The Brides Wore Valentino: Looking Back at Pierpaolo Piccioli’s Many Wedding Dresses in Vogue
Though Pierpaolo Piccioli might be known for his deft use of a certain shade of pink—the eye-catching color has since been dubbed Pierpaolo Pink—he’s also given the world a gorgeous array of bridal looks in all shades of wedding white. In the wake of the news of his exit from Valentino, Vogue looks back through its wedding archive to remember the many fashionable brides who chose Pierpaolo Piccioli for their big day.
For Nicola Peltz, who would wed Brooklyn Beckham in a much-talked-about wedding in Palm Beach in 2022, the choice was a “no-brainer,” as she told Vogue. Peltz is among several brides who thought of no one else for her nuptials—like Harley Viera Newton, who almost exclusively wore Valentino (three looks in total!) for her Manhattan wedding celebrations. Hollywood’s on board, too: Anne Hathaway wore Valentino to her hush-hush wedding in 2012 and Gwyneth Paltrow donned the designer for her wedding to Brad Falchuk in 2018.
Though all these brides are unique, they seem to share a sensibility with Piccioli—they’re wedding dresses, sure, but they also smack of high fashion. A Valentino bride is a runway bride, after all.
Below, find our very favorite Pierpaolo Piccioli-era Valentino brides.
Photo: John Dolan1/18For her Hamptons wedding to Brad Falchuk in 2018, Gwyneth Paltrow wore a custom lace Valentino dress with a Swiss dot pattern throughout, a fitted bodice, and a cathedral-length veil.
Photo: Getty Images2/18For her 2015 wedding to James Rothschild at Kensington Palace, Nicky Hilton Rothschild wore a Valentino couture gown inspired by Grace Kelly’s famous dress.
- Neil Mockford/Alex Huckle3/18
According to Valentino’s Instagram, the gown “was composed with three different tones of ivory and silver guipure richly embellished with crystals. The high neck bodice stitched to a precious balloon skirt ending with a three meter long train. Covered with a long veil is enriched all around the edge with a precious vintage lace.”
Photo: Isaias Miciu and Sergio Sandona4/18For her Patagonia wedding in 2014, Sofia Sanchez de Betak wore a Valentino couture dress, which required 1,800 hours’ worth of bas-relief pearl and crystal embroidery, in a pale chalcedony-hue. See the full wedding here.
Photo: Isaias Miciu and Sergio Sandona5/18“My wedding dress by Valentino couture was a lovely extension of the landscape (dramatic, fluid, and luminous) in its muted jewel tones,” said Sofia Sanchez de Betak.
Photo: Amanda Jasnowski Pascual6/18For her 2017 West Village wedding, Harley Viera-Newton wore a structured lace Valentino dress from the spring 2013 collectsion. See the full wedding here.
Photo: Amanda Jasnowski Pascual7/18The look was one of three Valentino looks Viera-Newton wore to her nuptial celebrations.
Photo: Valentino8/18For her 2015 civil ceremony to wed Monaco’s Prince Pierre Casiraghi in 2015, Beatrice Borromeo wore a gossamer mauvy-pink Valentino couture gown. See the full wedding here.
Photo: German Larkin9/18For her 2022 Palm Beach wedding, Nicola Peltz Beckham wore a Valentino couture dress consisting of a silk columnar gown with a detached train, a lace caplet, and lace gloves. See the full wedding here.
Photo: German Larkin10/18Of choosing Valentino for her big day, Peltz Beckham told Vogue: “It was a no-brainer.”
Photo: Brian Dorsey Studios11/18For her wedding at the Museum of Natural History, bride Elizabeth Dishi wore a custom Valentino dress with exquisite beadwork that evoked a trompe l’oeil lace. See the full wedding here.
Photo: Brian Dorsey Studios12/18“I wanted to offset the high neck and covered arms with an open back,” Dishi told Vogue. “Plus, I was happy it made the dress that much lighter!”
Photo: Joshua Bright and Ali Smith13/18For her St. Barths wedding, Mollie Ruprecht Acquavella wore a dress that originally walked the runway at the Valentino couture show inside the Whitney Museum of American Art’s former home of the Breuer Building. See the full wedding here.
Photo: Joshua Bright and Ali Smith14/18The cap-sleeved white lace gown shown on the runway was originally too transparent, so Acquavella altered it slightly to be church appropriate.
Photo: Jose Villa15/18For Melissa Jacobs’s wedding at the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc, the bride wore a custom embroidered Valentino dress with a high collar and sheer sleeves. See the full wedding here.
Photo: Jose Villa16/18The sleeves of Jacobs’s dress appear to be lace, but close-up, they reveal floral patterns created by beaded embroideries—a mark of Valentino’s craftsmanship. “I love how it looks like lace from a distance,” she explains.
Photo: Alex Bramall and Lucy Birkhead17/18For Alexandra “Ali” McDonough’s wedding in the Hamptons, she wore a custom Valentino dress with an iridescent sequin floral embroidery top layer over a simple slip. See the full wedding here.
Photo: Alex Bramall and Lucy Birkhead18/18“I loved the simple sophistication of my Valentino dress,” said the bride. “It was elegant and classic, all the while feeing unique.”
