Kate Middleton ‘orders three wedding dresses’

Whatever happened to the 'austerity-era royal wedding'? Latest evidence (a term employed loosely on the Desperate Stories desk) that the need to 'be careful' has been jettisoned as the big day approaches is the Daily Telegraph's claim that Kate Middleton has ordered not one but three wedding dresses.

This is not because Kate might spill something on the first one, but because she feels she needs two 'back-up' dresses in case some miserable commoner working somewhere in the rag trade 'leaks' the design of 'the dress' to the gutter press.

It is not entirely clear why a leak would be so catastrophic: is it that the public, watching on television, would not be able to gasp in awe as she steps out of her car at Westminster Abbey on Friday April 29? Or is that her husband-to-be will not be surprised/awed/delighted when he sees her approaching up the aisle on her father's arm?

If the latter is the worry, then rather than paying for three dresses (who said anything about paying? - Fashion Ed) she could simply ask William not to read the papers between now and the 29th.

Anyway, three dresses it is, according the Telegraph, though the paper's fashion correspondents are still unable to tell us who the designers are.

Sarah Burton of Alexander McQueen remains odds-on favourite as the couturier of dress number one, with Jasper Conran approaching on the inside, though whether as the designer of the first dress or one of the alternate gowns, we don't know. Suffice to say, Conran's bridal collection is no longer available to view online which, according to the Telegraph, is very telling. ·