Oprah Winfrey's Royal Wedding Dress Was Made Overnight For This Considerate Reason

Picking a dress for the event of the year is stressful enough, and Oprah Winfrey still changed her royal wedding dress at the last minute. According to an Instagram post, Oprah was planning to wear a beige dress for the big day, but she changed her mind the day before. The star and her team were concerned the fabric would photograph too white. And Winfrey is well-aware that wearing white is still considered a faux pas at many weddings. Luckily, Stella McCartney created a new dress overnight — yes, she made that amazing dress in one night — this time in a pretty and unmistakable soft pink.

In her Instagram video, Winfrey said,

"I want to thank the Stella McCartney team for working all night long to get this dress finished. Because we had dress-gate. Wrong color, now we've got the right color. I think we're going to do okay."

Winfrey also explained the dress incident in further detail in the caption for the video, and gave details on her new look. The caption reads:

"Realized Friday morning the beige dress I was planning to wear to Royal ceremony would photograph too “white” for a wedding. Her team did this overnite. Hat is vintage Philip Treacy been in my closet since 2005 with new feathers. OMG was this an extraordinary day! #Harry&Meghan"

If the mega producer hadn't revealed the overnight rush to create a new dress, fans definitely wouldn't have known. Her final outfit was a blush-colored, three-tiered sundress with a matching bag and hat that looked like she had planned out every detail months ago.

The royal wedding is most significant for uniting Prince Harry and Megan Markle, but it's also one of the most-viewed televised programs of the year. When cameras and videos are capturing the event from every angle, avoiding a fashion mistake is serious business. For example, Kate Middleton wore a pale suit that photographed white and drew questions and criticism on Twitter. However, it appears Kate's dress was actually a pale yellow, and a suit she'd worn to several other occasions. This means there's no way she was trying to upstage the bride.

It wouldn't be the first time a guest wore white to a royal wedding. When Prince William and Kate Middleton wed in 2011, the bride's younger sister wore a floor-length ivory gown. The look initially raised eyebrows, but it was clear that Middleton approved her sister's ivory gown ahead of time. According to etiquette, it's appropriate to wear white to the wedding with the bride's approval. Also, since Pippa was the maid of honor, it was even less scandalous.

Still, given how much talk a white dress worn by a guest to a wedding can generate, Winfrey's last-minute switch was a super considerate move to make.

The controversy around Pippa and Kate Middleton's wedding looks prove that wearing white to the royal wedding is serious business, so it makes sense that Oprah hurried to put together a new look. It was surely no small feat for the Stella McCartney team, who was also responsible for several of the most high-profile looks from the evening.

McCartney designed Markle's dress for the reception, which was a bespoke, or completely custom, white gown. Given McCartney is an outspoken feminist and the brand has a commitment to sustainability, a major theme of the couple's wedding planning, it was a natural choice. The designer posted about the look on Twitter, writing, "Congratulations to the new Duke and Duchess of Sussex! Ms. Meghan Markle wears a bespoke Stella McCartney high neck lily white gown in silk crepe to their Wedding evening Reception in Windsor."

Thanks to her last-minute switcheroo, Winfrey's Stella McCartney look didn't become a topic of discussion for the wrong reasons. The media mogul and the designer managed to pull the pink look together, and it even went well with her vintage hat. With dress-gate avoided, Winfrey got to focus on being a guest at the royal wedding instead of worrying about her outfit.