THAT dress.

I’m left wing, not a monarchist remotely, but I like MM and the dress. No conflict at all. Fashion is a huge industry and contributes a lot to the economy , unfortunately few garments are manufactured in the UK these days, but high end couture and bespoke tailoring still exists , these are highly skilled trades. The products will be consequently expensive. You should watch a YouTube clip on making of a Chanel collection to see the incredible skill involved. The UK produces so few quality products these days , so the few industries we do have should be encouraged surely. If that involves people in the public eye wearing their outfits that’s fine by me.

What would it have to have been made of to cost that amount ? Can we really believe everything that is reported?

Not at all tiggypiro - that is my ambition, to go business class.
I keep saving and DH keeps buying lottery tickets.
However, should we ever treat ourselves, am I supposed to feel guilty that I could have gone cattle class economy and donated the £thousands difference to charity?

Just read your post HurdyGurdy,brilliant, couldn't agree more .

ps tiggypiro I am sure I heard on a programme about Qantas that the business class tickets cost so much because they are subsidising the cost of the economy tickets.

So - thank you

No problem Jalima1108 ! I expect the people who made THE DRESS are saying the same to Megan and Harry. They would be out of a job if some people on here had their way.

So now there is another target for people to snipe at. We are the envy of the world with our Royal family, and they bring a huge amount of money in tourism to this country.

Don’t believe what you read in the papers they like to make more of things than it is. Not often they write truthfully about the royals. Other then having a dig at Charles and his overseas banking.

We are not the envy of the world, otherwise they wouldn’t have got rid of their monarchies aeons ago. The monarchy doesn’t bring in tourism, apart from the dead ones, hardly any tourists see the Queen. Tower of London is most visited attraction, then the London Eye.

In my opinion, there are obscenities on various levels associated with Meghan Markel's wearing of that dress, irrespective of whether she paid for it or wore it just to give publicity to the designer.
1. The fact that a dress can cost £56,000 is pretty sickening, when there are millions of other women around the world who live in poverty and don't have the means to buy even one cotton dress costing £3 or £4.
2. The fact that a future member of the British Royal family buys into that culture is obscene, because royalty serve as role models for countless young girls and women in this country, who will never be able, especially in these years of austerity, to aspire to the Markel-look - the mannequin.
3. Whether Markel has bought the dress from her own pocket or simply worn it to showcase the work of some outrageously 'up-him/herself' designer, she has paraded her double standards - we have all been 'warmed' up to her as a person by the footage of her barefoot walks in African villages on her humanitarian rounds - and yet she wears a £56,000 dress which she lets out details of the price tag about. There's nothing wrong with wanting to look and feel good on a grand occasion but honestly, when I go to an event I don't tell anyone how much I paid for my dress. Maybe she didn't do this, but somebody in her entourage did and that's her responsibility.
4. This lady is no newcomer to publicity - she's no shy, retiring Diana so let's not be fooled by the photographs. She knows that the price of this dress was destined for the press, and made a very, very bad error of judgement in this matter.
5. Why oh why, are we saying goodbye to our cultured European neighbours, and opening our gates to this Hollywood circus?! Yes, it really is obscene - oh, and regarding the work the dress has provided for goodness knows how many people - I just don't believe it - there will be a few very well paid individuals working on that, and the bulk of the money will be a price for the designer's intellectual property - the design. Surely, no item of clothing can be justified as worth £56,000 - or maybe it was diamond encrusted - then again, maybe living in London I just know too many teachers and nurses who find themselves having to visit food banks.

Pro or anti Monarchy there are some really snippy comments on this thread, fortunately I suspect not typical of all Gnetters.
As for expecting the marriage to last just 5 years, the Germans call it “Schadenfreude “ taking pleasure in the misfortune of others.
Count me out!

The dress was made by a couple of unknown designers from Australia according to reports and imo she looks amazing in it.
Do any one of you remember seeing designs by the Emmanuals before Diana had her dress made by them I think not and just look at the business that dress brought in for the couple I hope these two designers have the same good fortune.I have never read such sour grapes amongst GNers during all the years I have been a member you can't pick who you choose to fall in love with be him a Prince or a Postman you just live and let live.

