Photo-Illustration: The Strategist. Photos: Shutterstock (Sevigny); Retailers
Last weekend, Chloë Sevigny and her gallerist husband, Siniša Mačković, threw themselves a big, stylish wedding in Darien, Connecticut, where Sevigny grew up. The couple has been officially married since March of 2020, when they put on all black and went to City Hall, but if you thought that was the end of their celebrations, you’d have been wrong. It’s the marriage that keeps on giving. Ever since stylist Haley Wollens shared a slew of photos from Sevigny’s bachelorette trip to the beach, where she got into a pool with Natasha Lyonne wearing nothing but her underwear and her veil, I’ve been on the edge of my seat in anticipation of the big day.
They weren’t the only ones who got married on Sunday, though. In fact, it was a huge weekend for people I stalk on Instagram hosting categorically chic, New York–based events attended by good-looking people with great taste whom I also follow on Instagram. Designer Lauren Rodriguez of Lorod and artist Chase Hall also got hitched, with a black-tie gathering in the rain on Stuyvesant Street in the East Village, followed by a fancy dinner at Balthazar. (The groom seems to have worn a Charvet shirt and the bride wore Vivienne Westwood.) Fellow designer Emily Adams Bode was there, plus model Paloma Elsesser in an incredible vintage Issey Miyake Pleats Please gown, and model/designer/Kamala Harris’s stepdaughter, Ella Emhoff, who wore a velvet dress by Vampire’s Wife and carried a heart-shaped bag from Alaïa that I now really want.
Speaking of Balthazar, owner Keith McNally’s son, Harry McNally, got married to Steven Spielberg’s daughter, Sasha Spielberg, this weekend as well, with a small ceremony in East Hampton. (She wore Carel shoes to the pre-party.) By the time Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker dropped their wedding photos on Sunday night, I’d been so well fed, I could not have cared less.
Though all of these weddings were cooler than the ones I remember creeping on before the pandemic, none was better, or more carefully, obsessively detailed, than Sevigny’s. I decided to parse out the provenance of some of the exceptionally good stuff I noticed in the pictures (and the background of the pictures, and the backgrounds of the backgrounds of the pictures), from the frosting-heavy cake to the shiny silver cigarette cups (and the brands of the cigarettes inside). My findings.
Bridesmaid (and artist) Lizzi Bougatsos collaborated with Queens-based ice supplier Okamoto Studio on an ice sculpture for the wedding. “I ran several ideas by Chloë (as I generally do with ALL my artwork), and we decided on the swans,” Bougatsos said in an email. “She wanted something traditional combined with my usual dangerous and radical edge. [The result] was sort of ’80s, reminiscent of a Giorgio de Chirico or Tamara de Lempicka painting (both of whom we are huge fans of). I loved the sharp edges of the swans and crystals, and asked if the raw bar could be incorporated into the design. Inspired by a glass Rauschenberg sculpture, I added gold chains and a ’80s gold heart locket from Thrilling. The piece is musing on the song ‘Chains of Love,’ by Erasure.”
Thrilling is a vintage platform, so this locket isn’t identical — but looks quite similar.
Sterling-silver scallop-shaped dishes, placed next to the ice sculptures, were used to hold oyster sauce. These were borrowed, it turns out, from event planner Chris Hessney’s personal collection. He found them at an antiques shop in Vermont. This one, also sterling silver, is quite similar.
The bride did three outfit changes. For the ceremony, she wore a custom Jean Paul Gaultier gown designed by Glenn Martens, which was fitted over by Mei Zou, followed by a dinner dress by Jonathan Anderson of Loewe. (This look was shorter, allowing her to more easily dance with her husband to “Cosmogony,” by Björk.) For the after-party at Paul’s Casablanca (her brother’s club), where they re-created Morrissey night at the now-closed Sway Lounge, Sevigny wore a corseted lace bodysuit by Mugler’s Casey Cadwallader, and, I’m 99 percent certain, these satin Manolo Blahniks.
Wacky baker Aimee France made an Earl Grey cake layered with ricotta cheese from Hawthorne Valley Farm, “fresh, first of season” market strawberries, and passionfruit curd. She decorated it with sweet alyssum flowers, lilacs, and strawberries as well, all from the Union Square farmers’ market. (France is currently taking orders for May and June; they can be placed at yungkombucha@gmail.com.)
Floral arrangements were by Pretend Plants and Flowers, an L.A.–based floral design studio that, despite the name, actually uses real flowers. Sevigny’s bouquet consisted of just five calla lilies. According to Pretend Plants co-founders Michael Woodcock and Ezra Woods, the choice was a nod to the bouquet Sevigny’s grandmother carried. She later put stephanotis flowers and baby’s breath behind her ears. For the reception, they created larger arrangements with baby’s breath, calla lilies, ranunculus, pale-blue Japanese delphinium, black-and-white delphinium, dianthus, locally foraged wisteria, and sweet-pea vines, with satin ribbons and bows throughout.
Orange trees were also brought into the venue and tied with, per Pretend Plants, “more than 20 spools of blush, ivory, and peach double-faced satin ribbon.”
Taking a page from Mary-Kate Olsen’s book, cigarettes were provided for guests in silver cups. Event planner Chris Hessney of Hessney & Co. said there was an assortment of Marlboro Lights and American Spirits. The silver cups were sourced from India.
These — which are also made in India — are nearly indistinguishable.
These are also fairly similar-looking.
Régime des Fleurs founder Alia Raza told me Sevigny wore the “Little Flower” scent she made in collaboration with the brand in 2019. Its notes include: black tea, bleeding heart, black-currant bud, peony, palo-santo incense, pomelo, honeysuckle, and a precious Ottoman rose absolute.
The couple departed in what appears to be a 1980s Mercedes convertible, with cans of Modelo, Diet Coke, and LaCroix seltzer tied to the back. Cheers to the happy couple and their superb taste!
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