Egyptian designer creates Rs2.31 bn custom bejeweled wedding dress

CAIRO: An Egyptian designer has created a custom bejeweled wedding dress that is valued at $15 million (Rs2.31 billion). Hany El Behairy sent the jaw-droppingly pricey couture confection down the runway at Paris Haute Couture Week on January 20, foreign media reported.

The intricately-embroidered gown is covered with several hundreds of diamonds and precious stones, and the designer claims it is the third most expensive dress in the world.

The dress was modeled for fashion lovers at the 34th edition of the Oriental Fashion Show, which was held at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris last week and featured several Eastern designers.

It was made of ivory tulle and silk organza, which was embroidered with hundreds of diamonds and stones from an Egyptian jeweler. The diamonds and stones formed beautiful intricate patterns from head to toe, glittering over the body-hugging bodice and across the plunging neckline. It had a long train and lace veil studded with even more diamonds, which fanned out behind the model on the catwalk. All in all, the dress took 800 hours of work and was ordered by the daughter of a rich Egyptian family.