Image credit: German Larkin. From Sofia Richie and Elliot Grainge’s star-studded wedding in the South of France
Perhaps it was the influence of quiet luxury, or merely an extended bucking of tradition, but the celebrity brides of 2023 chose wedding dresses that spoke a softer language. Gone were the heavy embellishments and prodigious skirting of eras past. This year, the bridal memorandum bore the term ‘minimal elegance’, and with each ceremony—in Jordan, the South of France and Mallorca—stars highlighted the idea in red; theirs were visions spun from bare-faced silk and satin.
Danielle Frankel—the cool bride’s worst-kept secret—may have been the designer on everyone’s lips last year, but 2023 was an exaltation of one Vivenne Westwood. It was an honour, model Georgia Fowler told us in February, to be able to wear a gown from Westwood’s final collection; the late Dame and so-called godmother of punk passed away in December 2022, and her funeral, held this year, was attended by a host of fashion royalty. So too did Barbara Palvin choose Westwood to exchange vows with longtime beau Dylan Sprouse in the Hungarian countryside in July, donning a square-necked, corseted dress that “made her feel like a princess”.
Elsewhere, brides leaned into an Old World sensibility. Sofia Richie Grainge sought the expertise of the Chanel petites mains for a slew of looks for her wedding week in Antibes. She floated down the steps of the Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc in a halter neck, hand-beaded lace gown; her cathedral veil glistened with resin droplets, scattered dew-like all over. Fellow Mediterranean bride Joey King sported a strapless Oscar de la Renta frock, blanketed in flower-petal paillettes, while Princess Iman of Jordan matched mother Queen Rania in high-necked Dior, with a Chaumet tiara to boot.
As the year comes to a close, we look back on the best celebrity wedding dresses we’ve published in 2023. Here, bridal inspiration from the stars.
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