Meghan Markle‘ssurprise appearance at the British Fashion Awardson Monday night wasn’t just a shock to the audience!
Clare Waight Keller, the artistic director of Givenchy who was behind Meghan’s fairy tale wedding dress, was clearly stunned to see her pal when the Duchess of Sussex strolled out onstage to announce Waight Keller won the award for British Womenswear Designer of the Year.
“The ultimate surprise – the very special moment that I discovered #meghanmarkle #duchessofsussex was going to give me the award for Womenswear Designer of the Year,” the designer captioned a photo of the moment on Instagram. “Such an extraordinary moment of emotion and love for this amazing woman who changed my life 🖤 thank you.”
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Meghan, 37, described Waight Keller as a “British designer leading on the global stage with vision and creativity, but also with incredible kindness,” before announcing her the winner of the honor and sharing a huge hug.
Meghan Markle.Joe Maher/BFC/Getty Images
Meghan Markle and actress Rosamund Pike.John Phillips/BFC/Getty Images
Turns out that Waight Keller and Meghan had just seen each other – when the royal was fitted for the dress she wore to the occasion!
“I’m not joking, it was a complete and genuine surprise. I really did not know she was coming tonight at all!” Waight Keller toldGrazia.“I was actually fitting her for the dress last week and she said, ‘Oh, I’m going to this thing next week, I think it’s Monday or Tuesday night, I have to check my calendar.’ I just did not think anything of it. Then she walked in!”
While accepting her award, Waight Keller thanked Meghan for trusting her to design the gown for her big day.
“I got to know Meghan on such a personal level,” the British designer said. “To have someone like that trust you in an incredible moment in their life is something that is just the most unbelievable honor. I can’t thank you enough because it was the most beautiful moment.”
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The process was “very collaborative,” Waight Keller saidin an interview the day after the wedding, adding that Meghan was familiar with her work.
“It was a wonderful way to start the collaboration with her, finding out what she wanted for her day and just to find the absolute perfect style for her,” Waight Keller said. “Part of it was really a conversation in the beginning and then through a series of sketches that I proposed to her. We exchanged conversations about what would be the ultimate lines and proportions and the scale of the dress.”
She continued, “But over time we quickly got to a point where she knew exactly what she wanted, having tried some of mock-ups that I had shown her. And then it evolved into the final design.”
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Waight Keller says that the woman in the dress is exactly what she appears to be: a confident, kind person.
She added, “Really, it was an absolute joy working with her.”
source: people.com
