Royal Flush

Clare Waight Keller’s banner year.

- Justine Picardie

WHEN MEGHAN MARKLE’S wedding gown was finally revealed on the steps of St George’s Chapel in May this year, it was astonishing not only for its sculptural grace and elegant beauty, but also for the fact that its designer had kept the world’s most talked-about dress a secret. Clare Waight Keller, who had been appointed the first female artistic director of Givenchy the previous year, told no one about the commission. Instead, she herself did all eight fittings for the dress in private with the Duchess of Sussex; and while the seamstresses of Givenchy’s haute couture atelier in Paris devoted hundreds of hours to making the bateau-necked silk-cady gown and its exquisitely embroidered long train, none of them (nor indeed anyone at the company) knew the identity of the bride until the day of the wedding.

Yet such discretion is at the heart of Waight Keller’s approach to her work, along with a commitment to creative excellence. I first met her soon after I became editor of Harper’s BAZAAR UK in 2012, when she was creative director of Chloé, and was struck not only by her brilliant interpretation of the brand’s vision of free-spirited femininity, but also by her modesty in an industry that is more often associated with displays of rampant ego. Six years later, as she has risen to become one of the most influential designers of our era, her strength of character remains intact.