worn for the occasion: the Cartier "Halo" tiara lent by the Queen, and the earrings given to the bride as a wedding gift from her parents.  A reproduction of the bridal bouquet and the wedding cake - yes, the real thing, still mostly intact! - complete the royal display commemorating "the" wedding of a generation.

Royal Collection curator Caroline de Guitaut arranges the train of the wedding gown.

Photo linked from ABCNews.com.

By far the best thing about this exhibit - made even more thrilling because it can be fully enjoyed even by those of us who live across the pond and are too far to be able to go! - is the tremendous and unprecedented amount of detail the Royal Collection offers online about the gown and the other items from the display.  At long last, we have photos that allow us a very fine and up-close look at the incredibly intricate craftsmanship that makes this simple yet elegant gown such a landmark creation of British fashion.  Be sure to check out the zoomable photos of the gown (and that lace, oh that lace) on the gown detail page, and don't miss the podcast with Royal Collection curator Caroline de Guitaut, which not only includes a fascinating discussion of the gown's design, but also a supplemental set of photos with even more views of this special piece of royal fashion history.  The podcast is a treasure in itself, well worth the time.

Detail of the gorgeous lace-covered bodice of the wedding gown.

Photo linked from ABCNews.com.

Additional photos of the gown and other pieces can be found on the official British Monarchy photostream on flickr and on ABCNews.com.

Admission to the exhibit is included with the ticket to the Buckingham Palace State Rooms and can be purchased online.  The Summer Opening begins tomorrow and extends through the 3rd of October.  Further information can be found on the Royal Collection website, and the press release about the exhibit can be viewed here.

"Married in white, you have chosen all right," Pt. 2

Surprisingly little has been written or discussed about the details of the wedding ensemble of the new Duchess of Cambridge.  Our friend Laurie of Teacups Among the Fabric and Teacups in the Garden just did a fantastic post about the gown and its incredible connection to traditional British needlework and the royal and historic fashions of the past, but other than her post and the obligatory gushing-in-the-most-general-terms being done by various fashion gurus, interest in a genuine analysis of the gown's details seems to be minimal.  In view of this discovery, and to formally inaugurate Catherine into the line of royal brides and bridal wear we profiled earlier, here is on overview of the newest history-making gown and its ravishing accessories.

The official wedding portrait.

Photo linked from the official British Monarchy flickr page.

Designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, the gown was made of ivory and white satin gazar (a tightly-woven semi-sheer organza-like fabric).  The bodice, skirt, and train were embellished with an intricate design formed of English and French Chantilly lace, meticulously hand-cut and hand-appliqued onto ivory silk tulle using traditional Irish Carrickmacross lace-making techniques.  The Royal School of Needlework, which preserves the needle arts of the past through its teaching initiatives and textile restoration projects, performed the delicate work, skillfully interweaving roses, thistles, shamrocks, and daffodils into a stunning white-on-white design that gives the gown's skirts a depth and richness subtly evocative of the elaborate embroidery that has often decorated royal ceremonial and formal dress of the past.  The choice of flowers was, of course, highly symbolic.  The union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is represented by each nation's national flower: the English rose, the Scottish thistle, the Irish shamrock, and the Welsh daffodil.  It was a beautiful design gesture, one strong historic union literally embodied in a new union of bride and groom, themselves future leaders of the United Kingdom.  I've desperately tried to trace some close-up shots of the detail work on the gown, but have thus far been unsuccessful.  If anyone has located any, please do let me know! 

The best shot I can find where the applique detail is slightly visible.

Be sure to click on the link to bring you to the larger version!

Photo linked from HuffingtonPost.com.

This press release by the Royal School of Needlework describes the process undertaken by the team to create the royal wedding gown.  It's fascinating; hands were washed every thirty minutes, needles changed every three hours, and no thread longer than thirty cm were used to help preserve the integrity of the delicate fabric and the appliqued laces.  There is no mention of the size of the team or the length of time it took to complete the work, but it must have been a truly extraordinary project in which to take part.  If you'd like to learn more about the RSN (and trust me, you do!), be certain to check out this video.  Many thanks to Laurie for sharing it!

The silhouette of the impeccably tailored gown.

