Before the wedding, the fitting in Paris...

So, as some of you will have guessed, my wedding dress was by Chanel -- and it was perfect. I have never loved a dress as much as this one: for its simplicity, as well as its complexity. The cut is beautiful -- it literally slips on, which makes it comfortable, and as fluid as a classic 1930s Chanel evening gown. But of course, it takes extraordinary expertise to make something look and feel so easy; which is one of the defining hallmarks of Chanel. It had to be cream silk, rather than white -- I'm not a virgin bride -- and sufficiently sophisticated for a grownup occasion, while also appropriate to a country wedding. Above all, it represented so much of the circuitous journey that has taken me from sadness to joy; navigated by Mademoiselle Chanel herself, a woman who understood how clothes can bestow dignity to those who have felt broken, while also giving a lightness of touch to the most emotional of episodes.