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When it comes to her style, photographer Anna-Alexia Basile has a clearly defined philosophy. “I think that whenever you’re getting dressed—whether it’s for going to the dentist, a dinner, or your wedding—so much of it for me has to do with complementing both my mind and my body,” she says. This outlook served as the foundation of her search to put together bridal ensembles to marry architect Matt Ininns at an intimate San Francisco City Hall wedding—and later, at a larger celebration in Sicily, which she grew up visiting with her family.
Just the day after getting engaged, Anna-Alexia’s intuition led her to a fringe Cult Gaia dress on The RealReal that she decided to wear for her City Hall wedding. “I just happened to be perusing, saw that dress, and thought it was so special,” she shares. “I remember when I tried it on, I thought, ‘Wow, this is really, really sexy for a wedding dress.’ My boobs are totally sticking out. It s 100 percent see-through under all of this fringe. I turned around and was like, ‘Perfect.’”
For her destination wedding, the photographer shopped exclusively at LOHO Bride in Los Angeles, having shot campaigns for the boutique and being close friends with its owner, Christy Baird. “It was the very first time I looked for anything, and Christy just happened to pull a Vivienne Westwood dress,” recalls Anna-Alexia. “The moment it was on my body, I realized that there was just something so special about Vivienne and the way that the dresses are constructed on that next level. The corsetry just kind of blew me out of the water. It made me feel like an even better version of myself, and just had this really perfect simplicity to it as well that just felt really significant.” While she didn’t end up wearing that design from the first day, Baird pulled a number of Vivienne Westwood pieces to try on her second visit and Anna-Alexia found her perfect ceremony gown by the designer.
Choosing the dresses was just the start for the San Francisco-based creative. She also knew she would have to accessorize from head to toe. “I feel like a huge part of my personality is hats, headwear, and headbands,” says Anna-Alexia. “Whether it’s Halloween or even just a normal party, I’ve always made really fun headpieces because dressing, to me, doesn’t feel like something that happens just below the neck. It really happens above the ears as well. So this whole time I was like, ‘What can I wear on my head that would feel really special to the place?’ I had kind of gone back and forth between maybe wearing a hat with a veil, but nothing felt special enough.”
The bride found her milliner match in designer Maryam Keyhani. “I have been a huge admirer of Maryam’s for a long time now. Not only am I obsessed with her art, but I’m so intrigued and in love with who she is as a person, a mother, and an artist,” says Anna-Alexia. “Her aesthetic is so intuitive and playful, and I like that she really leans into humor with her design. Even in my photography, I’m always creating these really colorful scenes that are rooted in movement and things that aren’t so serious and feel playful and often childlike, and that’s also very much how I see Maryam’s aesthetic as well.”
However, Anna-Alexia didn’t realize Keyhani designed for bridal until she came across behind-the-scenes images of a LOHO editorial shoot on Instagram Stories. “I would screen-record someone in the back, circle their head, and be like, ‘What is this?’ I ended up talking to Christy about it, and she was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m so glad that you sent this to me, because these pieces are so perfect for you.’” By chance, Maryam Keyhani had designed a custom piece for LOHO, which featured a cloud-like fabric headpiece with a surrealist hand adorned with a pearl. For an extra bridal touch, a shoulder-length tulle veil cascaded from the cloud. “It really, truly, immediately became clear that that was the piece,” says Anna-Alexia. “City Hall was always meant to feel elegant and fashion-forward, but also kind of weird and me. The veil added this really perfect, almost invisible volume around my head that was overstated while also being understated. The hand combined with the fringe dress just felt so perfect.”
The bride thought she might wear the headpiece again at her Sicilian wedding—until she found more bridal creations by the designer. “I ended up celebrating my bachelorette in Berlin, and of course, we had to make a stop at her really dreamy shop. I was in heaven,” says Anna-Alexia. “When I turned seven, my mom hired a woman to come to our house. All of my friends and I got to pick out dresses and cool hats, and she did our makeup. The party was literally just us socializing in these amazing outfits and choreographing dances. Being in Maryam’s shop really reminded me of that moment. There was old melodic Disney music playing that was so dreamy. [My friend] Nkechi and I were taking photos, having so much fun getting dressed up, and giggling the whole time.”
Anna-Alexia fell in love with an arched pearl-adorned headband with a cage blusher veil, as well as a voluminous pouf headpiece. She took photos to think further about making the purchases when she returned home. While Anna-Alexia says she typically makes fashion decisions in a vacuum, she looked to others’ opinions more for her wedding ensembles—and when someone told her the headpieces looked costume-y, Anna-Alexia admits she was bummed. “I had this moment where I wondered if my fashion sense was off around this and that I had this blind spot,” she shares. “Then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that all high fashion is inevitably costume-y to some extent and that’s actually who I am. I have no problem dressing over the top. I would always rather be overdressed than underdressed. It truly just made sense.”
Ultimately, she decided to wear the two pieces together along with a longer veil. “I was wearing three things on my head. I think that each piece on its own was really beautiful, but it was truly the sum of all parts that brought the vision to life,” the bride says of her wedding ceremony look. “I just remember my mom looking at all of these things getting put on top of my hair, and just being like, ‘Wow, this is the most you. Let’s see how much you can balance.’”
Of course, Anna-Alexia couldn’t let her head remain unadorned for the after-party. To complement a final Vivienne Westwood bridal mini—another score from The RealReal—the bride wore a delicate veil with feathers by La Pointe that cascaded from a rosette pinned to a bun atop her head. “It just kind of felt like the perfect thing to dance in because it had a lot of great movement and blew around in the breeze as we twirled,” says the bride. “There were all of these moments throughout the process that just really felt like things were meant to be—even the Maryam Keyhani pieces arrived the day that we left. It all just came together.”
