Royal Wedding Inspiration: Princess Mabel's bows


Get ready to go girly, one of the big wedding dress trends for Spring 2018 is bows. That's right. The staple of every school girl's early hair styling CV is hitting the wedding market just in time for brides saying 'I do' early in the year. Bows are pretty hard to find on royal wedding dresses (I know, I know, Fergie is tomorrow) but when they do appear, they certainly make their mark (again, Fergie). And that was never truer than in the case of Mabel Wisse Smit who married Prince Johan Friso of the Netherlands in 2004 wearing more bows than you've had hot dinners this year. And that is not an exaggeration. Get ready to be inspired...possibly....


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Mabel was a controversial royal bride to say the least. Her husband to be had been second in line to the throne when their relationship became public but the Dutch government refused to ask the permission of parliament for their wedding after the then Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, said the couple had given ''incomplete and incorrect information'' about Mabel's links to known drugs lord, Klaus Bruinsma. Johan Friso decided to wed her anyway and so gave up his rights to the throne. By the time the wedding took place, on April 24th 2004 in Delft, Johan Friso's big brother, Willem-Alexander, already had a daughter so securing the succession and everyone was all smiles again. Then we met the bows.


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Mabel had already shown she had her own sense of style and that certainly came out in her wedding dress, designed by Viktor and Rolf. She apparently told her couturiers to make something memorable and you are never going to forget this one in a hurry. If you're looking for bow inspiration then there is plenty here.




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You might want to go for the rather clever and subtle way that lots of tiny bows are patterned across the entire fabric of the wedding dress. The gown is made of duchesse satin, covered with diamond shaped patterns which always meet at a tiny bow. From a distance it gives the dress plenty of texture, producing an almost quilted effect, while up close it breaks up the deep white satin and works well across the bateau neckline and long sleeves.


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Or you might want to go for the blink and you can still see them bows across the train. If you're really brave. Mabel had a 3 metre train (this is a royal wedding, it's compulsory) and it was covered in bows. But there was no way this new princess was keeping that to the same, subtle weaving of bows as she'd chosen for her wedding gown. Instead, the thirty five bows on the train get bigger as they work their way towards the end, finishing with a flourish that must have weighed a kilo all on its own. It's bow-tastic and then some.




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The one thing you won't find on Mabel's gown of 248 bows is a great big piece of ribbon on the waistline. No, Mabel eschewed that oh so traditional bridal look of a bow at the back of her bodice for a simple satin belt effect. I mean, you don't want to overegg the pudding.


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Bows really are big for Spring 2018 so there is plenty to take from this wedding dress in a category of its own. And perhaps the biggest lesson is that less really is more. A scattering on a small train or some detailing on the dress are individual and interesting ways to follow this trend. The whole royal shebang is perhaps only for the brave or those getting married in a huge venue with a guest list running into thousands otherwise you risk tying your big day outfit into all kinds of knots.

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