You’re going to be hearing more about Giles Deacon, British designer of Pippa’s wedding gown.
Pippa Middleton got married Saturday in a wedding dress designed by British fashion star Giles Deacon, which should help turn him into an even bigger global fashion star:
Deacon, the designer previously renown at home for his quirky-and-populist approach to fashion, is going to be getting more attention now that the world knows he created Middleton’s wedding gown.
Middleton, who wed her fiancee, millionaire financier James Matthews, walked down the aisle in a lace-encrusted confection with cap sleeves, high neckline, corseted bodice and a heart-shaped detail in back, topped by a veil.
Deacon had been tipped in advance as the designer though he kept mum until the day.
In a statement Deacon said he was “thrilled” to work with Middleton. He described the way the dress was made.
“The bespoke silk cotton lace was hand appliquéd to create an illusion of the dress having ‘no seams, ‘” he said. “The lace bodice is embroidered with pearl detailing over an organza and tulle underskirt, which has layer upon layer to enable a floor-sweeping movement. It’s a privilege to show the craftsmanship that my team produces in London and a real testament to Pippa’s support of British fashion.”
Milliner Stephen Jones designed Pippa’s bespoke veil, which was made of fine tulle with a dégradé of embroidered pearls. The Maidenhair Fern tiara with matching hairpiece was handmade by Robinson Pelham. The shoes were a Manolo Blahnik pump, in an ivory satin with bespoke pearl detailing.
Pippa’s was a semi-private wedding, or as much as it could be given the involvement of Middleton’s royal relations: older sister Duchess Kate of Cambridge, Prince William and Prince Harry, plus her nephew and niece, Prince George, 3, and Princess Charlotte, 2, who served as page boy and bridesmaid.
Not to mention Pippa Middleton herself, who vaulted to worldwide fame (thanks to a Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen dress and a shapely backside) as the bridesmaid at sister Kate’s royal wedding in Westminster Abbey in 2011.
If the bespectacled and eccentric Deacon was beloved by the British fashion crowd before this wedding, he is now set to vault to greater fame in the USA as the designer for Pippa’s dress and also mother Carole Middleton’s outfit.
So who is Giles Deacon?
A native of Durham in far northern England, Deacon, 47, was brought up in the Lake District of poetry fame, and is a graduate of London’s prestigious St Martins College of Art and Design; one of his fellow students was Stella McCartney .
He’s a 2006 winner of the British Fashion Designer of the Year award and the former creative director of French fashion house Ungaro. He worked for Gucci, Louis Vuitton, and Bottega Veneta before he founded his own ready-to-wear line, GILES, in 2003. A year later he won Best New Designer at the British Fashion Awards. He launched his first haute couture collection in 2016.
. A perusal of his website and Facebook page show characteristic Deacon designs: Colorful, witty, idiosyncratic, lush, with loads of pop-culture references. A signature look: Gowns that appear to be silk canvases for gorgeous paintings.
“Giles is renowned for his exquisite cuts, bold use of fabrics and colors, and a real sense of playfulness and drama, ” Lucy Yeomans, then editor of Harper’s Bazaar, told The Guardia n in May 2010. “He is extremely funny, warm and down to earth. He is both a realist and a fantasist, which makes his vision of women engaging yet exciting.”
Deacon also is known for being discrete and for working with celebrities, including royals. Those are attributes Pippa Middleton would appreciate in her effort to organize a semi-private wedding under the glare of royal-level media attention. Deacon repeatedly declined to comment when approached by reporters in advance of the nuptials, even after he was spotted visiting the Middletons, garment bags in tow, in November.
His A-list celebrity clients include Scarlett Johansson, Drew Barrymore, Thandie Newton, Kerry Washington, Kate Hudson, Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss, Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow, Carey Mulligan, Solange, and Lady Gaga, some of whom are showcased on his Facebook page. Princess Beatrice, royal cousin to Prince William and Prince Harry, and Queen Rania of Jordan also are fans.
In recent years, Cate Blanchett stunned in a Deacon gown at Cannes in 2015, while Sarah Jessica Parker popped eyes in another Deacon creation at the Met Gala in 2013.
In January 2016, as he was launching his couture line, Deacon told Vogue that his team produced around 100 couture pieces a year for private clients and red carpets.
“We now want to expand it to 250 pieces a year, and so that obviously means increasing the atelier team here in London, ” he said.
Being the designer for a semi-royal wedding gown should help a lot.
