On April 24, on the occasion of Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week, Maison Vivienne Westwood crossed a milestone by presenting its very first marriage parade. A tribute to Vivienne Westwood, of course, but also a marked entry into a market as emotional as lucrative: that of nuptial fashion.
Voilages, white and rock’n roll. It is as part of Barcelona Bridal Fashion Week that the famous fashion house Vivienne Westwood unveiled his very first parade entirely dedicated to marriage. At the heart of the majestic cloister of the University of Barcelona, this parade has bet on a theatrical scenography, grandiloquent and anchored in the brand’s DNA.
Andreas Kronthaler’s nuptial bet for Vivienne Westwood
The Vivienne Westwood Bridal 2026 show attracted all eyes.
And for good reason, the first “bridal” of the house, this parade bet on a theatrical scenography, grandiloquent and anchored in the DNA of the brand. As Andreas Kronthaler explains in an Instagram post:
“Marriage has always been an important part of the house, since I started working with Vivienne in the early 90s. We are delighted to present our first nuptial exhibition in this fantastic city; we chose the greatness of boulevards and architecture as the main source of inspiration”.
With this first “Bridal” show, the claw transforms this declaration of love into a strategic lever. Married dresses represent a powerful vector of growth and desirability in the ultra-competitive universe of luxury. A fashion segment far from trivial.
According to a study by Research and Markets, the world market for marriage indeed represented $ 165 billion in 2022, and 3.4 billion euros just in France, according to the specialized media BusinessCoot. A large market where clothing expenses weigh heavily. Indeed, according to The Knot About 20 % of the total budget of a marriage is devoted to the outfit.
-Just in the United States, the average cost of a wedding dress is around 1.900 dollars, with continuous growth in the luxury and tailor-made segment.
A sewing strategy at the service of growth
Sewing houses have therefore understood this: to integrate a nuptial offer is to diversify their customers while retaining a target also emotionally invested.
Already present via sewing parts on request, houses like Dior, Chanel or Elie Saab have been positioning themselves for several years on a dedicated offer. Vivienne Westwood, who had already dressed several celebrities for their marriage – including Dita von Teese, Hailey Bieber or Miley Cyrus – therefore formalizes this dimension here.
On the 34 Haute Couture look program unveiled at Westwood? Far from traditional codes, the corset, central element of the vocabulary of the house, structures the silhouettes. Exposed, enhanced, diverted, he sculpts the bodies and recalls the rebel origins of the claw born in the punk london of the 1970s. Among the most striking pieces, we will remember the dresses in aerial organza, the jackets borrowed from the male tailor, or the stripped in the washed Georgette which evoke more the chamber than the altar.
When love becomes a marketing lever
Through this 2026 collection, Andreas Kronthaler therefore offers a contemporary and subversive vision of marriage which becomes a laboratory for aesthetic and marketing experimentation. Another notable point, this parade crystallizes a double ambition: inscribing the house in a sewing tradition of the wedding dress, while consolidating its emotional capital.
Indeed, the final of the show where Andreas Kronthaler appears, himself in an ivory wedding dress-embodies a symbolic transmission as much as a strong communication gesture. By celebrating love, freedom and memory, the brand also affects customers in search of meaning, history, and identity.
