Thaindian News

Shanghai, May 4 (IANS) As millions of people across the world were mesmerised by the magnificence of the royal wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in Westminster Abbey in London this past week, it was the bride’s wedding dress that created waves in Chinese fashion market.

Just a few hours after Kate stepped out of the Rolls Royce that drove her to the Westminster Abbey in London to marry William, tailoring stores on China’s largest online shopping bazaar were abuzz with replicas of her wedding dress, China Daily reports.

Designed by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, the lace gown featured a V-neck satin bodice flowing into a skirt with floral hand embroidery. Its copy is at present selling for 1,800 yuan ($280) at online shops in China.

The dress also includes a duplicate of the ivory tulle veil worn by the new Dutchess of Cambridge.

“We have been closely following the wedding dress Kate would wear ever since she and Prince William announced their engagement,” said Chen Sumiao, 23, the owner of one Sumiao’s Little Store.

“The minute the design became known, we discussed with our designers about its feasibility and came up with a plan overnight,” said Chen.

Although there are only snapshots of Kate in the dress on the website and no dresses have been made yet, the dress has been well received by many brides-to-be as soon as it appeared on the website on the morning of April 30.

“We have had 20 or so enquiries a day about the dress,” said Chen.

“No deals have been made yet, but considering the overwhelming response, it will sell like hot cakes,” she added.

Some of the brides-to-be said they were even considering giving up “the plain dress” that they had already ordered if Kate’s wedding gown like dress could be available for their big day.

It usually takes four to five weeks to prepare a tailored gown, said Chen. Customers only need to provide their body size and can have a tailor-made piece, or even a personalised one, if they want any changes made to the dress, such as a deeper V-neck or shorter train.

However, for people in a hurry, a copycat dress can even be made overnight, although not to the same standard.

“It’s not a difficult dress to copy. All the materials needed are available here, and the design is not complicated,” said Chen.

According to Chen, there are at least five stores going into overdrive to provide the dress in Suzhou, known in China as the Wedding Dress City, and home to over 1,200 factories specialising in wedding gowns.

Chen, however, admitted she is ignorant about the copyright rules she might be breaking by chance.