The incredible detail of the embroidery is also visible here.

Photo linked from the official British Monarchy flickr page.

The nearly nine-foot train was in perfect proportion to the setting, the occasion, the gown, and its understated elegant style.  Like the gown's skirts, the train too was hand-embroidered with the same floral design.  It was joined to the back of the skirts with oh-so-cleverly draped folds that echo the bustle of a Victorian gown.  The gown's lightly padded hips also helped create a Victorian-inspired silhouette, emphasizing Catherine's narrow waist and helping to provide body and form to the beautifully arranged pleats of the gown's skirts.

Photo from HuffingtonPost.com.

Like many royal brides that have gone before her, Catherine carried sprigs of myrtle in her bouquet.  The myrtle was taken from a plant grown from a sprig that the present Queen (then Princess Elizabeth) held in her own bouquet at her wedding in 1947.  Queen Victoria's eldest daughter was the first royal bride to include myrtle in her bouquet; the plant for her represented not only marriage and bridal innocence, but more personally the relationship between her parents, Victoria and Albert.  Catherine's bouquet further emphasized the traditional language of flowers in its inclusion of lilies of the valley (return of happiness), hyacinth (the constancy of love), Sweet William (well, that's obvious...but it also represents gallantry), and ivy (affection and fidelity).

All of these details - and more! - can be found in this post from the official Royal Wedding website.  The post also provides information about the gown worn by Catherine's sister Phillipa, the bridesmaids' dresses, and the pages' uniforms, so be sure to take a look!

A stunning close-up of the lace-covered bodice

of the gown, and the Cartier Scroll/"halo" tiara.

Photo linked from the official British Monarchy flickr page.

The veil of ivory silk tulle, edged with hand-embroidered flowers was secure by a tiara lent to Catherine by The Queen.  Known as the "scroll" or "halo" tiara, it was made by Cartier and given as a gift to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (then the Duchess of York) by her husband King George VI (then Duke of York) in 1936, just three weeks before Edward VIII renounced the throne in favor of his younger brother.  The Queen Mother gave the tiara to her eldest daughter, the present Queen, to mark Princess Elizabeth's eighteenth birthday.  The Queen has occasionally lent it to members of her family, including Princess Anne and Princess Margaret, for special occasions.

The scroll or halo tiara, made by Cartier in 1936.

Photo linked from Aestheticus Rex.

If you missed any of the festivities (or would like to see them again!), highlights can be seen on the official Royal Wedding website and the full BBC broadcast can be viewed on the official Royal Channel on YouTube.  The BBC will also be releasing a DVD of the day's events later this month.  Additional photos of the day can been found on the official British Monarchy flickr page.

And one more, just because it's my favorite shot from the day.  That veil

was draped perfectly and I love the way the wind has caught it here

so that you can see the hand-embroidered detail along the edges..

Photo linked from RoyalWedding.aol.com.

The Royal Wedding Countdown Begins!

For those of you feeling the royal frenzy as the hours tick down to tomorrow morning, here are a couple wedding necessities, in case you've missed them:

- The official Royal Wedding website provides some great details, videos, and updates, including the official program for the ceremony and the procession to follow.

The cover of the official wedding program,

linked from the official Royal Wedding website.

- In this age of multi-media, you've got a choice as to how and where to catch your glimpse of the ceremony.  For those "traditionalists" (like us!) who prefer the television screen to the computer screen, the wedding will be broadcast live States-side by a number of television networks.  Both PBS and BBC America will host a simulcast of BBC One programming, beginning at 3am Eastern.  ABC begins their live coverage of the event at 4am Eastern.  And for those of you who prefer the "modern" method of watching the big day, the BBC will stream their coverage live online.  Youtube's Royal Channel will also be streaming live, as will ABC. 

- As a lovely complement to our previous post on British royal wedding gowns of the past, the BBC recently posted a slideshow on their website, which offers another glimpse of some of these stunning pieces of history worn by the fashion icons of days gone by.  Another fun page, also posted by the BBC, is this fascinating overview of eight royal weddings, full of fun little tidbits of trivia including everything from what they ate to the various controversies surrounding each day, to some of the memorable gifts each royal couple received.

