Kate Middleton’s Sheer Fashion Show Dress: What Happened to It and the Power of Kate’s Clothes for ‘The Crown’ Actor Meg Bellamy
The Crown Season 6 Part II is here. And with it, the recreation of Kate Middleton’s sheer dress from college. Worn in a 2002 charity fashion show, the now-Princess of Wales’s outfit is believed to have played a pivotal role in bringing her and Prince William together. Ahead, details on what happened to the dress Kate wore. Plus, what The Crown’s Meg Bellamy had to say about recreating Kate’s memorable look.
The sheer dress worn by Kate Middleton sold at auction in 2011
Where is the sheer dress Kate wore at St. Andrew’s University now? No one knows for sure. It sold at auction to a private buyer nine years after the now-41-year-old wore it down the runway (via CNN).
The dress sold for just over $125,000 — 10 times more than predicted — in March 2011, the month before the Prince and Princess of Wales’ royal wedding.
Made by design student Charlotte Todd for less than $50, Kate’s sheer dress was part of an assignment “called ‘The Art of Seduction,’ which is quite apt, really,” Todd once told People.
The story goes that when Prince William saw Kate in the dress at the fashion show, he described her as “hot” to a friend. Thus started the love story of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
“I didn’t know who Kate Middleton was, and I didn’t put her in it,” Todd continued. “It was just pure chance! Everyone says that the fashion show was when the romance started. So a small part of me will always be part of royal history. It’s madness!”
Meg Bellamy felt ‘nervous’ ahead of filming the Kate dress scene on ‘The Crown’
Recreating Kate’s sheer dress, complete with a runway moment, had Bellamy, who grew up only “10 minutes” from the royal in Berkshire, England, feeling mixed emotions. One part of her was excited “to wear an iconic outfit” she “was aware of,” the 21-year-old told E! News.
Another part was intrigued by the costume design process. “Preparing for the dress was really interesting with the fittings, so many intricacies, and different layers of mesh and ribbons,” Bellamy said.
Another part of her was “nervous” due to the scene’s importance in Kate and William’s love story. “I was nervous a bit before because it’s a scene that I felt had a lot of gravitas in terms of historical significance,” she said.
“But the day of, the director [Erik Richter Strand] made us so comfortable, and it was just loads of fun. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
Kate’s 2000s style helped Bellamy get into character on ‘The Crown’
Kate is known for her sense of style, having been on many a best-dressed list since joining the royal family. However, on The Crown, she’s seen as a young woman in her college years and early 20s sporting trendy clothes.
Enter low-rise jeans and tight tank tops, as seen on Bellamy, who donned Kate’s y2k style in season 6.
“It was very helpful. Because as much as you think, ‘Well, it’s only 20 years ago, the fashion can’t have been that different … it really was,” the actor told Vanity Fair.
“The low-rise jeans change how you hold yourself,” she added. “So it was very useful in terms of feeling different and stepping into a character.”
The final episodes of The Crown are now streaming on Netflix.
