While getting married seems like a declaration of intent, with variable duration, in the choice of female bridal attire lies an eternal purpose: to reflect aesthetic identity at an important moment. With the wedding of Dua Lipa (London, 30 years old) and Callum Turner (London, 36) last Sunday, May 31, in an intimate format (barely eight guests) at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London, the collective imagination has been refreshed with a clear idea: brides who choose a suit instead of a princess dress for their civil ceremony are closer to tailoring than to fantasy. Or, put another way: they lean towards the more sober and executive side of couture for a ritual in the form of a formality.
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The pop star’s outfit, with silk as the main feature, was designed by Schiaparelli (asymmetric jacket and skirt with a small train), Stephen Jones (hat), Louboutin (shoes and gloves), and Bvlgari (Serpenti necklace). A styling that inevitably recalled the one worn by Bianca Jagger (designed by Saint Laurent) at her civil wedding in Saint-Tropez Town Hall with Mick Jagger in May 1971.
Before Dua Lipa, actresses Ava Gardner (with Mickey Rooney in 1942 and with Artie Shaw in 1945) and Mia Farrow (with Frank Sinatra in 1966), models Iman (with David Bowie in 1992) and Emily Ratajkowski (with Sebastian Bear-McClard in 2018), and lawyer Amal Clooney (with George Clooney in 2014) also chose a two-piece for their weddings. Meanwhile, model Natalia Vodianova (for her wedding to Antoine Arnault in 2020) and actress Emma Thompson (married Kenneth Branagh in 1989) both chose a blouse instead of a blazer.
For Cristina Ruiz de Montesinos (Madrid, 39 years old), founder of the bridal content platform Casilda se casa, Dua Lipa’s choice has more to do with her birthplace and the appropriate etiquette for a civil ceremony than with a tribute to Bianca Jagger: “It reminds me more of Kate Middleton’s looks or even Wallis Simpson [Duchess of Windsor]. She is a young English woman getting married in an English town hall.” She continues: “I think she has opted for a look that will age well and be something that lasts over time.” Wallis Simpson, who married Edward VIII in 1937 in her third marriage — he decided to renounce the British crown for love — chose a pale blue hue as an alternative to the traditional and immaculate white. Both that Wallis blue (as it was christened at the time) and Dua Lipa’s suit move away from the reminiscence of the Virgin Mary’s mantle and send a message: the bride’s belonging to an affluent class of British society.
Crowning the ‘look’ with personality
Hat designer Alexia Álvarez de Toledo (Madrid, 38 years old) does not hesitate to praise the choice of the wide-brimmed hat to crown the bridal look. An option also chosen, in their day, by Emily Ratajkowski and Amal Clooney. “Wearing a large hat at your wedding means knowing who you are, what you want to highlight, and being completely different from others. I have many brides who start by choosing the hat, to give it prominence, because the accessory is the most important thing for them,” she assures. Álvarez de Toledo, already immersed in preparing designs for the Ascot racecourse (June 16-20) that some of her clients will wear, praises Stephen Jones’ design worn by Dua Lipa: “It is superbly balanced. That low crown amuses me a lot. It doesn’t have a straight brim, and that drop adds movement. Letting one eye show and not the other is sexy, it adds secrecy and mystery to the bride.” And she points out an important detail: “I love the lining inside [in a golden tone] because it brings a brutal light to the face.”
Precisely, it is in the jacket where the Schiaparelli signature is most recognized. The jewel buttons on the central part and on the sleeves show the permanence of surrealism as the main insignia of the maison‘s creative identity. Elsa Schiaparelli was a great friend of Salvador Dalí and Jean Cocteau, and that is part of her founder’s legacy. Since 2019, Daniel Roseberry has been the creative director of the firm and has designed a haute couture piece for the artist whose marked waist silhouette contains reminiscences of the new look created by Christian Dior in the late 1930s and a nod to The Eye of Time, a jewel designed by Dalí in 1949.
Ana María Chico de Guzmán (Madrid, 44 years old) is the creator of Mimoki, a brand specializing in headpieces and hats. She sees several successes in the singer’s bridal look: “It has that artistic, creative, contemporary touch with a slightly surreal and fun hook. I like that ‘here I am, I do a bit of what I want, I bring a bit of the past for you to remember someone, but I have reinterpreted it a lot.’ I think it was very appropriate for the type of wedding and for her.”
In the case of Mia Farrow’s or Iman’s choices, each of them represents with their selections the sign of the times in which their respective weddings were celebrated. For her wedding to Frank Sinatra at The Sands, a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Farrow almost improvisationally chose a dress that she complemented with a round-neck, three-quarter-sleeve jacket, reflecting the refined minimalism of the sixties babydoll style and jewel buttons. For her civil wedding to David Bowie at the registry office in the Swiss city of Lausanne, the Ethiopian model opted for a jacket and trouser suit complemented by white-framed sunglasses.
Bridal designer Gema Siveroni (Madrid, 40 years old) chose a custom-made waistcoat for her own civil wedding to wear over her dress, revealing puff sleeves, a two-piece she also made with part of one of her grandmothers’ wedding trousseau: “If I had had enough fabric, I would have made a jacket,” she jokes. Regarding Dua Lipa, she highlights that “she has rejected excesses, and personality and sensuality have prevailed.” About the type of women she dresses, she says that “her brides are those who show their arms, décolletage, and back. I see the duality there with their mothers, with whom they argue a bit about it. But I really like to see how brides assert themselves.” Siveroni points to the possibility of a second life for the wedding look, now in a street style key: “I always try to include a reuse factor, and when I suggest it to my brides, their faces light up.”
Ava Gardner: pioneer in using the most sober tailoring to say “I do” (twice)
It is very possible that Ava Gardner, more than 80 years ago, was the first bride in Hollywood’s star system to get married wearing a suit. She did so at her first two weddings (she married three times). Her first marriage to Mickey Rooney was as discreet as it was austere, as it was the condition imposed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios to accept the marriage between the two actors. The look the actress had to choose, in a dark tone, was tremendously relaxed in form: an understated shirt, a straight Teba-style blazer that neither detracted from the bust nor the waist, and a midi skirt. The festive touch was provided by the floral pin on the lapel and the fascinator with dotted tulle. For her second marriage, to clarinetist Artie Shaw, she wore a similar outfit, and in 1951, for her wedding to Frank Sinatra, she opted for a white and pink dress that left no doubt about the decade’s style or the performer’s figure.
Chico de Guzmán, who has been in the business for two decades, believes that “brides who take the most risks become iconic and never go out of style. They are brides who already have a lot of experience, who have gained a lot of discernment, and have a reaffirmed universe. They don’t try to please everyone, nor do they have that idyllic or languid side.” Regarding the aesthetic choices of women who continue to marry, she does not hesitate to draw a profile: “Even those who come with their mothers have a bit more power than 20 years ago, but I would like to have a percentage of some a little more daring.”
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