Friday, April 29, 2011

The Royal Wedding: Ceremony and Procession

For those of you smart enough to sleep in this morning.

Darlings, if you didn't get to see it live or if you just want to relive the details, here's a TON of wedding pictures to get you through your lunch hour. Extra added bonus? You get to hear us give our thoughts.

We think children are necessary little creatures who will come in handy when it comes time to spoon-feed our generation, but even we have to admit this is all kinds of ridiculous adorableosity.


We've been taking a crash course in the current state of the Royal scene as well as the background on Kate herself. It's all been more interesting than we thought it would be and we have some observations.

Taking in the details of her look - the dress, the understated bouquet, the self-applied makeup - we think she quite clearly sent a message today.




And we don't think the idea is all that crazy. We've watched her just long enough to know that, like other notable women in similar positions, such as Jackie Kennedy and Diana herself, she has an understanding of how to use her clothes to say something.


In addition, she appears to be marrying a man who also has a finely tuned understanding of how to manage an image and how to pull off some expert re-branding. Everything from his mother's engagement ring, to their much-discussed teeth-whitening, to (and this amused us most of all) the reveal that they actually rehearsed their balcony kiss to make sure it went smoothly and they gave the best angle, all points to two people acutely aware of the pitfalls of their positions and almost preternaturally adept at getting the precise results they want. From a political point of view, they're like a Royal version of the Clintons; two very savvy people, practically made out of policy and image, who make a great team.





She knew - they both did - that the ghost of his mother was going to permeate the proceedings. In fact, they invited the comparison in some respects. But just as everyone had that image of Diana in her enormous confection of a dress foremost in their minds, out steps Kate, saying loud and clear, "I don't want you to compare me to Princess Diana. Compare me to Princess Grace instead." EVERYONE commenting on the proceedings immediately mentioned the former film star-turned-princess's name. It rather brilliantly changed the course of the conversation just as the Diana comparisons threatened to overwhelm the day.






Like Grace, she is a commoner marrying a prince. Like Grace, she has a very low-key, yet classic style. Diana was more of a trend setter. We predict a lot of lovely, well-made, classic clothes in Kate's future, but we doubt she'll ever push the envelope. Respectability, duty, and sincerity seem to be, above all, the image these two want to send with their union; NOT fairy tale fantasies. They've learned the lessons of the previous generation and they're facing a country that occasionally wonders whether their position is worth preserving at all. We have no idea what they're truly like, but we're damn impressed with how well they're managing their image right out of the gate.















[Photo Credit: getty, wireimage, AP Photo - Screencaps: tomandlorenzo.com]


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