In a delightful twist, Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy designed Meghan Markle's royal wedding dress, which was sleek, minimal, and fashioned from matte silk cady with a boatneck and only six seams, according to Kensington palace. There's another fashion icon who loved the insanely timeless designs from Givenchy: None other than Audrey Hepburn. The Belgian-born actress famously wore a Givenchy wedding gown in Funny Face in 1957.
Both dresses don't have a stitch of lace, and each has a straight, bateau neck. Markle's, of course, is, three-quarter sleeve, not tea-length and not outfitted with a fluffy ballgown skirt. But still! Really similar, right?
Hubert de Givenchy passed away earlier this year after a lifelong relationship with his muse, Audrey Hepburn. Although he didn't design her dress for any of her real-life weddings, there's no doubt his clean and simple aesthetic made an indelible influence. Her Givenchy-like taste can particularly be seen her first wedding dress by Zoe Fontana, which she never ended up wearing down the aisle. Her engagement to James Hanson ended in 1952.
Hepburn ended up donating that dress, telling the Fontana sisters, "I want my dress to be worn by another girl for her wedding, perhaps someone who couldn't ever afford a dress like mine, the most beautiful, poor Italian girl you can find."
She wore a long-sleeve dress by Pierre Balmain to marry Mel Ferrer in 1954:
And a more casual dress for her wedding to Andrea Dotti in 1969.
Follow along here as we report on the royal wedding in real-time—from the dress to the tiara to Harry and Meghan's most adorable moments.
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Hannah Morrill is a writer and editor based in Portland, Maine. She’s an avid reader, an indifferent face-washer and a sunscreen/retinol evangelist.
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