What will Meghan wear? Royal wedding dress a top UK secret

LONDON — Where does one shop for a wedding gown set to be the dress of the year — an outfit chic enough for a fashionloving bride but suitable for a church so regal it’s the burial place of monarchs?

Everyone at London Fashion Week — and elsewhere — is dying to know.

With only three months to go before Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s May 19 wedding at Windsor Castle, both the fashion and bridal worlds are abuzz with talk of who the bride will pick to design her dress and what kind of look she would go for.

It’s no wonder: There’s not been a bigger royal wedding since Harry’s brother Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011 in an extravaganza broadcast around the world. Seven years later, Kate’s lacy, long-sleeved Alexander McQueen gown is still influencing bridal designs today.

“It’s going to be the greatest fashion commission of 2018. There’ll be millions of eyeballs on it,” said Jade Beer, editor at the British edition of Brides magazine. “It’s her major fashion moment.”

While the design — as well as the designer — of the dress is a closely guarded secret, many are positive that Markle will choose a British designer.

Kate wasn’t the only bride in the extended Royal Family sticking with a British designer. Zara Phillips, Queen Elizabeth’s second-eldest grandchild, wore royal couturier Stewart Parvin. In 1981, then-Lady Diana Spencer — the late mother of groom Harry — surprised many when she chose David and Elizabeth Emanuel, a pair of designers fresh out of college.

Front-runners for Markle’s choice include British-Canadian Erdem Moralioglu, known for his elegant, feminine styles; Ralph & Russo, the couture designers Markle chose for her engagement dress; heritage fashion powerhouse Burberry; as well as McQueen and Giles Deacon, who designed the wedding gown for Kate’s sister Pippa Middleton. French designer Roland Mouret has also been cited as a possible pick.