{excerpt from}
Chapter Four: "Bringing Back the Mystery"
Princess Diana did not invent our fascination with royalty; stories of nobility and their grand
rituals have long captured our attention. However, “royalty acquired the status
of stardom when she entered the royal enclosure,” British journalist Beatrix
Campbell wrote and, post-1981, weddings once again became society’s favorite pomp and posh circumstance dress-up
ritual.
I opened my former bridal store in Atlanta on the wave of
Diana’s wedding magic, between the two Windsor royal weddings that decade, and
my designers were busy creating “princess gowns” for years: elegant fluffs of
ivory silk with big crinoline skirts, full sleeves with delicate bows, corseted
bodices, and hand-beaded trims of antique lace. Worn with gossamer tulle veils
and—since my customers weren’t yet enamored with tiaras—designer-made
headpieces sprinkled with vintage wax orange blossoms and bits of old lace.
Something very dreamy and womanly was ignited in the process.
Bridal veils made a come-back with Diana like
they did in the nineteenth century with Prince Charles’ great-great-great
grandmother. Although Queen Victoria’s short Honiton lace veil in 1840 was
“decorative only,” pinned to her chignon and falling softly over her shoulders,
Diana’s was lush and sparkly and, breaking with royal tradition, covered her
face for a much fussed-over “virginal” arrival into St. Paul’s cathedral on her
father’s arm. Many feminists called it a “shroud.” And for some modern young women of the time just beginning to revel in
their independence and sexual freedom, wearing a bridal veil indeed seemed a
bit out-of-date, if not out-of-touch.
Not insensitive to world politics of the 1980s and ‘90s—the
years I had my shop—my focus, however, was helping a bride feel just as
beautiful inside as she looked
outside. I loved the look of the sheer illusion veil like Diana’s that seemed
to connect a woman with something deeply feminine and quietly mysterious. Worn
over the face, it helped block out the noisy, distracting world, and move her
attention within—similar to how a slow, deep breathy inhale and exhale return
us to our true self, more in touch with our heart.~
[excerpt from The End of the Fairy-Tale Bride: For Better or Worse, How Princess Diana Rescued the Great White Wedding ...pages 58-59]
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