Advertising 
Story MINH NHAT
Illustrator ARRONLAMALUAN
With its appearances on haute couture runways and in celebrity ceremonies, the wedding dress plays a vital role in the competitive world of high fashion.
High-profile weddings
Sofia Richie (youngest daughter of music legend Lionel Richie) and Elliot Grainge (son of Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge) officially tied the knot on April 2023, and public curiosity inevitably revolved around the question of which label the bride would be wearing. Before the ceremony, Sofia completed an exclusive video for Vogue magazine where she tried on three custom-made gowns by CHANEL that led the fashion world to believe this was undoubtedly a dream wedding.
Earlier, in 2021, Ivy Getty, the heiress to the American oil fortune Getty Oil, walked down the aisle with photographer Tobias Engel. The reputable magazines had the opportunity to interview the daughter of one of the wealthiest families in America during her wedding dress fitting from the haute couture collection of the fashion house Maison Margiela, with the participation of creative director John Galliano.
Even as society evolves and weddings are no longer necessarily “the most important day in a woman’s life,” the desire to be the most beautiful bride is certainly understandable. To make a statement, a wedding dress needs to be sparkling, elegant, feminine and even dramatically unconventional. Established in 1941, Kleinfeld Bridal is among the oldest wedding dress stores in New York, with a space filled with high-end growns in an unlimited price range. In 2007, Kleinfeld Bridal appeared on the TV show, Say Yes To The Dress, where the entire process of dress selection, fitting, emotional response and card swiping are meticulously filmed.
As it turns out, watching brides-to-be choose their dresses was far from boring. Say Yes To The Dress successfully produced 20 seasons, and was named one of the top 50 most popular reality TV shows by TIME magazine. It has given a whole generation of viewers expectations of what a wedding dress story should look like, how an overall wedding should be staged – and what kinds of extremely high costs might be involved.
Promotional opportunities
With a design featured in a celebrity wedding, the bridal gown and the various service categories for the ceremony have the potential to garner admiration and attention from fashion enthusiasts, even surpassing appearances at the Cannes Film Festival, the Oscars or the Met Gala.
In 2005, Donald J. Trump told The New York Times about the lead-up to his wedding: “Almost everything you can think of, from wedding photographs to wedding flowers, high-end cuisine, diamonds, and even private jets, at least five brands want to approach me for each category. In every case, they wanted nothing more than appearance and acknowledgment.”
Or as Steve Paster, president of the graphic design and custom printing firm Alpine Creative Group, once told the media: “I don’t call a brand’s involvement in a star’s sacred ceremony a barter, it’s simply a product promotion opportunity.”
Ultimately, the bride and groom must personally choose the brands for their big day. According to the editor-in-chief of Brides magazine, too much product placement at a wedding service can make your ceremony lose its honesty and privacy, and if overdone, can lead to a horrifying consequence: greed.
At the same time, high-profile collaborations can meaningfully enhance a ceremony rather than cause a distraction. In that vein, Angelababy chose to wear a custom-designed Dior gown for her wedding, while Zhou Xun, CHANEL’s muse in Asia, wore a gown from the brand in 2014. Keira Knightley, the face of COCO MADEMOISELLE perfume, also made a dazzling appearance in a CHANEL’s Haute Couture ensemble for her walk down the aisle with James Righton.
Unlike flowers or wedding invitations, the wedding dress carries an emotional bond with the bride. The belief of the audience in the famous bride and the fashion house is reinforced when, alongside their longstanding collaboration, they choose to accompany each other in the significant events of life. The appearance of the wedding dress will be a successful promotional campaign when it manages to touch the emotions of potential customers.
Say Yes To The Dress and Kleinfeld Bridal may lay out the steps for finding a wedding outfit, but they never unravel the mystery of a perfect dress. The producers’ and directors’ catchphrase is always repeated: “The bride will know when she sees the dress that belongs to her.”
Is it possible that choosing a wedding dress depends more on feeling than on budget? In this way, the wedding dress creates a desire by becoming mysterious and sacred. It will always be among the most expensive items, and the tradition of haute couture shows closing with a bride’s outfit will continue long into the future.
