In her Vogue June digital cover story, Lauren Sánchez Bezos was the picture of bridal perfection. A series of Vogue features showcased the creation of her Dolce & Gabbana wedding gown for her Venice wedding to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and highlighted her Dior and Schiaparelli pre-wedding looks, all offset by her multi-million-dollar diamond engagement ring.
The social media response to the Sánchez-Bezos wedding painted a different picture. TikTok users called her wedding looks “sinister” and likened the event to “Capitol City celebrating during the Hunger Games.” The backlash extended to the IRL realm, as well: Local activists from the “No Space for Bezos” group took to the streets of Venice to protest Bezos renting out much of the city of Venice for his wedding weekend, whose attendees included the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian and Edward Enninful.
The polarizing reactions to the wedding beg the question: Is dressing the woman marrying the fourth-richest man in the world worth the backlash that seems inevitable with any obscene displays of wealth? For the luxury brands involved, the answer seems to be yes.
“Controversy doesn’t necessarily diminish a luxury brand’s cachet. In some cases, it can even enhance it. For high-end labels, visibility is everything, and being part of a highly publicized cultural moment can help them stay top-of-mind with new and existing audiences,” said Eden Lipke, senior director of social strategy at creative agency Movers+Shakers. “While there may be short-term PR considerations, they’re unlikely to have a lasting impact on brand perception or performance.”
Indeed, many luxury brands have not shied away from associating with polarizing figures. LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault and his children Delphine and Alexandre attended Donald Trump’s January presidential inauguration. Oscar de La Renta has dressed second lady Usha Vance and Ivanka Trump throughout the second Trump administration. The brand also outfitted Sydney Sweeney in a pink gown for the Sánchez-Bezos wedding.
“I don’t think brands are thinking about backlash,” said Amy Odell, journalist and author of “Anna: The Biography.” “I think they’re thinking about trying to be more apolitical.”
While the court of public opinion can dictate the online discourse, those who drop hot takes on social media don’t necessarily represent the audience with the purchasing power to wear Dolce & Gabbana and Dior. True luxury consumers are a small group — and growing smaller. The top 2% of customers are responsible for more than 40% of luxury sales, and as the luxury sector continues to shrink in both sales and consumers, courting the elite may be essential to brands’ survival.
“Most people in the world are not the clients,” said Odell. “If you like Schiaparelli, are you going to stop buying it because of [Lauren Sánchez]? I just don’t think so.”
And a $50 million wedding attended by celebrities is one of the few events where brands’ extravagant pieces can be worn and — more importantly — seen by the public. According to data insights firm Launchmetrics, the Sánchez-Bezos wedding generated $222 million in media impact value, 60% more than the entire Fall/Winter 2025 New York Fashion Week.
i-D editor-in-chief Thom Bettridge shared skepticism toward the value of such engagement, however. “Lots of people seeing something does not equal ‘value’ for brands,” he wrote on Instagram. “Find me a single person on earth who has bought something because Lauren Sanchez wore it. Most people watched just to roast it.”
But public backlash hasn’t stopped the new Mrs. Bezos from embracing her place in the spotlight; she scrubbed her Instagram grid in the wake of the wedding, leaving only images of her Vogue-approved wedding gown.
Weddings to rich and powerful men have long since proved a useful conduit to the fashion elite — or at least to Anna Wintour approval. Melania Trump was featured on the February 2005 cover of Vogue wearing a Dior by John Galliano gown upon her marriage to Donald Trump. Kim Kardashian, reportedly denied entry to the Met Gala for years, was featured on the April 2014 Vogue cover ahead of her marriage to Kanye West.
While the groom also wore Dolce & Gabbana, Bezos’s looks remained a footnote in the wedding’s coverage both in Vogue and on social media. It’s the bride who is responsible for setting the tone and exciting the public, for better or for worse. Her bridal attire would imply that money can buy, if not public adoration, at least public attention.
