As the world looks forward to a royal wedding, Rosanna Greenstreet meets internationally renowned bridal designer and local resident, Caroline Castigliano
Thank goodness Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are engaged. With Christmas done and dusted and only Brexit to look forward to, at least there is a right royal knees-up on the horizon.
In October, when I meet the bridal designer Caroline Castigliano in Esher, where she lives, Harry has yet to pop the question. But the odds on an announcement are good.
“Christmas and New Year and Valentine’s Day are times that people propose,” says Caroline.
And she should know. Raised in nearby Teddington, she has been dressing brides since 1991 when she opened her first boutique on Esher High Street.
“In those days there was Berketex and Pronuptia and everything was polyester, it was all ghastly,” she says, “I walked into this little florist opposite Waitrose and said, “Have you ever thought of giving up your lease?” A few weeks later I got it. At first I was buying other designers, I wasn’t doing my own dresses. I got bigger and had shops in Guildford, Bath, Nottingham, Leeds, Edinburgh, Ireland, loads of them.”
Caroline attributes her early success to another royal wedding, the marriage of Princess Margaret’s daughter Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones to Daniel Chatto in 1994. Caroline had no idea that Jasper Conran had designed the royal wedding dress when she struck a deal to collaborate with him. “The collection with Jasper was phenomenal and it was just coincidental that we launched at the same time as Sarah Armstrong-Jones wore his dress and got worldwide press coverage.”
It was during this period that Caroline realised that she wanted to produce her own designs. “I had made clothes all my life. I was born with a severe congenital hip defect so I had lots of operations. I couldn’t do things other children did so I spent a lot of time with my mother and she taught me to sew. Then I went to Italia Conti because my parents were told if I danced I would be able to rebuild the muscles that had been so badly cut and walk without a limp, which I do. My best friend at school was massively into sewing, so our idea of fun was buying fabric at Liberty and making clothes. I just never thought it would be something that would become part of my career.”
Caroline spent her early life as an actress and later sold sportswear in America. She came back to England in her early twenties after her father had died to spend more time with her mum. It was then that she had the idea for a bridal boutique. As she gives me a preview of her beautiful new collection for 2018, it’s not hard to see why she has risen to become an occasion-wear designer of international renown with a flagship store in Knightsbridge and stockists all over the world.
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Caroline’s vision for Meghan Markle
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Caroline’s vision for Meghan Markle
Caroline says, “The new collection has the classic fifties sense that I take through all my collections. It has a freshness, a soft femininity; I’ve used beautiful laces, lots of applique and layering for a 3D effect. I’ve added cap sleeves and sleeves, and there are off-the-shoulder dresses. I’ve designed dresses which go from day to night. So you’ve one complete look in the day and then you make a few changes to the outfit, whether it’s taking off a jacket or a skirt, and are super slinky underneath.”
A shapely silhouette is key to Caroline’s designs. She says, “I have always been known for corsetry and fit and I’ve developed a new stretch corset. Fifteen bones go round the body and, as you breathe, the corset moves with you while giving you fantastic proportions.”
Caroline’s creations are made in the UK and a dress from her collection costs between £2,800 and £3,500 but, for a bespoke frock the price is £4,500 plus. The most expensive dress that she has made cost an eye-watering £50,000!
And what could a bride-to-be expect for that sort of money?
“Something entirely made by hand: they might want a fabric developed or a special beading design so it’s completely unique. And you are buying time as well: if you are spending £50,000 you will want to visit the Knightsbridge store a lot,” she explains adding, “When you are developing fabric you are dealing with other companies and it can stretch the whole thing out. So you want to allow nine months for a couture dress. You have to keep sampling things and having the client in to make sure they are happy. Given the sort of money that they are spending, it’s absolutely critical that they sign off every single layer. You don’t want them to walk in and say, ‘Oh, I didn’t know it would look like that’.”
Nowadays, it is not uncommon for brides to have more than one wedding dress. “A lot of people have two and three dresses, especially for bigger weddings that go on over a few days.” And Caroline often dresses the mother of the bride too, something she loves to do. “When the mum comes along with her daughter and you fit them together, there are special moments that you get at no other time,” she says. She also dresses celebrities, the opera singer Lesley Garrett being a particular fan, wearing Caroline’s creations for events and performances.
Before we part, I ask Caroline if she has given any thought as to what would make La Markle sparkle on her big day.
“I can think instantly of dresses we’ve done that she would look knockout in, that are low backed, have beautiful figure-shaping and are made of fantastic laces. Now I don’t know if the royal family will say, ‘Well this is Harry’s wedding and Meghan is a sexy TV star so she can get away with something like that.’ But I think not, they are not going to want that on the front pages of the newspapers. So I think Meghan will be like Kate, she’ll wear one dress to get married and then they’ll have a closed off party and take the phones off everyone and she’ll put on something fabulous to dance the night away like I’ve described, a sparkly number with a low back, showing the curve of her bum. But for the wedding, I can see her in something classic and beautifully structured in silk zibeline.” Caroline claps her hands and laughs, “OK Meghan, let’s do the wedding!”
- For further information go to carolinecastigliano.com
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