“Wearing a white outfit to a wedding is really strictly a no-no unless it’s the dress code from the couple,” says wedding dress designer Kate Halfpenny. “Especially anything that looks like a bridal gown.”
In this case, Beckham and Elson might have got away with it, as the dress code for Enninful and Maxwell’s wedding at Longleat – the seat of the Marquess and Marchioness of Bath – was black and white. Although I’m still not sure that means a long silk dress with a train. Particularly since most of the guests took the dress code to mean monochrome or black: Diane von Furstenberg opted for a black and white print dress, shoe designer Tabitha Simmons wore a white suit, while models Karlie Kloss and Naomi Campbell wore sleek black gowns with bold jewellery.
Stylist Sarah Corbett-Winder, who also recently got married, was as surprised as I was to see more than one guest at the wedding looking bridal. “My rule for weddings is that there are no rules… apart from don’t wear white or denim,” she says. “Weddings are so much less formal than they used to be, which is wonderful. Wear a hat if you want to, don’t if you don’t, but looking bridal will always be a no.”
Enninful and Maxwell’s wedding was, of course, slightly different to mine and Corbett-Winder’s in that it was the celebration of a marriage between two men. This raises the question of whether you can wear a long white gown if there is no bride to upstage. Some might say yes, although the Telegraph’s men’s style editor, Stephen Doig, warns against it.