So let's take a poll: who else plans to be up at 4am tomorrow?  "See" you then!  :-)

Sewing for the Literary-Minded

Just before Christmas, while doing a little online holiday shopping, I discovered that the Sullivan Films shop offers for sale a pattern from Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story movie. It is Anne's wedding dress, a simple yet elegant gown inspired by a 1916 Canadian catalog wedding dress (because, if you recall, Anne's hurried wedding in the film necessitated the purchase of something pre-made).

My version of this dress will not be for a wedding; instead, I'm thinking perhaps either black (the sheer sleeves would look so pretty!) or a pastel color to make it a pretty springy outfit. With a hat, of course. Must have a hat.

I emailed the company to inquire if there were currently any plans to release any other patterns of costumes from the two earlier films, but they replied in the negative. Perhaps if we bombard them with inquiries so that they know there's plenty of interest, we can stir something up! I know I, for one, would love to get my hands on a pattern for Anne's "Gibson Girl" dress from Anne of Avonlea (er, Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel, if you prefer!), or that gorgeous gown she wears to the opera on her visit to Boston, or...well, I'd be happy with whatever they could offer!

Because of the timeline shift in the first Anne film, Kevin Sullivan had to bring the third up to the period of World War I. In the movie world, then, Anne and Gilbert don't marry until 1915, while in the book (Anne's House of Dreams), their wedding takes place around 1890, and it is not until the eighth volume in the series (Rilla of Ingleside) that L.M. Montgomery reaches the war years, by which time the main character has become Anne and Gilbert's youngest daughter.

Lucy Maud Montgomery (Anne's creator) and Ewan Macdonald were married on 5 July 1911, closer in date to the movie Anne and Gilbert than their original literary counterparts. We visited Prince Edward Island several times back in the mid-90s, and saw LMM's wedding gown on display at her birthplace in New London, and also visited the parlor room where she was married at her cousins the Campbells' home at Park Corner. Descendants of LMM still own the Park Corner property and permit wedding ceremonies to be conducted before the very same fireplace where LMM stood on her wedding day (and yes, all of the original furniture is still there, too). All three years we visited the house, there were couples having wedding pictures taken on the grounds.

LMM's wedding gown on display at the LMM Birthplace. 

Photo linked from Reverand Sam's flickr photostream.

LMM recorded in her journal that "my wedding dress was of white-silk crepe de soie with tunic of chiffon and pearl bead trimming - and of course the tulle veil and orange blossom wreath."  She also wore "Ewan's present - a necklace of of amethysts and pearls.  My bouquet was of white roses and lilies of the valley" (The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Vol II, pgs. 64-7).  Interestingly, these same materials - white silk de soie with a chiffon overdress decorated with bead trimming - were also used to create Anne's movie wedding dress, though in a much more "modern" style.

Photograph of LMM's wedding gown.  The gown is

the property of the LMM Birthplace.  The photo is

copyrighted by the LMM Institute.

The gown was made by Margaret Bulman of New Glasgow, PEI.  We visited well before the age of digital cameras, and the photos we have are so badly lit you can't make out what's in them, so I've had to link to online images instead.

Montgomery also wrote about the enjoyment she and her Park Corner cousins derived from the arrival of her trousseau, which the hard-earned funds from her newly-published novels had enabled her to order all the way from Toronto and Montreal. She modelled them proudly as her cousin snapped photographs, and later inserted the photos into one of her scrapbooks. Swatches of some of the fabrics were also carefully saved there, along with some flowers from her bouquet. Click here for a brief but very neat little video from the L.M. Montgomery Institute showing the scrapbook page.  I remember seeing some of LMM's scrapbooks on display at her New London Birthplace and at the PEI Confederation Centre of the Arts, but I don't recall seeing this particular one. Guess I'll just have to go back again!

Some of the photos are below, and she described the outfits thus in her journal: "My trousseau, which I had made mainly in Toronto and Montreal, began to arrive and we were all interested in that.  My things were pretty...These are snaps the girls took of some of my dresses.  My suit was of steel gray cloth, with gray chiffon blouse and gray hat trimmed with a wreath of tiny rosebuds.  My long wrap was of gray broadcloth.  Besides the dresses 'illustrated' I had a linen dress, a pink muslin, one of white embroidery, and several odd waists" (The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Vol II, pgs. 64-6).  If only they had survived as well as the wedding gown!

