Since the concept of marriage began, the wedding dress has been an essential and anticipated addition to most ceremonies. From the first recorded marriage, to the new tradition of the ‘wedding week’ in the 21st century – the ensemble for this event and what it represents has always been hugely important. From the white wedding dress symbolising purity and commitment in Western cultures, to the red wedding dress representing good luck and auspiciousness in Eastern cultures, we have always used the bride’s as a symbol of the path the marriage will follow.
We’ve had many iconic and memorable wedding dresses, each of which reflect the period of time in which two people decided to unite themselves and make a commitment to each other. From Victoria Beckhams Vera Wang gown to Hailey Biebers iconic custom Off-White dress and veil, to dresses – the wedding dress will always remain a highlight of the wedding day.
Here are our ten iconic wedding dresses from our favourite celebrities. They saw the influence they held and the reputation they had to upkeep and decided to make their wedding dresses no exception. Style, high-fashion, opulence, and elegance all ring true throughout these looks, each one reflecting the woman’s own character as well as the brand she has created for herself.
Victoria Beckham
Victoria Beckham wore a Vera Wang gown in champagne during her nuptials to footballer, David Beckham, in Luttrellstown Castle, Ireland in 1999. Though her name wasn’t quite as cemented in the high fashion world as it is now, Victoria Beckham knew her dress would need to be a showstopper. Her whole wedding was highly anticipated, with her husband-to-be at the peak of his footballing career and fame and her role in the Spice Girls as a global sensation.
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The dress was strapless, with a full-bodied skirt and 20-foot train. Though the embellishing was little to none, the elegant crumb-catcher neckline and eggshell satin made the dress unforgettable. In fact, the dress paved the way for a larger focus on the strapless dress with a sculpted bodice that became immensely popular throughout the early 2000’s as the wedding dress trend moved away from the conservatism of puff-sleeves and ruffles.
Kate Moss
Kate Moss married Jamie Hince at St. Peter’s parish church in Southrop in July 2011, wearing a custom John Galliano gown. The dress was Galliano to a T, taking reference from the 1920/30’s ‘flapper era’ with its mesh overlay and thick straps with a plunging neckline. The form-fitting, A-line dress was completely bedecked with crystals and beads, creating subtle patterns of art deco flowers and leaves that became more concentrated in pattern as they went further down the dress, giving way to ruffled hemline with a small, circular train.
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Though Kate Moss was a darling of the 90’s runway, known for her ‘heroin chic’ aesthetic and scandalous runways including Calvin Klein and Vivienne Westwood, her wedding dress was surprisingly conservative. This only cemented her status in luxury fashion, as she moved away to a more elegant way of dressing, leaving behind her girlish associations from the runway– beginning with her wedding dress.
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Solange Knowles
Solange married long-time partner Alan Ferguson in New Orleans in 2014, wearing two looks for her wedding that screamed quiet luxury and elegance. With her sister being a big global sensation, it’s no shock that Solange wanted to keep her dress lowkey and understated.
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Her first look was a Stephane Rolland cream jumpsuit, with plunging neckline and wide-leg trousers – and a wide cape that was attached at her shoulders. Completely lacking in any sort of embellishment, the jumpsuit was the epitome of simple, yet elegant.
https://www.vogue.com/article/solange-knowles-wedding-pictures-dress-rog-walker-portrait
For her second look of the day, she ran with the theme of simplicity, this time sporting a totally plain, cream dress. With a slash neckline and cape attached at the shoulders, this dress also had no embellishment and relied on the gold bangles to do the talking. Again, a beautiful nod to how timeless simplicity can be.
Kim Kardashian
Kim Kardashian wed Kanye West in 2014 wearing an Haute Couture Givenchy by Riccardo Tisci gown, with a form-fitting, trumpet style gown. The dress was completely covered with lace, and had lacey long sleeves and sheer, triangular cut-outs at the waist.
