The tailor involved in the infamous Sussex bridesmaid dress drama is telling his side of the story.
Nearly five years after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s May 2018 royal wedding, luxury tailor Ajay Mirpuri of Mirpuri Bespoke has spoken with Page Six Style about what happened behind the scenes with the fit of Princess Charlotte’s bridesmaid dress — a topic that’s been highly publicized in the wake of Harry’s bombshell memoir, “Spare.”
As Prince Harry writes in his book, the Givenchy bridesmaid dresses that were “hand-sewn from measurements only” for Princess Charlotte and the five other bridesmaids who took part in the royal wedding did not fit initially — a problem that his sister-in-law, Kate Middleton, apparently had strong feelings about.
Enter the royal tailor.
“I dont know anything that went on before we were asked to come in, but there was clearly a misunderstanding or miscommunication,” Mirpuri said, adding that “the brand that made the dresses has some of the highest standards in the world.”
While Harry wrote that “it wasn’t a big shock that they might need altering” considering Givenchy had made them solely based on measurements, the then-Duchess of Cambridge reportedly texted Markle expressing concerns about the outfit.
“Charlotte’s dress is too big, too long, too baggy. She cried when she tried it
on at home,” the Duke of Sussex said Middleton’s text to the bride-to-be read.
After the royal fiancée suggested Middleton “take Charlotte to see Ajay,” their terse exchange eventually caused the prince to find Markle “on the floor. Sobbing.”
When asked if he was aware of any drama between the two duchesses, the high-end suitmaker — whose business runs bespoke tailoring showrooms in London as well as Switzerland — said, “Not at all. Everyone was very cooperative and in a good mood.”
“We were contacted by a PA a few days before the 14th, which is when we first went in,” Mirpuri continued.
With just days before the May 19th wedding, the team had to work through the night to finish all six dresses.
“It took us three days and most of three nights,” Mirpuri said, sharing that “the level of alterations required for each dress” varied.
The tailor — who specializes in custom suits — often works with celebrities and high-level VIPs such as Matt Damon and said he would have been “quite happy” to stay behind the scenes of the incident.
“On this occasion it was our privilege to serve the royal family and had no one put two and two together to find us, we were quite happy for it never to be known,” he said. “That’s not why we do what we do.”
At the end of the day, Mirpuri said, “I feel it’s a family matter and should be dealt as such.”
While the tailor said he hasn’t read “Spare” yet, other than the sections involving the bridesmaid dress incident, he plans to do so in the near future.
“We had a small role to play in this globally televised event and I just hope our role made the country look good,” Mirpuri concluded, saying he was “very proud” of the work done on the dresses, “given where we started.”
