Say No to the Dress: Why Women Are Trading Gowns for Wedding Suits

ON MAY 12, 1971, Nicaraguan socialite Bianca Pérez-Mora Macías married Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger in a shotgun wedding in Saint-Tropez. (Bianca was four months pregnant with their daughter Jade.) Mr. Jagger flew in many of the estimated 75 guests on a chartered plane with only a day’s notice, and such superstars as Brigitte Bardot, Paul McCartney and Ronnie Wood attended. Although the union disintegrated after seven years, and Bianca told Vanity Fair in 1986 that “a rock star is the worst husband a woman could have,” her wedding went down in rock ’n’ roll history. Not only did she wed one of the era’s biggest heartthrobs, she shunned froufrou wedding gowns and opted for a risqué white suit by Yves Saint Laurent. The jacket exposed her bare chest; the bias-cut skirt concealed her pregnant belly; the veiled floppy hat projected a breezy sort of drama; and platform sandals punctuated the look.

While the outfit might not provoke comment now, it did then—in part because Ms. Jagger wore nothing beneath the plunging jacket. “It was really risky to not only have a jacket instead of a dress, but this huge décolleté,” said Florence Müller, an art and fashion historian who curated the 2010 exhibition “Yves Saint Laurent: The Retrospective” at Paris’s Petit Palais. Ms. Müller suggested that Ms. Jagger’s suit might have been an offshoot of the late Saint Laurent’s subversive spring 1971 couture collection. Known as “La Collection du Scandale,” it took inspiration from sex workers who frequented Paris’s Bois de Boulogne and from silhouettes popularised during the German occupation of France in the 1940s.

More than 50 years later, Ms. Jagger’s confidently unconventional suit feels newly relevant. Even before the Covid era, which upended countless couples’ wedding plans and called for less-formal celebrations, women were embracing alternatives to the prim white wedding gown. Just look at model and author Emily Ratajkowski, who cited Ms. Jagger’s wedding ensemble as an influence when she chose a mustard Zara suit and a veiled brown hat for her 2018 wedding.

In a recent 2,000-person survey by market-research agency OnePoll, one in five respondents agreed that the white wedding dress is a dated tradition. “The prospect of wearing a fluffy white dress was frankly embarrassing to me,” admitted Kaelin Goulet, 37, who works in consulting in New York. For her October 2022 wedding, Ms. Goulet enlisted Isabel Wilkinson Schor, founder of New York brand Attersee, to tailor the label’s ivory vest and matching trousers to perfection. “I wanted to be comfortable and to be able to rewear my outfit,” said Ms. Goulet. “My mom wore a white shirtdress when she and my dad wed in 1984, and I have vivid memories from my childhood of her wearing her ‘wedding dress’ to work on summer days.”

For a bridal suit, “fit is critical,” said New York stylist Micaela Erlanger. “It’s about being effortless,” she said, but there’s a difference between “relaxed elegance” and looking sloppy. Ms. Erlanger condones sets by brands including Danielle Frankel and Ralph Lauren, both of which deliver “exquisite tailoring.” New York bridal stylist Anny Choi, meanwhile, advocates looking beyond typical bridal brands, noting that New York designer Christopher John Rogers offers refreshing options. Going nontraditional, she added, doesn’t mean buying the trendiest thing off the runway. “Subtle yet impactful styling choices”—like Ms. Jagger’s decision to forgo a blouse and add a sun hat—will make the outfit, she said.

The fact that Ms. Jagger’s suit echoed her new husband’s three-piece—blurring gender lines—made it all the more memorable. “Bianca made this combination modern and sexy and really feminized [the] jacket,” which was largely reserved for men at the time, said Ms. Choi. Bicoastal gallerist Caroline Luce similarly subverted gender aesthetics in her 2020 Big Sur wedding. Ms. Luce, 37, who was originally set on a suit, found her dream bridal outfit in a black Ralph Lauren tuxedo dress. “Having my own version of a black tuxedo was a perfect balance to [my husband] Nino’s tuxedo,” said Ms. Luce. “It felt like such an elegant but understated way to enter into this next chapter of our lives—visually in tandem, side by side in simple suits.”

In her Yves Saint Laurent suit, Ms. Jagger was a woman who knew her power. Its “rebellious attitude,” Ms. Choi suggested, explains “why brides today continue to reference this look.”

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Lost for decades, an acoustic guitar John Lennon used at the height of the Beatles’ fame is going up for auction after being found in the attic of a home in the British countryside.

