Stella McCartney Talks Meghan Markle's Wedding Dress and The Friendship They Built

Designer Stella McCartney has spoken out about being tasked with the small, no-big-deal job of designing the dress for Meghan Markle (opens in new tab) to wear on the evening of her wedding to Prince Harry. The gown in question—that beautiful white silk halter neck (opens in new tab)—ended up gaining just as much adoration and attention as Meghan’s original Givenchy ceremony dress. Speaking to Elle (opens in new tab), McCartney revealed why she thinks she was chosen and commissioned by Meghan—explaining that their relationship has gone beyond fashion and into a real friendship.

"I think Meghan chose me for reasons other than just a beautiful dress,” the British designer said. “Plenty of people can do that. She is not a difficult client to make look beautiful. Amal called me and asked me to do it, as did Oprah. I look at that Amal dress, and it is made of sustainable viscose that took us three years to develop. And I think, obviously I am a British designer, but I think being a woman and being a women's woman played a part. They are all women's women. It's a big deal.”

McCartney, who has collaborated with Meghan before on designs including her black coat for a visit to Wales in January (opens in new tab), and the gown that she wore to the Royal Albert Hall in April (opens in new tab), said that it was the Duchess of Sussex herself who reached out to her. "[Meghan] approached me and we worked on other things,” she continued. “She wore other pieces of mine and we had a friendship. And then she asked me to do her second wedding dress. I was honored and I still am.”

When asked previously about her creation for the royal wedding (opens in new tab), Stella told the BBC that the dress had to represent something incredibly special and unique. "The role that she's taken on is very austere,” the designer said at the time.

“It’s very serious and I think there's a great weight that she has acquired through that and she takes it very seriously. It was the last moment that she could reflect sort of the other side to her... the joy and the human within her.”