How Meghan Markle's wedding dress will influence designers

It may be some time before Meghan Markle's wedding dress influences bridal fashion

Meghan Markle isn’t officially a royal yet but she has already cemented her place as the royal family's newest fashion icon.

With the world impatiently waiting for a glimpse of her wedding gown, you would expect bridal designers to want to imitate Meghan’s gown as soon as she walks down the aisle.

After all, the former actress’ outfits have already sparked the creation of numerous fashion blogs dedicated to identifying her every outfit - with many of the pieces selling out just hours or days after she’s worn them.

However, the impact Markle’s wedding dress will have on bridal fashion may be much more subtle.

As weddings are deeply personal, brides typically don’t follow trends when it comes to choosing their gown, opting instead for classic looks that won’t go out of style years later.

Brides are also likely to choose a gown based on their own tastes, and not on the choice of someone famous - a lesson bridal designer David’s Bridal learned after the 2011 royal wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton when their replica dress didn’t sell.

According to Lori Conley, senior vice president of product and design at David’s Bridal, who spoke to Racked, the problem with the look-alike dress was women didn’t want to look as if they were in costume on their wedding day.

Instead, the company found that elements of the Duchess of Cambridge’s two wedding gowns, especially the iconic long sleeves, influenced bridal fashion over an extended period of time.

The same is expected to happen with Markle’s dress, although women may opt for gowns that look identical as they have done with other pieces of the future royal’s wardrobe.

Although the official designer has not yet been announced, one thing bridal designers do expect with Meghan's gown is a modest look.

Meghan has previously disregarded the unspoken royal dress code on multiple occasions since announcing her engagement to Prince Harry, but experts predict she’ll go with a traditional wedding gown for the May 19 2018 wedding.

Designer Caroline Castigliano told Fox News: “I think she is going to be reasonably traditional in her actual wedding dress” and that “too curvy would be out of the question.”

As for the designer, bets are on Ralph and Russo, the Australian design duo that created Markle’s black engagement gown.

Other contenders include Stella McCartney and Alexander McQueen.

No matter what dress or dresses Ms Markle chooses, she will likely influence bridal fashion for years to come.