See Hailey Baldwin at Her Wedding Dress Fitting in New Behind-the-Scenes Video: 'I Feel Beautiful'
Hailey Baldwin is finally sharing the secrets behind her wedding dress!
The 22-year-old model, who married Justin Bieber for the second time in South Carolina on Sept. 30, invited Vogue to her final fitting of her Off-White design at the Montage Hotel in Los Angeles.
Although her longtime friend and wedding designer Virgil Abloh doesn’t make an appearance in the video, he opens up about creating the long-sleeve backless fishtail gown in a voice recording.
“I’ve done a number of red carpet dresses for special moments before but this would be the first for a wedding, especially for a close friend,” the Off-White founder, 39, said during a narrated portion of the clip. “The gratifying side about designing for Hailey, in this case, is I know her personality. For her, I wanted something fun and youthful just the same, but still traditional.”
Abloh explained that the shape of the gown was partially inspired by Bieber (who wore a classic tux designed by Celine’s Hedi Slimane). “What I think is most important for her on this day is showcasing the woman that she is,” he said. “I’ve known Justin for a couple years as well, too, and I wanted to make something that made him look in Hailey’s eyes and see that she’s the most beautiful woman for him.”
RELATED: Is This Hailey Baldwin’s Third Wedding Dress? See Her White Slip Design at Wedding to Justin Bieber
“So that’s a lot of what the dress silhouette was inspired by is bringing an emotion to the moment that he sees her walk down the aisle with the veil on and sort of lifts it up,” Abloh added.
Speaking with Vogue in the Milan Off-White Atelier, the brand’s womenswear designer Sabrina Mandelli said a team of 20 people worked on Baldwin’s look for about a year.
Mandelli explained that the team merged signature Off-White symbols like the “x” logo, with traditional wedding dress design elements like dainty pearls and white flowers. “That’s why this is Off-White,” she said of the custom gown.
In the clip, Baldwin arrived at the hotel for her final fitting and flashed a wide grin as she examined the off-the-shoulder design in the mirror. “I feel beautiful,” she said.
Her stylists, Maeve Reilly, joked, “I’m literally not going to be able to do this on the real day because I’m literally just going to be back here crying,” as she fluffed the long train.
The model opened up about the design process — and why she trusted her longtime friend to design the gown.
“From day one, I said I want Virgil to do my dress,” Baldwin told the outlet. “I didn’t want somebody who was a wedding dress designer. I just feel like my style and my street style is such a part of who I am. Virgil has kind of always just been in my corner since the beginning.”
RELATED: Hailey Baldwin Shares a Close-Up Look at Her Double Wedding Bands from Tiffany & Co.: ‘Love My Set’
As the street style queen, it’s no surprise that Baldwin knew what she wanted for her dress: “I was specific on the sleeves. I knew I wanted them to be long onto my hands. I knew I wanted this silhouette. I knew I wanted my back to be showing,” she said.
Abloh and his team added a few more non-traditional elements to the look. “Wedding Dress” in Off-White’s signature quotation marks was embroidered at the low of the back. And there’s also the show-stopping veil, which has the phrase “Til Death Do Us Part” embroidered in quotation marks, which Hailey called “icing on the cake!”
