The brides who married in Alexander McQueen

As George Clooney’s fiancée Amal Alamuddin is rumoured to be tying the knot in Alexander McQueen, see which other brides chose the label for their big day

BY Olivia Bergin |
27 September 2014

Photo: Christopher Pledger

Lee Alexander McQueen founded his anti-establishment fashion label in London in 1992. Despite making headlines with his often controversial catwalk designs (bumsters being a fine example) McQueen also produced more commercially-focused collections and received commissions from his famous friends to design their wedding dresses.

Since McQueen’s suicide aged 40 in 2010, the creative direction of the label has been headed up by his right-hand woman, Sarah Burton.

KATE WINSLET, 1998

Oscar-winning Winslet is now on to her third marriage (with Richard Branson’s nephew Ned Rocknroll) but when she was 23 she wed fellow actor Jim Threapleton. The low-key reception was held at a pub in Berkshire and Kate wore a custom-made, intricately beaded McQueen dress. The couple split in 2001 an have a daughter, Mia.

Photos: Jeff Gilbert

SEE: The most stylish brides of 2014

LIV TYLER, 2003

Sadly, actress Tyler and Royston Langdon have since divorced but when they made their union official in 2003, the bride did so in McQueen. The couple, who have a son together, wed on a Caribbean island in secret but held a party a month later at Pastis in Manhattan for which Tyler chose a simple, empire line gown with delicate chiffon sleeves.

Photo: Rex

SEE: Worst celebrity wedding dresses

KATY ENGLAND, 2006

England, a hugely successful stylish who helps Kate Moss bring her Topshop collections to life, was the late Lee Alexander McQueen’s stylist, muse and confidante. So it was only natural that the designer make her dream gown for her wedding to Primal Scream rocker Bobby Gillespie. The candy-stripe creation was as unexpected and magical as McQueen’s catwalk shows.

Photo: Rex

SEE: The most stylish brides through history

THE DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE, 2011

The most famous Alexander McQueen wedding gown in history was created by the brand’s creative director, Sarah Burton. Shrouded in secrecy, embroiders at the Royal School of Needlework had no idea that they were creating the gown of Prince William’s wife-to-be Kate Middleton. The ivory satin bodice was padded slightly at the hips and narrowed at the waist, and was inspired by the Victorian tradition of corsetry that is a particular Alexander McQueen hallmark. Burton was unmasked as the designer only when Middleton left her hotel to make her way to Westminster Abbey. The dress spawned hundreds of copies.

Photo: Heathcliff O’Malley

PICTURES: Kate Middleton’s wedding dress

Photo: PA

SARA PARKER-BOWLES, 2005

Fashion writer Sara Buys, as she was known before she married the Duchess of Cornwall’s son, made a fashion-forward choice when she picked Alexander McQueen. The corseted, strapless silk and tulle fishtail-style wedding gown accentuated the then 32-year-old’s small waist and was topped off with a sheer ivory lace veil with a scalloped floral border of cream coloured roses. Photographers captured the stylish bride outside St Nicholas church in Rotherfield Greys, a village in south Oxfordshire. It is said that Buys’ choice of designer went on to inspire that of her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Photo: Ian Jones

Photo: Ian Jones

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