Many brides-to-be (and editors) were heavily invested in Katherine Ormerod’s mission to find the perfect wedding dress (reader: if you missed this continent-spanning mission, 120 gowns were involved). But on the big day itself, deep in the California desert, it was not Katherine’s Vivienne Westwood Cocotte gown that my eye zeroed in on, it was her peach ombré veil.
The bespoke Hermione de Paula confection was, said the bride, “a love note to [her] teenage self.” Inspired by the rose-tinted John Galliano gown Gwen Stefani wore to marry Gavin Rossdale in London in 2002, Katherine, “a massive Gwen fan girl back then,” was “blown away at the audacity of it.”
“It was the perfect dress on the perfect woman at the perfect time,” explains the fashion history nerd, who knew that when her turn came to walk down the aisle, she had to incorporate Stefani’s spirit—and that splash of color—into her own look.
Dressing for the Coachella Valley had its challenges. A blushing dress? “Too Barbie!” decided Ormerod, who ultimately landed upon a more subtle homage to the singer. But her dip-dyed veil, which cascaded down her Westwood silk and landed in a frothy pool of sugared-almond sweetness, was no less time-consuming than a custom dress design. The bride visited de Paula’s City Road studio four times to nail the hue, which had to complement the 12 hand-painted tablecloths Ormerod had been finessing late into the night in the run-up to the celebration. Two days before her flight to LA, Katherine was back in front of Hermione’s team with a last-minute request to go punchier. “I’m so glad I did, because it so beautifully reflected the desert sunset when it came across the Santa Rosa mountains.”
Ormerod’s splash of pink tulle reflects a wider trend for tinted veils that has proliferated in alternative corners of the Western wedding sphere, where women aren’t robbed of £50 for a warm glass of Prosecco and the privilege of wriggling into a grubby one-size-fits-all sample. “We often have brides who want a pop of color, choosing an ivory or white dress and combining it with a brightly colored tulle veil,” shares Molly Goddard, who is currently on maternity leave and has pivoted her business to focus on the booming bridalwear requests.