Fashion Month Made Me Want To Get Married

Perfection materialized at Cult Gaia's Fall/Winter 2026 show in the form of a sculptural wedding gown paired with an extra long veil that pooled into a train and oversized floral statement earrings that matched the sculptural elements of the gown. I saw this and, for a moment, thought about how we could all collectively (but at our own respective weddings) walk down the aisle like we're walking down a New York Fashion Week runway.

At Bora Aksu's Fall/Winter 2026 show in London, a case was made for three types of bride. The first is a garden fairy bride that was certainly keen on a spring wedding. She doesn't necessarily need to carry a bouquet of flowers because she is wearing them both on her body and in her hair. She isn't afraid of a semi naked-dress moment, not even with her immediate and extend family present. She is traditional, but only to an extent, as seen through her asymmetrical veil—short at the front, long at the back—complete with the sweetest lace trim. The second is the demure bride. She prefers being covered up but in the most fashion-forward ways imaginable. Because of this, she goes for a veil so long that it blends in with her dress to the point that it's unclear where one ends and the other begins. Despite already being fully covered, she wears opera gloves underneath—because she's a fashion girl. The third and final is the nonchalant and non-traditional bride. She doesn't care about traditional details like a veil. Instead, she pairs a bonnet with her floral embroidered gown. She's likely eloping or planned a micro wedding but still hired a film photographer to capture every moment. She completes her look with opera gloves because, despite not wanting to deal with the fuss of a big wedding, she still very much cares.

Patrick McDowell's London Fashion Week showing was decorated with romantic moments. The bridal look, in particular, felt like both an ode traditional wedding dresses and a case for the modern bride. The dress was simple, far from a pure white, and featured a corset top. What had me really considering bridal trends, though, was the veil: not long, not short, but mid-length, and covered in floral adornments akin to dandelions.

Vaquera had these words of wisdom in their show notes at Paris Fashion Week: "Don't be married to a fixed version of your future." I'm not lying when I say that these words led me to further indulge in rotating, vastly different ideas about bridal fashion. This look further challenged my perception and my long-term dedication to a simple and sleek wedding look—because what if your wedding is the opportunity for you to be your absolute biggest? Not necessarily in a ball gown type of way, but in an avant-garde, high fashion but still somehow casual, taking up a lot of horizontal space type of way?

I continuously have to remind myself that this wedding is indeed hypothetical, but indulge me for a moment: a destination micro wedding of fifteen people maximum in an Italian garden and me walking down the grassy aisle in this. A girl can manifest!