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Claudia Sulewski's Final Oscar de la Renta Fittings for Her Wedding to Finneas

VOGUE JAPAN · ▶ 12:22 · 8 min read
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Overview

Claudia Sulewski takes Vogue into Oscar de la Renta's Beverly Hills location for the last fitting before her wedding. It is the first time she will see the final version of each dress. Every earlier fitting, she explains, happened while the dresses were still being altered. She tries on four looks for the wedding weekend: one for the rehearsal dinner, one for the ceremony, one for the first dance and reception dinner, and one for the after-party. There is also a fifth piece, made for her dogs. Her mother, Beata, and her soon-to-be mother-in-law, Maggie, are with her, and friends and members of the Oscar de la Renta team come and go. Sulewski says she is most excited about the ceremony dress.

8 min read

The Families in the Room

Before the first dress, both mothers talk about being there. Maggie says she is happy to be included and has been "dying to see" Sulewski in the dress. Beata says she feels "so so blessed" and can't wait to see her daughter in it.

Later, friends of the couple describe how long they have watched the relationship. One says they and someone named Drew have been writing a speech for the day, and that everyone has watched the relationship grow over "the last almost 8 years." Another friend says they and Rebecca were actually at the couple's first date. They call it a love story "we really saw from the very beginning," running from that first meeting to a wedding now a couple of weeks away. The mothers add that the weekend will make memories for everyone, "for our grandchildren" included, and then joke that they are "not jumping the gun at all."

1:46

The Rehearsal Dinner Dress

The first look is the rehearsal dinner dress. Sulewski says it makes her feel "so womanly," "classy and beautiful and comfortable, too." The people around her call it "timeless beauty" and say the fabric looks "like liquid." She jokes that she doesn't know what to do with her hands. Someone tells her she'll have to find reasons to turn around, apparently because of how the back looks.

The team still wants a few small changes. They will adjust the drape at the front so it falls into "an effortless drape." A fitter will shorten the back lining, because it peeks out and isn't needed. They also discuss shortening the front slightly, with tape holding a section in place on the day.

4:13

The Ceremony Dress

The ceremony gown gets the strongest reaction. Sulewski says that while they were putting it on, she felt "there's something about this dress that like just demands like silence," and she describes it as needing a moment of silence.

The design details come out as she turns. The neckline has an asymmetric neck piece of hand-draped silk. At the back it becomes a scarf that runs down one side for the full length of the train. The team has added volume so the skirt stands out all the way around, and one onlooker says she looks "like a little statue." Others point out the drop waist. The team plans to add boning to the bodice, which is laced up. Someone calls it "very Victorian." Under the gown she wears massive platform shoes, and the group jokes about who will have to get down on the floor to put them on her on the wedding day.

Sulewski calls it "the most beautiful thing I've ever put on my body" and her "dream dress." She says she loves how the cut sits flat and then dips down. The neck scarf, she says, "feels like it caught on my neck in the wind or something." Her mother says the dress gets better at every fitting. Sulewski agrees that each fitting "just gets crazier." A visitor comes in briefly, tells her she looks like an angel, and leaves. Sulewski says, "I look like a princess."

She also explains where the design started. Many of the Oscar de la Renta references she collected had large skirts with volume at the bottom. That silhouette was the first reference, and the fabric, color, and neck scarf were built on top of it until they reached the final design.

The Team Behind the Dresses

While the fitters shorten the sides, Sulewski calls in Thomas, who she says has been part of every step of the process. Thomas says they have been in the back crying the whole time because it has been so emotional. Sulewski describes lacing up the dress and exchanging looks in the mirror that said "what is happening?" She says the group has grown close as a team, texting and meeting on Zoom at least once a week, and they joke about who they'll text once the wedding is over.

The Veil and the Pockets

Next comes the actual veil. It clips under her bun so that it "just cascades down," which someone jokingly calls "revolutionary." Sulewski then finds pockets in the gown and puts her hands in them, and someone calls her "a modern bride." With the veil on, she and the people around her say it has become real. One person jokes that she might now want a longer ceremony.

8:18

The First Dance and Reception Dress

The third look is for the first dance and the reception dinner. Sulewski says it feels "so grown up in this like sexy wifey way, but it's so celebratory." Because she will dance in it, they did a dance test to make sure nothing gets in the way.

This dress also comes from the brand's archive. Oscar de la Renta had made a dress in a very similar shape, but all in black. The team suggested doing it in white, and Sulewski says they felt "we have to." It has a lace-up corset with a cady dress on top. Small crystals are hidden in it and only catch the light at certain angles. The team describes them as a little surprise that appears when she turns. The feathers are upcycled, which Sulewski says was very important to her. A bit of extra tailoring is planned at the front.

Finneas has not seen any of the dresses. Since the first dance happens in this dress, she says she has had to be "very vague" with him about limits, such as the ways he can lift her. She worries about the structure and wants it to stay intact. So far she has only told him there will be "an obstacle that will be sitting between us a little bit."

10:03

The After-Party Look

The fourth look, for the indoor after-party from 10 p.m. onward, gets shouts of "Barbie." It pairs a pink boat-neck top with a gray skirt. The shoes will be dyed gray to match the skirt. Sulewski says the team gathered a few early-2000s and '90s Oscar de la Renta runway photos. The boat neck felt "so fresh" and different from the other looks, so they made it pink. On the gray skirt, she says, "why not?" Someone adds that no one will expect it. Sulewski says she feels "like a little cupcake." The others note that this is the one look that shows her legs.

11:08

Outfits for the Dogs

The last piece is for her dogs, Moose and Peaches. They will walk down the aisle as "flower dogs." The plan is to put Moose in front, with the piece resting on Peaches's back. It is cut from the same fabric, in the same color, as the ceremony gown, so the dogs carry a small piece of her dress. Someone predicts that this is when the tears will start. After the ceremony, the couple plan to walk the dogs to cocktail hour.

Why Oscar de la Renta

At the end, Sulewski recalls sitting down with her stylist at the very beginning of planning and asking, "Oscar de la Renta, how do we make it happen?" She says it was the dream from the start, because the house is "so iconic" for its gowns, bridal stories, and silhouettes, and that she feels honored. She closes the fitting with "That's my final look" and "Let's go get married."

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