‘Bridal Is Whatever You Want It to Be’: The Story Behind Gabbriette’s Unconventional Matières Fecales Wedding Looks

It probably goes without saying, but Gabbriette’s approach to bridal was never going to be entirely traditional.

Which is partly why, in the weeks before her wedding to The 1975 frontman Matty Healy—which took place on Saturday, July 18, at a private estate in Los Angeles—the model and musician invited Vogue along to her final fitting at Dover Street Market in Paris. Her choice of designer? The Canadian duo Hannah Rose Dalton and Steven Raj Bhaskaran behind the Paris-based brand Matières Fecales, who have gained a cult following for their dystopian, politically charged collections and couture-level execution. “I’ve always loved designers like Matières Fécales that tell stories through fabric,” Gabbriette told Vogue ahead of the fitting. “Their last show was just a full story, and I just felt like they were a perfect match.”

To try on her three wedding looks before the wedding, Gabbriette brought along her mom, Chayo Bechtel, and her longtime best friend, Bailey Quinones, stopping at a café first to debrief about the impending wedding. “The most exciting thing about my daughter getting married?” Chayo said. “Well, there are a few things. Number one is seeing her dressed as a princess. Number two, witnessing my daughter marrying her best friend. And the third is just the celebration, to watch everybody celebrate this amazing event and true love.” Unsurprisingly, all three were feeling emotional before they’d even arrived at the atelier.

“I’m very excited about getting married—it’s been like eight months of planning,” Gabbriette said, before laughing: “I feel like him and I should have just eloped, but it’s fine.”

Upon arriving at Dover Street Market, the trio was greeted by the Matières Fecales team, leading to gasps of delight as the three looks were revealed. “This is insane,” Gabbriette said while leafing through the racks and twirling a pair of freaky, contorted Matières Fécales x Christian Louboutin red-bottomed heels on her finger. “I’m going to have to build a whole new closet!”

The first look, a pre-wedding dress named the “Leigh,” was loosely inspired by Gabbriette, Hannah, and Steven’s shared passion for Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula—and was built using a vintage black Martin Margiela dress that already belonged to Gabbriette (her “something old”) before adding soft white tulle, complete with the brand’s signature déchiré technique, coming out of the hem and cascading out of the slashed back.

As soon as she stepped into the gown, the team knelt down to begin trimming the tulle at the perfect length. “This is my favorite part, when Steven gets hold of the scissors,” Gabbriette said, laughing. “Is bridal always white? Clearly not. Bridal is whatever you want it to be. I’ve always been a fan of black clothing, and it felt right using this dress that I’ve loved for so long and repurposing it.”

Next up? The “Healy” after-party look: A two-piece suit set in buttery lamb leather, complete with déchire tulle and fur edges at the sleeve and pant hems. It was paired with a white satin riding hat created in collaboration with Stephen Jones, as well as another pair of white satin curved heel pumps by Christian Louboutin x Matières Fécales.

“This is when I’m going to come out [and say], ‘Time to party!’” Gabbriette said, adjusting the hat to figure out the best angle. “With a Champagne. Honestly, I see a little bit of Nicole Kidman or Kylie Minogue going on.”

Finally, there’s the pièce de resistance: the main wedding dress, which the team nicknamed the “Gabriella,” and features white silk taffeta that has been hand pleated to create a bodice with a triple bustle and train with déchiré tulle edges at the back. Oh, and a Stephen Jones veil to complete the look, of course. “I feel like a princess,” Gabbriette said. “That was the goal.” Naturally, it was the look that drew the most effusive response from Bailey and her mom, too. “It’s stunning,” Chayo confirmed, a little misty-eyed. “Stunning.”

For the Matières Fecales team, it was an emotional moment too: it marks their first-ever bridal commission, and there’s no person they’d have rather marked the milestone with than Gabbriette. “I think we mainly bonded over our mutual love for extreme beauty and passion for dark glamour,” Hannah recalled. “We honestly were surprised she came to us, as there are so many great creatives and brands out there doing bridal. It was when we met in person that we understood why she chose us. We share the same vision of beauty, and we articulate fashion in a very human and poetic way.”

After Gabbriette had given them the green light, Steven spent a flight from Montreal to Paris designing looks, coming up with 30 different sketches along the way based on references Gabbriette had sent over email.

As a result, the process was as much a labor of love for Hannah and Steven as it was for Gabbriette. “We are really proud of our team, who worked for over four months on these looks: Ian, Eloi, Anne, Anabela, and Juliette,” Steven said. “We all really put a lot of love into each stitch and each decision on the project, and it was quite emotional for us.” Not least upon seeing Gabbriette wearing the looks for the first time with Vogue. “It felt like a distorted Cinderella fantasy seeing her transform in the wedding dress. She looked exactly like the sketches.”

For Hannah, the most emotional aspect of all was “experiencing it all with her mother and best friend by her side,” she said. “It made it more than just a fitting with a client—it was a privilege to be part of such a milestone moment for her and her family’s lives.”

The only detail needed to complete the look? A wedding ring.

This article was originally published on Vogue.com.