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A more conservative look than anticipated for Miss Kardashian, this dress saw the beginnings of the conservative wedding dress trend. Her wedding to Kanye marked the beginning of new era for Kim, as Kanye and his work with Fendi, Céline, and Louis Vuitton – as well as his own brand, Yeezy – created a new wardrobe for her that has only since become iconic. This included the tight fitting, neutral-toned athleisure, and formalwear she has become known for and evolved from since.
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Hailey Bieber
Hailey Bieber sported a custom Off-White by Virgil Abloh gown for her nuptials to Justin Bieber in September 2019, in Montage Palmetto Bluff located around 15 miles north of Savannah, US. The gown was a trumpet style, long-sleeved, lace dress with a long train.
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The off-the-shoulder style proved to be an elegant, yet edgy touch which fit in beautifully with the vibe of Abloh’s streetwear style. The elegance of the lace was broken up with embroidery on the veil that read “TILL DEATH DO US PART.”
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With details like this, we can see that Hailey carefully thought about her own brand, her husband’s brand, and the designer’s brand and created a dress that fit the intersectionality of the three by combining elegance and femininity with streetwear style.
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Jennifer Lopez, In 2022
For her official marriage, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck were married in an intimate Las Vegas ceremony earlier in 2022 in which Jennifer wore a long sleeve, corseted lace dress that was kept secret until after the ceremony. With Jennifer and Ben already having had a previous relationship between 2002-2004, in which they went their separate ways and rekindled in 2021, the wedding of this pair was full of speculation. Therefore, it is no surprise the actual moment they ‘tied the knot’ was kept a secret.
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In August 2022, they had a much more public celebration. For her second ceremony of the year, Jennifer Lopez married Ben Affleck for the second time in Georgia, USA. Lopez wore 3 custom Ralph Lauren gowns.
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Her first look was a custom Ralph Lauren handkerchief train dress with a cut-out at the back and cap sleeve design. The handkerchief design of the train was the real showstopper, with over 1,000 handkerchiefs attached to create the volume of the skirt. This dress, with its simple design and high neck was an elegant and conservative choice by Jennifer, given her history with dresses such as the green Versace plunge dress from 2000.
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Her second look consisted of a dress full of strings of pearls, cascading over a fitted bodice and open back and for her final look, she wore a form-fitting, embellished and backless dress with a large, embellished keyhole cut-out at the front with a delicate, small, hooded veil. Though rather simple, the mesh hood detail at the top of the dress was the real showstopper and a rather elegant detail.
Kourtney Kardashian
Kourtney tied the knot for a second time in May 2022 to Blink-182 member, Travis Barker. The ceremony took place in the beautiful Portofino, Italy and heavily inspired her dress choice as she chose Italian brand Dolce & Gabbana to design her wedding dress. Finding inspiration from the Catholic Church, Monica Bellucci’s Blumarine campaign from the 1990’s, and Dolce & Gabbana’s traditional house dress codes of lacemaking and corsetry – the short, white dress was highly controversial, but absolutely stunning.
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Details included iconic D&G corsetry, a lace train embroidered with the Virgin Mary to match Travis Barker’s head tattoo, and heavy lace across the bust and hemlines of the dress.
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The theme seemed to make its way around to the rest of the family, with Kim Kardashian wearing a Dolce & Gabbana black lace gown with a high neck and inbuilt gloves and Khloe Kardashian keeping a similar vibe with an off-the-shoulder, tiered lace gown and stunning sunburst crown headpiece. The Jenner sisters coordinated in similar D&G form fitting, hand-painted, satin gowns, and Kris Jenner wearing another Dolce & Gabbana feathered, kaftan-style gown in a pale pink. The whole family was kitted out in Dolce & Gabbana, keeping that commitment to the ‘la dolce vita’ theme.
Sofia Richie-Grainge
Sofia Richie married Elliot Grainge at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes in April 2023; giving us 3 Chanel looks throughout the weekend. Known for her recent rebrand of the ‘old money’ aesthetic, Sofia’s wedding dress was highly anticipated, and her choice of custom and archival Chanel was perhaps the perfect choice.
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She began with her wedding rehearsal dress, a highly embroidered and fringed long-sleeve, full length dress with a mesh skirt and sleeves. This was perhaps her most embellished dress, giving us a taste of the more fun side of her personality before she takes the plunge.
