This, ladies and gentlemen, is Sophie Cranston. She designed the black velvet coat Kate wore to a wedding in January. Her label is Libélula and she is the name currently being touted as the designer of the dress of the year. Apparently the sole reason for not releasing her details was to protect her and her family from the paparazzi intrusion.
Cranston, 34, is a British designer who initially trained under Alexander McQueen, after which she joined one of my favourites Alice Temperley in 2000, and was instrumental in helping her establish the Temperley label. Presumably this was a stressful time and she decided to move to Andalucia to learn Spanish. It was here that she established her own label Libélula - Spanish for dragonfly.
She has rapidly gained a loyal band of high-profile followers, including Emma Watson, and creates two ready-to-wear fashion collections a year from her studio in Dulwich, plus a fledgling bridal range, which Celia Walden selected for her wedding to Piers Morgan in June last year.
If these latest rumours are true, her label is about to go global so I do hope she is prepared for the onslaught.
