Of all the defining moments in Britain’s royal history, there aren’t many involving a see-through dress. It felt inevitable, then, that the image of Kate Middleton stepping out, in next to nothing, during a student runway show in 2002 would become such a focal point for the concluding episodes of Netflix’s The Crown, which arrived today.
The sixth and final outing of Peter Morgan’s controversial drama has been split into two parts. The first, released last month, charted the weeks leading up to the death of Princess Diana and her relationship with Dodi Fayed in 1997. Part two leaps forward to Prince William’s time at St Andrews University and the beginnings of his romance with Kate Middleton. Cue the see-through dress.
“It felt really exciting to recreate such an iconic dress in Catherine’s history,” says Meg Bellamy, the 21-year-old who, all bright eyed and raven haired, is the perfect person to play a teenage Middleton in the series. Strutting down the runway to Moloko’s seductive hit 2000 track, “The Time is Now”, Bellamy radiates with confidence in the role of Kate, who has chosen this particular look knowing that William, who at this point is just a friend, is watching on in the crowd of cheering students. “I was nervous about wearing it due to its sheerness, but as soon as the day came, Erik [Richter Strand, director] and Polly [Bennett, movement coach] made me feel so comfortable and empowered, and I loved every second.”
Of course, the scene is about much more than a dress. For many, the St Andrews charity fashion show is an integral part of royal romance lore, as it’s believed to be the moment that kickstarted William and Kate’s love story. This is very much how it’s depicted in The Crown, which sees William (played by Ed McVey) light up when he spots his then friend gliding down the catwalk in the transparent garment. In that moment, he decides that this is the young woman who he wants as his future wife.
But recreating it for the screen was not quite so simple. “When you’re replicating any piece of clothing that really exists, you have to go to the legal department and see if you’re allowed to do it,” explains Sid Roberts, who alongside her mother, Amy Roberts, has been at the helm of The Crown’s award-winning costume designer team since its third season. It’s a process that often involves hiccups. But in the case of Kate’s sheer dress, which was originally created as a skirt by student designer Charlotte Todd, there was a pretty big one. “She said no,” recalls Amy, who never found out Todd’s reason for choosing not to participate in the process. “So we had to recreate it, but in a way that would still be recognisable to the audience.”
When permission isn’t granted, the team is required to design the item with at least five points of difference. “We changed some details, like the colour of the ribbon running along the top,” notes Sid. While the original garment is made from a stretchy knit, Amy and Sid’s recreation comprises two different types of netting. “The waistband is also totally different,” adds Amy, noting how they had a slightly thicker stripe of blue at the hemline, with a ribbon threaded through.
Given that the look is entirely sheer, choosing the right underwear was paramount. “It was a bandeau bra, which was very big at that time,” says Amy. “It needed to look like Kate had just bunged it on,” adds Sid. What Bellamy felt comfortable in was key, too. “We got about 10 pairs of knickers that she tried on and had a conversation about what she preferred and what we felt was right.”
It’s a scene that is possibly even more exposing given that this is newcomer Bellamy’s first major role – she was working as a mascot in Legoland when she found out she’d landed the highly coveted part, which she auditioned for after seeing a casting call posted on The Crown’s Twitter account. “Filming the scene was such an adrenaline rush,” recalls the actor. “You’re thinking so many things beforehand, like: ‘What if I trip?’ ‘What if I bump into someone?’ or even ‘Why did they have to film this after Christmas?’ But honestly, the supporting artists carried me with their cheering and we had Kylie blasting out of the speakers, so every take we did was so exciting.”
It helped, too, working closely with Bennett, who has been enlisted to guide actors’ movements and bodies on The Crown since its third season. “Because Meg was sort of nervous anyway about being in The Crown, I didn’t want to over-train her because part of that energy is why she got the part and what we wanted to convey, especially in the fashion show scene.”
Wills looking all loved-up in ‘The Crown’— (Justin Downing/Netflix)
Everyone in the cast is given the opportunity to work with Bennett should they choose to; Bellamy began working with her almost immediately. “For this scene, we played loud music and I got Meg to strut in a room, whooping and giving her the feeling of what it would be like to do that in front of a crowd. I’m always working from a psychological place: ‘What are you doing, who are you doing it for, and what are you revealing about your body?’”
The revealing aspect of the outfit added another dynamic to it all, particularly given the context of the scene. Not only does Kate need to walk with confidence but also with a degree of sensuality and a heightened awareness of her body being on full display. How do you teach someone to be sexy? “I gave her a private thought so that what she’s doing is saying something to herself as she’s walking down the catwalk,” says Bennett.
“It was along the lines of, ‘I love myself, somebody else loves me and I’ve got a secret,’ and her secret will be whatever she’s thinking. It’s an old burlesque trick – the idea that everything you do is magnificent – but it’s a really great way to add intention to the walk that changes your relationship to a space and how you’re being seen within it.”
Regardless of how true-to-life the nascent stages of their on-screen love story may be – there are rumours that upon seeing Kate on the runway, William turned to his friend and said, “Wow!”, though this doesn’t happen in the show – it’s an important moment in the now Prince and Princess of Wales’s story, because it marks, perhaps for the first time, a reversal in power dynamics. “As a famous person, Prince William walks into a room and everyone is looking at him, knowing who he is,” says Bennett. “In this scene, Kate is the one being looked at while he’s on the sidelines. That’s where I think the relationship changes for them.”
I think the fashion show is a real moment of empowerment for Kate
It helped, perhaps, that by sheer coincidence Bennett attended the actual fashion show back in 2002. “I was directing the fashion show at Edinburgh University, where I was a student at the time, so going to the St Andrews show was one we looked at for inspiration,” she explains. However, her memories are hazy from an event that took place more than two decades ago. “I knew Prince William was there. But there’s no version of this where I looked at Kate Middleton and went, ‘Oh my god, they’re in love!’ She was just another model.”
With this in mind, perhaps it seems strange how the moment has been held up today with such cultural significance — Todd’s actual dress sold for £78,000 at auction in 2011, despite only costing around £30 to make.
“I think the fashion show is a real moment of empowerment for Kate,” says Bellamy. “Of course, in the story, she has William partly in mind when deciding to wear the dress, but it’s not a presentation of herself to him. It’s a liberating, bold display of confidence and self-love.”
It’s also arguably a major stray away from how we see the Princess of Wales today: polished, modest, and immaculately rehearsed. She seems to be a far cry from the swaggering, curly-haired teenager who hoisted a sheer skirt up her torso to wear it as a dress. “You’re seeing Kate in her younger, freer era when she isn’t constricted by rules and royal protocol,” adds Sid. Certainly, there’s an element of nostalgia at play, too.
“People are always going to be interested in celebrities before they were famous,” says Bennett. “And I think that runway moment for Kate has become iconic because you’re seeing somebody that now has a very restricted life, doing something that aesthetically looks more frivolous.”
There is also the simple compulsion to invest in the romance of it all; the idea of William looking at Kate and knowing immediately, there and then, that she would become his wife, carries some serendipitous appeal. “People want to imagine some sort of Cupid’s arrow between them,” says Bennett. “And so that moment has become a symbol of a love story.”
‘The Crown’ season six part two is out now on Netflix
