IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

Vamp it up! ‘Twilight’ wedding gown copy already for sale

Bridal design house Alfred Angelo just released its exclusive copy of the  “Twilight” bridal gown. Boasting 132 buttons down the back, the lace and satin gown hopes to embody the romance and fantasy of Bella Swan’s wedding.
/ Source: TODAY.com

Every generation's brides are inspired by a handful of style icons. Our grandmothers had Grace Kelly. Our mothers had Diana. We have Duchess Kate.

And now, Bella Swan too.

When a wedding is a cultural phenomenon, it's only natural to expect ... fast and furiously. The “Twilight” saga is proving to be no exception.

Bridal design house Alfred Angelo just released its exclusive “Twilight” bridal gown on Monday. The original gown, designed by Carolina Herrera and worn by Kristin Stewart's character, was seen by the public for the first time in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1,"  which racked up $139.5 million in domestic box office over the weekend.

The designer's creation elegant gown boasts 152 covered buttons down the back and is made of French lace and satin. At the the Los Angeles premiere, Herrera said the inspiration for her design came from Stephenie Meyer’s novel.

The design is about “the magic and the moment that is the wedding, and also about her (Bella's) personality, which is very important in a wedding gown," Herrera told the Associated Press. "She is this very innocent girl that is believing in her first true love and there is romance and there is fantasy and mystery. I took all that into consideration."

The replica
Unlike Kate's wedding dress (an Alexander McQueen original, the details of which were protected like the crown jewels until the big day), Bella's gown was shared with the design team at Alfred Angelo by the film studio which produced the movie. Since the "Twilight" franchise licensed the design to Alfred Angelo exclusively, other designers will have to wait until after the movie to begin sketching and sewing.

The Alfred Angelo gown will be a replica of the one worn by Kristen Stewart's character in the film, available in sizes 0 to 30W, on sale for $799. The dress has fewer buttons (132) than the designer creation and uses a less-expensive variety of lace.

As Twihards who stormed theaters over the weekend now know, the movie features both a real wedding gown as well as a fantasy wedding gown. Denise Walsh, VP of marketing for Alfred Angelo, said that while they are only copying the real gown, "we have a few beautiful styles in the Alfred Angelo line that look a lot like the fantasy dress (without the blood, of course!)."  

Emilie Spiegel, 26, a grad student writing her master's thesis about media constructions of young women in "Twilight" and "Hunger Games", said: "I'd totally wear the dream-sequence sweetheart neck dress in a heartbeat (get it? Vampires don't have those). But I think the real wedding dress would be really hard to pull off."

Bluebloods vs. vampires
Alfred Angelo is no stranger to re-creating iconic wedding dresses. Most recently, the design house — together with ostensibly every other bridal designer on the planet — crafted a copy of Duchess Kate's instantaneously legendary dress.  In fact, the design house has an even longer history of recreating iconic dresses: In 1950, they sold a replica of the “Father of the Bride” wedding gown Elizabeth Taylor wore in that film, a hit in its day.

Twihards are not likely to rest until they can sink their teeth into their perfect version of Bella's gown — from Alfred Angelo, or elsewhere. While bridal behemoth David's Bridal might be expected to cater to the dark side, Brian Beitler, CMO at the bridal chain, issued a disclaimer: “David's Bridal does not have any plans to make a dress inspired by the Twilight movie.” Still, considering the thousands of reasonably priced dresses available at David's, we bet vampire fans will still be able to find something close.

Something borrowed
And even if the dress isn't exactly their style or a full copy would be a little much, Twihards can still borrow Bella's bridal style in other ways. Her gorgeous, antique-inspired hair comb is already available for purchase at Hot Topic. And if your undead Prince Charming hasn't yet popped the question yet but you love , you can always do what Bella probably did — casually leave a picture of it on your open laptop screen.

Are home rooms are a little more your age bracket than honeymoons? Don't worry: Alfredo Angelo has begun to roll out a Twilight-inspired line of prom dresses.