Victoria Beckham’s wedding dress flew across the Atlantic on Concorde four times.
The Spice Girls star married former footballer David Beckham in a lavish ceremony at Luttrellstown Castle in Ireland in July 1999 and she wore a Champagne-coloured gown with an intricate corset which was a collaboration between Vera Wang and UK-based costumier Mister Pearl – and it meant the bodice had to whizz back and forth between New York and London many times.
Wang told PEOPLE: “I call it the transatlantic dress. That bodice flew back and forth four times on the Concorde. The actual under bodice was made by a very famous couture corsetiere named Mister Pearl, who works only out of London.”
She added of the corset-maker’s styles: “He makes corsets that have to be pulled [in] with these metal things, which is how corsets were done in the old days. It takes about 45 minutes to lace up, and it can take your waist down to literally 18 inches [like] Scarlett O’Hara.
“I could not live with that because I need to be comfortable, as I always say. But Victoria did.”
Wang added that she visited Beckham in London for one of the fittings, while the pop star also came to New York twice.
However, the dress project had to be put on hold after Beckham discovered she was pregnant with her first child, son Brooklyn, and the wedding had to be delayed.
Wang added: “We delayed the wedding for two years. Then we resumed, or maybe a year and a half. So that is [what] I call the transatlantic wedding with Victoria and David.”
Beckham wore the custom gown for the ceremony and later changed into a bright purple dress – matching the groom’s suit and baby Brooklyn’s outfit.
Speaking in his new Netflix documentary ‘Beckham’, David admitted he let Victoria make all the decisions when it came to organising their big day.
He said: “I tried to think back to when I decided to wear a purple suit. I don’t know when that happened. I think I just took Victoria’s lead on it. But what … what were we thinking?”
However, Victoria has no regrets over the glitzy ceremony, saying: “It was fun! … We weren’t worried about what people were going to say. I mean Christ, how lovely to be that way when you just don’t really care you just want to express yourselves.”