More images of the trousseau can be see in The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery, Vol. II, pg. 65.

For further information on all of these items, visit the Confederation Centre's "L.M. Montgomery's Wedding Clothes" page.  The page is part of a larger project based on a recent exhibit of LMM's scrapbooks, called "Picturing a Canadian Life: L.M. Montgomery's Personal Scrapbooks and Book Covers."  If you're interested in taking a closer look at some of the scrapbooks (which intriguingly contain many swatches and fashion clippings), check out Imagining Anne: The Island Scrapbooks of L.M. Montgomery, the book that accompanies the exhibit.  Further information on the life and writings of L.M. Montgomery can be found through the L.M. Montgomery Institute.

"Married in white, you have chosen all right"

After living in England for two years, and being a fair specimen of the traditional American Anglophile, I'll admit to being something of a (very) casual Royals watcher. As most of you have probably already heard, the engagement between Prince William and Kate Middleton was officially announced today, so we thought this would be a welcome opportunity to swoon over some of the many famous British royal wedding gowns from the past (after all, we're always looking for excuses...!).

In December 2002, during a family Christmas vacation (er, holiday!), Ashley and I had the luck to visit Kensington Palace during a special exhibit, "A Century of Queens' Wedding Dresses 1840-1947," showcasing a number of royal wedding gowns, including Queen Victoria's (1840), Queen Alexandra's (1863),  Queen Mary's (1893), Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's (1923), and Queen Elizabeth II's (1947). I was also fortunate enough to see Princess Diana's wedding dress in a 2006 exhibit of some of her most famous gowns, also at Kensington Palace.  Of course, photography was not permitted in the Palace or either of the exhibits so I don't have any photos of my own, but I've scoured the internet this morning to collect together some images - many from the 2002 exhibit - of these iconically gorgeous royal gowns to post and sigh over in honor of today's most recent royal engagement.

Please note that I do not claim the rights for any of these images.  One click on them will take you immediately back to their original online homes, where all credit for them appropriately resides.

10 February 1840: Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria's wedding portrait (1847),

by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, given as an

anniversary gift from the Queen to Prince Albert.

 
Queen Victoria's 1840 wedding gown was famously of creamy white Spitalfields silk trimmed in Honiton lace and embellished with orange blossoms.  Instead of a tiara, the young twenty-one-year-old royal bride wore a wreath of orange blossoms (a tradition introduced in France and carried forward by a number of other English royal brides) over a veil of almost two yards of exquisite and specially-designed lace.  She is believed to be the first English bride to wear a veil.  On her breast was pinned a sapphire and diamond brooch, a wedding gift from Prince Albert.  Contemporary accounts of the wedding gushed, with true Victorian sentiment, over the finery of the Queen's bridal gown and the attire of her attendants, who also wore various shades of white.  This article from Victorianamagazine.com provides a glimpse into these and many other details from that momentous day.
 

The Marriage of Queen Victoria (1840-2), by Sir George Hayter.

Famously credited now with introducing the fashion for white wedding gowns, Queen Victoria's silk-and-lace confection is owned by the Royal Collection and can occasionally be seen as part of special exhibits at Kensington Palace.

Queen Victoria's silk satin wedding gown, 1840.

 

Queen Victoria's wedding gown (1840), on display at Kensington Palace. 

The veil in the photograph is not original to the gown.

 
When preparing for the 2009 film The Young Victoria, costume designer Sandy Powell visited the Kensington Palace costume collection to examine the wedding gown and a number of other original garments owned and worn by Queen Victoria.  Some of her original sketches for the film's Academy Award-winning costumes can be seen here.  I've also found a set of flickr photos of the costumes on tour, which you can view here.  A couple shots of the reproduction wedding gown are linked directly below.
 

Sandy Powell's reproduction of Queen Victoria's wedding

gown for the film The Young Victoria. Photo linked from

moorina's flickr photostream.

10 March 1863: Princess Alexandra of Denmark (Queen Alexandra)

An official wedding photo of the new Princess of Wales with her

husband Prince Albert Edward.