I really do not care what the dress cost, the cost does not justify some of the comments on this thread which are plain nasty.
I do not envy anyone their wealth, good luck to them, I have got in life what I worked for, so do not resent others.
Why does a dress and photographs bring out so much nastiness?

Does no one change their hairstyle over the years? A bit of a racist comment earlier.

Well said MawBroon and Rafichagran. Such nastiness and envy. I don’t care how much you protest that you’re happy in your lives, such horrible comments give the lie to your protests.

Sorry Jalima1108 the Americans all ready had Princess Grace. Most of the Americans I know think it’s silly that you still pay money for a figurehead.
I know the Queen and her family have many charities and that’s commendable but why not give the money that’s given to the royal family straight to the charity itself?
The money wasted on pomp and circumstance could be better served IMO.

The latest figures I can find from a very quick search of the internet in 2013 (the latest I can find) the royal family cost the British tax payer just over £33m or approximately 53p per person per year. In the same year it was estimated the royal family generated almost £500m. Value for money I would say. I agree with those who are shocked at the amount of venom being voiced against a young couple, who none of us know personally - just because of the family one of them was born into.

Phew. I'm just catching up with gransnet, this thread is gransnet at its worst imo.
It amazes me that people can be so very unpleasant about a young couple who have announced their engagement. The level of vitriol and sheer nastiness directed at MM is astonishing. It's difficult not to conclude much of it is driven by envy of the amount of money MM has earned. How many of us would make such negative and demeaning comments about our own children or loved one's. Who set some here up as moral arbiters, to sit in judgement about how they spend money, whether MM has done something to her hair to stop it looking African?!
Season of Goodwill - not on this thread.

I think she's lovely, the dress is lovely [if somewhat unusual] and the photos are lovely. I don't really regard myself as a Royalist but I do sometimes think that, if we hadn't had a royal family over the centuries we wouldn't have castles and stately homes and churches and cathedrals to visit. ok I realise they were built using the blood sweat and tears of commoners.......

...I hope that people who are complaining about the cost of the dress etc are giving money this Christmas to the homeless etc instead of wasting lots of money on food, booze and unnecessary presents...

Tegan that was suggested some hours ago but, oddly enough, those that have carped loudest and longest about cost of the dress v donations to charities, haven't been back on to confirm that they'll be drinking tap water and eating dry crackers this Christmas and giving the difference to good causes. Wonder why?

I've just read this entire thread and I have to agree with the OP, £56,000 is indeed an obscene amount of money to spend on a dress although I doubt she actually paid for it, it would have been loaned. More importantly in my opinion is the bad publicity it would be sure to generate. Ms M is not being well advised or perhaps she ignored the advice, who knows? Either way, she is reaping the whirlwind on GN.

suzied....what on earth do you mean by saying ‘ the monarchy doesn’t bring in tourism apart from the dead ones’ ? What dead ones?

My first comment on this thread, it seems to be a bit of a vinegary view of things to moan about her dress, either the style or the price of it.
Did anyone here moan about Diana’s clothes?
Or Kate’s?
She may well be a breath of fresh air within the royal family.
I am a rebuplican at heart but see no point in knocking new members of ‘the firm’ they are ( or seem) very happy, so good luck to them.I don’t suppose that life is all roses round the door either.

Why oh why, are we saying goodbye to our cultured European neighbours, and opening our gates to this Hollywood circus?!
What a very odd statement GoldenAge

I don't remember there being two boxes on the referendum voting form, one for voting yea or nay to Europe and the other voting for Prince Harry to marry an American.

But perhaps I needed to go to that optician's.

^ Most of the Americans I know think it’s silly that you still pay money for a figurehead.^
I'm sorry, but she is our Head of State.

Of course, you may not understand, as you have Trump who probably costs only a dime or two and is so well-loved around the world.