Designer grovels in Markle dress debacle

WHo would dare utter a word of criticism against the new Duchess of Sussex?

top fashion designer Emilia Wickstead has felt the need to issue a grovelling apology after mentioning to me at a party last week that Meghan Markle’s wedding dress was ‘identical’ to one she had created.

comparing the £ 200,000 Givenchy gown designed by clare Waight Keller (far right) to her own £7,000 off-the-shoulder Helene dress (near right), the 34-year-old favourite of the Duchess of cambridge told me: ‘Her dress is identical to one of our dresses. apparently a lot of commentators were saying: “it’s an Emilia Wickstead dress.”’

Now, after facing extraordinary online criticism, she has backtracked. in a statement posted on her instagram page on Sunday, she cooed: ‘Her royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex looked absolutely beautiful on her wedding day and i have the utmost admiration and respect for her.

‘ i do not think that her wedding dress was a copy of any of our designs. i have the greatest respect for clare Waight Keller and the House of Givenchy — a huge source of inspiration to me.’

it is not the first time she has found herself entangled in a Pr ddebacle. two yeyears ago, having designed a sumptuous dress for the marriage of the Duke of Wellington’s daughter, charlotte Wellesley, to billionaire financier alejandro Santo Domingo, Wickstead arrived at the nuptials wearing a floor-length ivory frock with her trademark fold- down, off- the- shoulder neckline, which, several observers noted, was uncannily similar to the bridal gown.

Meghan’sgown wasidentical to m in e,says Kate’sdesigner