After seven years together, and six kids, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are finally tying the knot. Angelina Jolie came in at number eleven on Forbes’ annual Celebrity 100 list and number 29 on its annual World’s Most Powerful Women list in 2011. Her every move is chronicled by the paparazzi. She is certainly an A-lister in Hollywood, and some would even go so far as to suggest that she is America’s version of royalty.
In the age of social media and the constant news cycle, the coverage of celebrity weddings has reached a fever pitch, but celebrity watchers predict that excitement surrounding this particular star pairing could outdo them all.
Stephen Galloway, executive editor of features at The Hollywood Reporter told the Associated Press: “Every single designer on the planet will be pursuing Angelina for the dress.
It’s literally worth millions of dollars in business.”
After Pitt’s manager confirmed last Friday that the couple was in fact engaged, Jolie’s diamond engagement ring, created by jeweler Robert Procop, began trending on Twitter—a preview of the type of publicity the wedding dress should expect. Jolie in the past has favored designers like L’Wren Scott, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Elie Saab and Jenny Packham, so let the speculation begin as to what designer she will be wearing for her big day.
Jolie’s past wedding day choices likely don’t offer any clues as to what she will wear this time around, as her public image has vastly changed since she initially hit the scene.
For her first wedding, to Jonny Lee Miller in 1996, she sported a pair of rubber pants and a t-shirt with Jonny’s name reportedly written across the back in her blood. To her second wedding to Billy Bob Thornton in 2000, Jolie donned a simple tank top and jeans.
Whomever Jolie chooses to work with for her wedding day, the exposure that designer stands to gain is something that simply can’t be bought. Here, a look at the impact on various designers that were behind an iconic star’s wedding day look.
Kate Middleton’s Sarah Burton For Alexander McQueen Wedding Gown
Sarah Burton, Alexander McQueen’s Creative Director, initially denied that she was making the royal wedding dress. In fact, it was not actually confirmed that she was the chosen designer until Middleton got out of her chauffeured Rolls-Royce and walked into Westminster Abbey. The moment, which happened in the spring of 2011 was watched on television by 22.8 million people in the US alone (an estimated three billion people watched world wide).
Burton joined Alexander McQueen in 1997, directly after graduating from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. Following McQueen’s death in 2010, she took over as Creative Director of the house. Burton, who has called making Middleton’s dress an “experience of a lifetime,” has been reaping the rewards of the historical moment ever since. In November, 2011 she won Designer of the Year at the 2011 British Fashion Awards. The McQueen label (owned by luxury conglomerate PPR) experienced a jump in revenue in the third-quarter of 2011, thanks in no small part to exposure from the famous dress. And when the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened its exhibit, Alexander McQueen:
Savage Beauty, directly following the royal wedding in May, 2011, the exhibit became the museum’s eighth most visited show in its history with 661,509 visitors in total. All in all, it was the kind of exposure that money just can’t buy and it cemented Sarah Burton and Alexander McQueen’s place in fashion history.
Kim Kardashian’s Vera Wang Wedding Gown
Say what you want to about Kim Kardashian’s ill-fated marriage, but 4.4 million viewers tuned in to watch the first part of Kim’s Fairytale Wedding: A Kardashian Event,which aired on E! in 2011. Four million viewers tuned in the next night to watch the second part of the program. Vera Wang, otherwise known as the doyenne of weddings, designed three dresses for Kardashian for the event and personally appeared on E!’s wedding special. To commemorate her role in the wedding she even added two dresses to her White by Vera Wang collection for David’s Bridal that were inspired by the one-of-a-kind dresses she designed for Kardashian’s wedding (they hit stores ironically after Kardashian’s divorce was underway).
Wang was hardly an obscure designer before Kardashian came along (she’s also designed wedding dresses for Victoria Beckham, Chelsea Clinton and Ivanka Trump among many others) but the fashion moment only cemented her place as the go-to choice for big, splashy, celebrity weddings. For a designer who depends on liscensing for a lot of revenue (she told Women’s Wear Daily in 2010 that her deal with David’s Bridal is “ginormous”), that reputation means a lot to her business.
Gwen Stefani’s John Galliano For Christian Dior Wedding Gown
This wedding gown hardly put Christian Dior on the map, but it did help the house reach a new audience. The dress continues racking up the accolades a decade later, regularly making various best celebrity wedding dresses of all time lists. Stefani donated the wedding gown to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 2011, further cementing its place in wedding history.
Carolyn Bessette’s Narciso Rodriguez Wedding Gown
Carolyn Bessette chose friend Narciso Rodriguez to design her pearl-colored bias-cut silk wedding gown in 1996 for her wedding to John F. Kennedy Jr., in the process launching her friend’s fashion career. Rodriguez debuted his namesake line the following year in 1997 and the rest is fashion history. Since, Rodriguez has dressed everyone from Michelle Obama, to Claire Danes, to Kate Winslet. He won the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year award in 2002 and 2003 (the fashion equivalent of an Oscar).
Britney Spears’ Monique Lhuillier Wedding Gown
Britney Spears wore a Monique Lhuillier gown valued at $26,000 to her 2004 wedding to Kevin Federline. The strapless silk gown featured a hand sewn train and cathedral length veil. Like most celebrity dressing decisions, this pick didn’t come out of thin air—rather it was masterminded by celebrity product placement guru Susan Ashbrook and her company Film Fashion. In Ashbrook’s book, Will Work for Shoes: The Business Behind Red Carpet Product Placement she wrote, “I still can’t believe the wildfire of press Monique received, particularly in the celebrity weeklies [for dressing Britney Spears for her wedding]. This one wedding took Monique’s career to a whole new level…my client walked into the spotlight overnight.” Since, Lhuillier has dressed Carrie Underwood and Reese Witherspoon for their wedding days. By 2007, she had launched a line of home furnishings, fine china and handbags.
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