The Epic Battle Between Kate or Diana! Whose Is More Beautiful?

The morning after the glorious royal wedding of Prince William and HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, I woke to two very different rounds of reviews. There were the sources I go to for my daily dose of fashion feed like Style.com, et all and then there were a couple of Indian newspapers like Mail Today. Anyhow, the issue at hand seemed that while most of the fashiopn fraternity (and anyone with any inkling of taste) seemed to adore Kate's Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen wedding and reception gowns, Indian designers didn't care much for it. Which revived the inevitable question. Who upstaged whose wedding? In my opinion Kate and Will were definitely winners.

There is no clear indication why exactly Indians are so obsessed with Diana and think Kate is just average. Maybe it's our obsession with anybody whose blond and blue eyed in a completely typical way. Maybe the fact that Diana was more virginal and came from royal blood is it. Or maybe we really just don't have much taste.

For weeks before the wedding, the attention on what the future Duchess of Cambridge would wear on her big day was hitting obsessions of epic proportions to say the least. On the night before the wedding, rumors were flying rampant that Sarah Burton, the somewhat newly instated designer of Alexander McQueen (following the tragic death of the namesake designer) had been seen checking into the hotel where Kate was staying. Ms. Burton had been questioned as to whether she was in fact designing the dress for months prior to the wedding, always firmly denying it. Could it be? Was the most watched new designer in the world really designing the most watched dress of our generation? Bernard Arnault, CEO of luxury conglomerate LVMH even went as far as to say that if Burton really did have this deal in the bag, he would be seriously considering her for the Dior job left vacant after the dismissal of John Galliano last month.

Designers like Poonam Gandhi and Ritu Kumar claimed that Diana's dress was "spectacular" which just sends the mind reeling to conclusions as to what these people are on. Diana's dress was a nightmare. It was crumpled and too voluminous and extremely dowdy. In fact, if anyone BUT Diana would've worn it, it probably would've been exiled to the Style Hall of Shame. What exactly enthralls us Indians so much about that bizarre creampuff-esque creation is thoroughly inconceivable.

Kate's on the other hand got a ton of flak from the Indian fashion community while the real fashion authorities like Karl Lagerfeld, Simon Doonan, Annabel Tollman, etc. thought it was divine. Sarah Burton created a fantasy and achieved the rare feat of giving shape to a dress that was both stunningly innovative and indescribably traditional- just the way a royal wedding dress should be. Kate walked down the chapel in a fitted bodice with intricate lace sleeve detailing, a cinched in waist that showed off her incredible figure and a full skirt. The delicate pleats at the back showed the house of McQueen's mastery over the innate craftsmanship. Her train wasn't ridiculously (and inexplicably) long like Diana's but an appropriately regal length without crossing the line to absurd. Accessories were minimum as is the custom at English weddings. Her makeup was perfection, her hair is always gorgeous. I think she was a vision. Diana was indeed a beautiful woman but her sense of style only just bettered in any significant way after her separation from Charles when Gianni Versace (RIP) started dressing her. Kate has more sex appeal and seems stronger, more confident and more assured of herself. And of course, it does help that her other half, Prince William is considerably more gorgeous than Charles. In all honesty though, my attention was largely focused on Prince Harry for the most part though.