The 1965 Framus Hootenanny is arguably one of the most historically important guitars in the history of the Beatles, and was used on some of the group’s classic songs and played by Lennon in the movie Help! , released the same year.

The 12-string acoustic guitar will headline Julien’s Auctions Music Icons event on May 29 and 30 at the Hard Rock Cafe in New York, the auction house announced Tuesday morning in London.

Darren Julien, the firm’s co-founder and executive director, expects the Framus to exceed its presale estimate of between US$600,000 and US$800,000 and says it could set a new record for the highest-selling Beatles guitar, a record his auction house set nearly a decade ago.

The guitar was found earlier this year.
Rupert Hitchcox/Julien’s auctions

“Julien’s sold a John Lennon [Gibson J-160E] guitar in 2015 for US$2.4 million, and because this, historically speaking, is a more significant guitar, our expectation is that this guitar—played by John Lennon and George Harrison on the Help! album and other recordings—will be in the top five most expensive guitars ever sold at auction,” Julien says. “It’s likely the last chance for someone to buy and personally own an iconic John Lennon/George Harrison guitar.”

While equating its discovery to that of a “lost Rembrandt or Picasso,” Julien believes this is the greatest find of a Beatles guitar since Paul McCartney ’s lost 1961 Höfner bass, which was returned to him in February after it had been stolen in 1972.

The rediscovered Framus was famously seen in the 1965 film Help! , and was used in recording sessions for classics such as “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,” “It’s Only Love” and “I’ve Just Seen A Face.” It was also played by George Harrison on the rhythm track for “Norwegian Wood” on the 1966 album Rubber Soul .

According to the auction house, by the late-1960s the guitar was in the possession of Gordon Waller of the British pop duo Peter & Gordon, who later gave it to their road managers. The instrument was recently discovered in an attic in rural Britain where it sat forgotten and unplayed for more than 50 years. After finding the guitar in the midst of a move, the homeowners contacted Julien’s.

Along with co-founder Martin Nolan, Julien traveled to the U.K. and immediately recognised that it was the storied Help! guitar. While on the premises, they also discovered the original guitar case in the trash and rescued it. It’s an Australian-made Maton case that can be seen in photos taken of The Beatles in 1965 The sale of the guitar is accompanied by the case and a copy of the book The Beatles: Photographs From The Set of Help by Emilo Lari.

In addition to Lennon’s acoustic Gibson J-160E—which fetched three times its presale estimate—Julien’s has broken multiple Beatles records, including Ringo Starr’s Ludwig drum kit (which sold for US$2.2 million), the drumhead played on the Ed Sullivan Show (US$2.2 million), and a personal copy of the White Album , (US$790,000), all of which sold in 2015.

Julien’s also holds the record for the world’s most expensive guitar ever sold at auction: Kurt Cobain’s MTV Unplugged 1959 Martin D-18E acoustic electric guitar, which sold in 2020 for US$6 million.

More than 1,000 pieces of music memorabilia will also be part of the auction, including items used by the likes of AC/DC, Nirvana, Guns N’ Roses, Judas Priest, Heart, Queen, and Tupac Shakur.

Sartorial highlights include custom dresses worn by Tina Turner (Versace) and Amy Winehouse (Fendi), both of which are expected to sell for between US$4,000 and $6,000, and Michael Jackson’s stage-worn “Billie Jean” jacket from 1984’s Victory Tour (presale estimate: US$80,000 to $100,000).

Bidders will have the chance to buy items benefitting a pair of U.K. charities. Several collectibles from The Who and other British musicians will be sold to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust, and an assortment of memorabilia—ranging from a Stella McCartney dress worn by Helen Mirren and an Armani jacket stage-worn by Phil Collins to artwork created and signed by Pierce Brosnan—will be offered to help fund the King’s Trust.

Rounding out the two-day auction is Randy Bachman’s collection of more than 200 museum-quality guitars. Known for his role in The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive, the Canadian rock star used the instruments on hits such as “These Eyes,” “Takin’ Care of Business,” “You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet,” and “American Woman.”

The public can view the Help! guitar and other auction highlights at Hard Rock Cafes in London (April 23-29) and New York City (May 22-28).

Say No to the Dress: Why Women Are Trading Gowns for Wedding Suits

Bianca Jagger stunned onlookers when she opted to wear a Yves Saint Laurent skirt suit to wed Mick in 1971—an unconventional look that’s more relevant than ever. How to conjure her subversive style.