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Moving on, her ceremony dress was a showstopper. The dress was completely lace and form-fitting that saw modesty meet fashion with its high-neck and sleeveless design. The lace design screamed the ‘old money’ luxury that she and her brand has become so associated with and was a lovely nod to her brand’s combination of elegance and luxury with youthful and fun fashion.
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Her final Chanel number of the evening was totally inspired by a dress from Chanel’s 1993 Fall Couture collection that was modelled memorably by Claudia Schiffer. A white mini dress, with a layered skirt and embroidered Chanel flower on the front. Her addition of the amethyst, dangly earrings and satin bow on her heels added that playfulness to an evening dress that night full of frivolity and dancing.
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Nada Kamani
Nada and Umar Kamani were married in celebrations between May 2-5th 2024 at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, Antibes (like the Richie-Grainge wedding!). Celebrity guests at the wedding included Naomi Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, Ronan and Stormy Keating, Anthony Joshua, and Mariah Carey.
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Nada planned her wedding with a traditional ceremony and vibrant, Indian ceremony in mind, creating two looks to blend her two cultures together.
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For her first ceremony and her ‘white wedding’ look, she donned a custom Dior wedding dress designed by the Maria Grazia Chiuri Studio. Drawing on inspiration from Grace Kelly, her dress was a simple yet elegant A-line, satin, ivory dress with an exaggerated sweetheart neckline and off-the-shoulder cap sleeves. Extremely simple, the dress and it’s lace train still remained at the heart of the romantic wedding. The design and craftsmanship spoke for itself, needing no embellishment at all to show that this wedding dress perfectly encapsulated the ‘elegant bride.’
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For her second and traditional Hindu ceremony, Nada wore an ivory ensemble created by Manish Malhotra that was intricately encrusted with crystals across each piece. Her husband also wore the corresponding male attire, the pair looking extremely well-coordinated in their matching wedding garb. Their blend of Christian and Hindu attire and ceremonies was a beautiful addition to the celebrations across the weekend, showcasing a multi-cultural union in which fashion was able to blend the two seamlessly.
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Alexandra Cooper
Alexandra Cooper, known for her podcasting success with her ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast, was married to Matt Kaplan in Riviera Maya, Mexico in April this year; humbly giving a masterclass in how to create bridal-inspired ensemble over a week of celebrations.
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Her welcome drinks outfit at the beginning of the week stunned with a Danielle Frankel sheer, two-piece top and skirt that was completely embellished in pearls, crystals, and sequins. Though sparkly, this simple outfit really gives bridal and luxury in tandem, whilst also maintaining a youthful and playful quality that Alexandra likes to keep up in her podcasts.
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For the rehearsal dinner, Alex donned a vintage Donna Karen hand-embroidered, tulle dress from her 2011 Spring collection. The dress was an unusual addition to the week’s outfits, not being a paler shade of white/cream and instead opting for a darker beige with heavy embellishment. Much like Sofia Richie-Grainge, the trend in dresses that come the night before the ‘big day’ appear to be the more extravagant ones, perhaps sending a message and tone of ‘one last night of freedom’ before the ceremony.
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For the wedding day itself and the ceremony, Cooper wore a custom Danielle Frankel silk wool square neck, spaghetti strap ball gown with Jimmy Choo’s.
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The dress lacked any sort of embellishment at all and was beautifully plain. The simplicity of the gown was something to be marvelled at, harkening back to the simplicity of iconic 90’s wedding dresses such as Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy and Marla Maples.
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She followed the ceremony with a Spring 2003 Alexander McQueen “Irene” collection dress, with a silk and chiffon corset design and to conclude, she changed into an archival Versace 1995 lace-up corset top with a custom skirt for the evening celebrations that allowed for more movement and versatility throughout the evening.
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If there was ever an excuse to wear multiple looks, Alexandra Cooper’s wedding is an absolute triumph that goes against the phrase ‘less is more’ by turning out look after look, each with a purpose!
Written By Bethan Gwynne
