Kate's dress a hit with copycats
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Hours after Kate Middleton stepped out of the Rolls Royce that drove her to Westminster Abbey in London to marry Prince William, tailoring stores on taobao.com, China's largest online shopping bazaar, were already offering replicas of her wedding dress.
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Below: A screenshot on Monday of stores on taobao.com selling replicas of the wedding dress worn by Kate Middleton. Above: A Chinese couple wears the look-alike wedding dress one day after the royal wedding. |
A copy of the lace gown, which was designed by Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen, and featured a V-neck satin bodice flowing into a skirt with floral hand embroidery, is selling for 1,800 yuan ($280) at Sumiao's Little Store, one of the online shops offering the dresses. The price 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 the 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 had, unsurprisingly, 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 twenty 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 hotcakes," she added.
Some women said they were even considering giving up "the plain dress" that they had already ordered if this one would be available for their wedding day.
Chen said it usually takes four to five weeks to make a tailored gown. Customers only need to provide their body size and can have a tailor-made piece, or even a personalized one, if they want any changes made to the dress, such as a deeper V-neck or shorter train.
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, who also runs a physical shop with her sister in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.
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