Kate Middleton's knockoff wedding dress on standby

While the world waits with anticipation for the first glimpse at Kate Middleton's wedding dress, one woman will be watching with quite a daunting task on her hands: recreating the dress quickly and inexpensively. Shala Moradi, is the head designer of Faviana-you may know the name as they are a best-selling prom outfitter and are known for recreating Oscar gowns-and she'll be up watching the royal wedding on TV at 4 a.m. with the rest of us. Only she'll be sketching the soon-to-be famous dress with the purpose of selling it on a mass scale. "I don't get nervous. But it's a little bit of pressure with the timing," Moradi told the New York Post.

As soon as Kate Middleton steps out of the Queen's Rolls Royce phantom, Moradi will begin drawing the wedding dress pattern, copying the silhouette and thinking about fabrics. Then she'll leave her Long Island home and head to Faviana's New York City showroom to start making the prototype sample. En route, she'll place dozens of calls with pattern makers and her marketing team. Moradi says her sons, who also work for the family business, will use their iPads to pull up more detailed shots of Middleton's gown to ensure they create an excellent replica. Next, Faviana employees will race around the Garment District on the hunt for all the fabric, beading, and trim needed to pull off the replica, sans train.

This is the same mad dash process Faviana goes through after award shows or when big celebrities like Chelsea Clinton get married. But Shala's son Navid Moradi, the company's president, told the Post, "This is going to exceed by far any order that we've done."
The finished sample will be ready to ship to China for production by Monday. "Depending on the style, it should hit the market within eight weeks," Navid Moradi told the Post. While Middleton's dress will skyrocket in price the minute she becomes a princess, Faviana's version will retail for under $2,000 in department stores and online.

Would you consider wearing a replica of Kate Middleton's wedding dress down the aisle yourself? If you could wear a copy of any celebrity's wedding dress, which one would it be?

For more on the Royals... check out our Royal Wedding site!




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Get Kate Middleton's style (video)
The best mass retail wedding gowns (video)
Kate Middleton's fashion choices create retail frenzy and tons of knockoffs
Designers sketch their dress suggestions for Kate Middleton