Truth about Taylor Swift’s Dior wedding dress: LIZ JONES reveals why bride snubbed American brands… and stunning moment that sealed the deal

Why, I can hear Americans yelling, on the eve of the nation’s 250th birthday, did the country’s very own princess, Miss Americana choose… Dior for the most significant dress of her life? A French label, designed by JW Anderson, an Irishman?

Why not Oscar de la Renta, a gown with the uptown New York label’s signature nipped-in waist, huge skirt and overdose of florals? Oscar is a label Taylor Swift has worn often, most notably with great success to the Met Gala.

Or why not the preppy and reliable Ralph Lauren, the designer who dressed both Taylor and her groom, Travis Kelce, for their engagement announcement photos?

Aren’t we all thinking, given the bride’s jewels were by Cartier and not Tiffany or Harry Winston, what the heck is going on?

And what about her choice of shoes, surely banging in the final nail in the coffin of American high-end style, given they were by Christian Louboutin – another wretched Frenchman – whose livid red soles undoubtedly matched Taylor’s signature scarlet lip as well as the embarrassment on the faces of every Stateside designer in existence.

Go and stop traffic for days in Paris, why don’t you?

Taylor famously never sits front row at catwalk shows (the pandemonium would be untenable), but her choice of Christian Dior couture reveals she has been paying attention and knows her stuff.

Jonathan Anderson, 41, took the helm as creative director of Dior only last year but, boy, has he made his mark.

He has long been famous in London for his eponymous label and its unpretentious boutique in Soho, which is all about sustainability and humor.

His bags have taken the shape of vegetables and small birds; Taylor was spotted with a mint green JW Anderson bag on a date, as well as a canary yellow mini Lady Dior, embellished by Anderson with a bee and blooms, on a night out: Easter eggs, both.

Anderson is tough, having grown up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, and started out in menswear, meaning he’s a great tailor. His debut collection for Dior was simply a triumph: romantic but wearable, with none of the cartoonish costumes of his predecessor, John Galliano, sacked for a drunken, anti-Semitic rant in 2011.

Anderson ended his first couture show in January with a wedding gown that drew gasps from even hardened fashion critics such as Anna Wintour: it was covered in hundreds of translucent pearls; I’m now thinking, was it an audition, as we all know Taylor loves a bit of bling?

And, of course and most importantly, Anderson is well used to soothing an A-list clientele that includes Jennifer Lawrence and Rihanna. But for my money, what pipped him past the post – the quality that made the sketches he sent months ago to Taylor’s long-time stylist, Joseph Cassell, ace the rest – was that he’s simply a really nice person, softly spoken and, above all, discreet.

It’s not regrettable that Dua Lipa chose Chanel for her wedding gown a week or so ago: Dior simply has an unimpeachable, female-friendly history, as well as a close-knit relationship with real royalty.

After the second world war, Christian Dior showed his collection in front of the then Princess Elizabeth and her younger sister, Margaret: I stood alongside Margaret’s gown with its 19in waist at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s tribute to the label, worn by the princess for her 21st birthday.

There was simply so much embroidery, of which I’m certain Anderson for this, his first couture wedding gown for an A-list star, took note when sketching his ideas for Taylor. (We fans know she loves to scrawl on her clothes, viz, ‘I love you, it’s ruining my life,’ scribbled on her Westwood gown for the 2024 Eras Tour).

Christian Dior also famously used models over 50 with grey hair in his presentations, shorter models, bigger models: he was light years ahead of his time. He was a big fan of corsets, giving each customer the ‘caved in’ midriff.

I’m certain Taylor’s gown on Friday was also engineered, finished with the label’s lack of pressed hems. Dior gowns always have a gentle fold, doubtless giving Taylor’s dress extra pouffiness. Let’s hope they let out the laces in time for the cake.

Taylor’s choice of sparkles from Cartier is perhaps a subtle nod to her adoration of Elizabeth Taylor, who wore so many of the French brand’s diamonds. On a tour of the atelier in Paris, it was let slip that while newspaper reports at the time stated Liz Taylor’s husband, Richard Burton, bought the rocks, it was Elizabeth herself who paid her own way. She did not wish to emasculate her husband.

I’m sure Taylor Swift buys her own baubles, too. Another carefully orchestrated but subtle nod to design houses who have always championed women: their refusal to be victims, their beauty, diversity, strength and absolute autonomy. Taylor, you did good, girl.