Eighteen-year-old Princess Alexandra wore a gown draped in Honiton lace and garlands of orange blossoms.  Her silver moire train was so long it had to carried by eight bridesmaids.

The Marriage of the Prince of Wales (1863-5), by William Powell Frith.

For ease of movement and to make the gown serviceable on subsequent occasions, Queen Alexandra simplified it by removing some of the heavier frills and overskirts.  The current state of the gown, below, reflects these alterations.

Queen Alexandra's wedding gown (1863), as displayed in

the 2002 exhibit of royal wedding gowns at Kensington Palace.

6 July 1893: Queen Mary (Princess Victoria Mary of Teck)

For her wedding gown, Princess Victoria Mary personally selected a white silk satin brocade with a silver threaded design that intertwined roses, shamrocks, thistles, lilies of the valley, and orange blossoms.  Three flounces of Honiton lace (originally worn by her mother) were arranged at the front of the skirt, while the long train remained plain and unembellished.  She wore her mother's Honiton lace veil, secured with a bunch of orange blossoms and several diamond pins.

Women's magazines devoted entire special issues to Mary's gown and wedding trousseau alone.

Queen Mary's wedding gown (1893), as displayed in  the

2002 exhibit of royal wedding gowns at Kensington Palace.

26 April 1923: Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother)

The Queen Mother's choice of wedding gown very much reflected the style of the day with its simple skirt and its dropped waist.  Made of silk crepe moire, the dress featured intricate rows of pearls in front accented by silver embroidery.  It also had a surprisingly short train, fashionable for the period but unique at the time amongst traditional royal bridal wear.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's wedding gown (1923), as

displayed in the 2002 exhibit of royal wedding gowns at Kensington Palace.

20 November 1947: Princess Elizabeth (Queen Elizabeth II)

 

An official wedding portrait of the future Queen Elizabeth II

and the nearly created Duke of Edinburgh.

 
When Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen Elizabeth II, married the Duke of Edinburgh in 1947, her Norman Hartnell hand-embroidered ivory silk satin gown boasted a thirteen-foot train embellished with over 10,000 pearls and crystals arranged in an intricate floral garland and star pattern.  Crowning her lace veil was a 1919 diamond tiara originally made for Queen Mary.  She carried a bouquet of white Cattleya, Odontoglossum, and Cypripedium orchids.
 

Sleeve detail.

 

 
In celebration of her 60th wedding anniversary in 2007, the Queen's gown, veil, and shoes, her wedding jewels, the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Navy uniform, and a number of their wedding gifts were collected into a celebratory exhibit, "A Royal Wedding," at Buckingham Palace.  The photo above represents the gown as displayed there, while the one below captures its splendor from a different angle at the Kensington Palace exhibit from 2002.
 

And just how did the heir apparent afford such a gown as a war-time bride?  Rumor has it that like any other hopeful bride of the period, she carefully saved her clothing rations coupons!  For more about the details of the wedding day of Queen Elizabeth II (including some truly marvelous close-up photos of the gown), take a look at the Royal Collection's official "A Royal Wedding 1947" website.

29 July 1981: Lady Diana Spencer (Diana, Princess of Wales)

Diana's formal wedding portrait, linked from Gettyimages.

What frolick through the princess diaries of wedding gowns would be complete without a glimpse of the iconic Emaneul wedding gown designed for Princess Diana?  The hand-woven ivory silk taffeta gown, with its famous twenty-five cathedral train, was trimmed with antique lace and over 10,000 pearls and mother-of-pearl sequins attached with gold thread.  Lady Diana wore her veil (even longer than her train) secured to a Spencer family tiara.

Diana's 25-foot train, laid out to its full length in the "Diana: A Celebration"

touring exhibit.  This photo is linked from their website.

When not touring as part of "Diana: A Celebration" (as seen in the second and third photos above), Diana's gown is on display at Althorp, the Spencer family home.  For more on the gown from conception to creation to its debut on that special day, check out this page from the touring exhibition's stop in Dayton, and the Emanuels' book, A Dress for Diana.

To see more images, photographs, accessories, souvenirs, and gifts from all of these royal weddings, please visit Royal Weddings 1840-1947, the exhibition page on the official Royal Collection website.