A Don deal! Meghan gets her gúna...
RAISED on Kerry’s rural west coast and trained as a chef, designer Don O’Neill’s place among global fashion royalty was not on the cards.
But now the world’s most famous royal has worn one of his gowns, his superstar status is all but cemented.
Meghan Markle sported his custom white gown to a black-tie event in Tonga alongside Prince Harry this week, highlighting her growing bump two weeks after she announced her pregnancy.
Couture label Theia, for whom O’Neill is creative director, posted a photo captioned: ‘The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, is radiant in our custom ivory crepe column gown featuring flanged shoulders, a jewel neck, and side slit.’
An ecstatic O’Neill posted on Instagram: ‘OMG I am so excited I can barely hold my phone!!!#Woohooo.’
He told the Irish Daily Mail that as a child he ‘dreamed of dressing Princess Diana; I even designed a wedding dress for her long before she got married.
‘I [later] worked with three designers in London, all of whom dressed the princess – Gina Fratini, Donald Campbell and Lady Dale Tryon at Kanga. I remember dresses going to and from Kensington Palace and the excitement of it all.
‘And here I was, all these years later with my dress on its way to “Kensington Palace, Don O’NeilI ‘I dreamed of dressing Diana’ Off the rails: Meghan was redfaced yesterday when she arrived in Tonga with the tag of her €390 Self Portrait dress hanging from its hem. London”. It was a surreal moment. Could that really be my dress on the Duchess of Sussex? ‘It has been a magical day, with my wildest dreams coming true.’ The designer grew up in rural Ballyheigue where his parents Donal and Mim ran a bed and breakfast. ‘When I was about 14, I saw a mesmerising documentary on Karl Lagerfeld and I knew then that this is what I wanted to be,’ he said. dora.allday@ dailymail.ie
‘My wildest dreams coming true’