You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more frequently referenced bridal suit than that worn by Bianca Perez-Mora Macias on 12 May, 1971. Brides-to-be looking for the perfect wedding dress with a desire to swerve tradition will be particularly familiar with Yves Saint Laurent’s tailored two-piece, famously worn by the Nicaraguan socialite to marry Mick Jagger, nine months after meeting at a rock concert in France.
Only a few images exist of the couple emerging from Saint-Tropez’s courthouse – open to the public that day due to French law – promptly ducking a media frenzy, yet just enough to leave an everlasting impression. More recently, Bianca Jagger’s wedding look inspired Emily Ratajkowski’s mustard yellow trouser suit for her own courthouse ceremony, wide-brim hat included.
What most people don’t realise is that Bianca Jagger wasn’t wearing a trouser suit at all.
Secretly four months pregnant at the time with their daughter Jade, Jagger’s bespoke ivory column skirt was a comfortable choice. The bias-cut skirt was topped with Yves Saint Laurent’s now-classic Le Smoking jacket, which had debuted only four years earlier on the catwalk, sending ripples of controversy across the fashion industry.
It wouldn’t be until four years later that Helmut Newton shot Le Smoking into androgyny icon status, and certainly, no one in 1971 could have imagined it as a bridal style – let alone sans blouse. Personifying the effortless style she soon became synonymous with, Bianca just buttoned the jacket instead, adding a matching veiled sun hat with block-heeled, ankle-strapped peep-toes.
An elegantly unconventional wedding look today may seem of little significance – arguably though, that’s thanks to Jagger and Saint Laurent. What appeared then as a brave wardrobe choice for the times went on to define a new, more liberated era for an entire generation of women, and bridal style became all the more fun because of it.
Jagger, of course, went on to become one of the most glamorous figures of the ’70s decade, Studio 54 royalty and muse of Andy Warhol, remaining part of the ever-changing fashion landscape to this day.
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