Say it isn’t so! After a stunning Fall 2011 collection – very heavy on white, bridal-worthy gowns – rumors that Alexander McQueen creative director Sarah Burton would be designing Kate Middleton’s dress intensified. Now, after it was reported that the princess-to-be has two backup dresses in case her front-runner pick is revealed prior to the wedding, rumor has it that Sophie Cranston of Libélula will be designing the dress.
Though the 29-year-old has stepped out in one of the label’s designs before, a vintage-inspired black velvet dress at a friend’s wedding in Yorkshire this past January, the rumor should be taken with a grain of salt as they stemmed from a speculative article written by Huffington Post’s royal correspondent, Yvonne York, who is reporting based on an “insider source,” adding that “a St. James’s Palace spokesperson I talked to won’t confirm or deny that Cranston had been selected, only saying, ‘We are not being drawn on any speculation on the wedding and cannot comment.’”
As for Cranston, the little known designer is just 34 years old and based in South London. In 1999 she won the Designer of the Year Award at London’s Graduate Fashion Week and went on to work for Alexander McQueen and then Alice Temperley. In 2002, inspired by a trip to Spain, she founded her label, Libélula, which means “dragonfly” in Spanish. In addition to a ready-to-wear line, the label has a bespoke wedding and bridesmaid collection.
Meanwhile the Daily Mail is reporting that Middleton had a significant hand in designing the dress and that it’s ivory satin and lace with pearl buttons and a 10 foot train – again, a rumor to be taken with a grain of salt.
