Hannah Martin never had an exact vision of what her wedding dress would look like. “I always just wanted a really cool, personal dress,” she says. “I wouldn’t really imagine it would even be a quote-unquote wedding dress.”
When Hannah, who is the senior design editor at Architectural Digest, and Taylor Adams, senior staff editor at The New York Times, decided to get married after 11 years of dating, the two were more keen on a dinner with friends than a no-holds-barred extravaganza. At first, they deemed a wedding stressful and expensive. “But,” she concedes, “eventually you think, ‘How many times in your life do you get to bring your favorite people together and have a really great party?’” The two planned the wedding—an intimate ceremony at St. Peter’s Church in Midtown Manhattan, followed by dinner at their favorite Long Island City eatery, Tournesol—in just six months.
For Hannah, the celebration also provided an opportunity to wear a once-in-a-lifetime dress. Keen on something custom, she turned to the New York-based designer Zoe Gustavia Anna Whalen, a friend of friends. Hannah had attended Zoe’s runway show last year, where she was taken by her sculptural, historically influenced designs. “She’s never directly referencing a moment in history—it always stirs together in this way that I find really compelling,” Hannah says.
While Zoe rarely takes on bridal clients, Hannah’s vision fit perfectly with her practice. “It aligns so much with my general ethos of garments being these weighted, emotional objects,” Zoe tells Vogue. “So when it’s the right fit, being able to create that with such intention for somebody else is so beautiful.”
Hannah went to Zoe’s studio over the summer and the pair exchanged ideas. They decided to structure the dress based on a look from Zoe’s spring 2025 collection: a corseted bodice with a padded hip to create an ultra-feminine silhouette. (The original look was inspired by a vintage tutu and made from feed sacks.) “If you saw those dresses side by side, you probably wouldn’t even know that it’s the same, but that was the pattern that we worked from,” Hannah says. Her dress also featured a thigh-high slit—a surprising, sexier touch.
Zoe works primarily in reclaimed textiles, which also piqued Hannah’s interest. “She had collected some vintage wedding dresses that she was thinking of repurposing in this context,” Hannah says. But Hannah had her own archive of vintage textiles, which she began collecting in high school. So she asked the designer if she would be interested in using any of her own pieces for the dress.
Hannah gave Zoe two Edwardian petticoats she purchased from textile historian Sarah Jean Culbreth, a 19th century French chemise she found at Brimfield, a floor-length ivory eyelet dress she thrifted as a teenager, and her mother Gina’s wedding dress. “They were sitting in my closet, but I didn t really want to get rid of them,” Hannah says. “I gave her like five or six things. I thought that she would only end up using a couple of them, but she incorporated almost all of them,” she says.
Zoe was touched that Hannah entrusted her with such precious pieces—especially something as personal as her mom’s wedding dress. “It was really, really magical and beautiful, and also fun having that prompt to work with,” the designer says. “It was a great challenge. Even though it was composed of so many different elements, it had a real harmony in the final product.”
At the last minute, Hannah decided to add a veil. “Zoe pulled out this antique mesh textile that she thinks came from a window treatment. It was more of like an interior textile than a clothing textile,” she says. Zoe added an eyelet flourish at the base of the veil to anchor it to Hannah’s head. She finished off her look with deconstructed Prada pointy-toe shoes, and an Auto bag, which held her lint roller, sewing kit, and other various wedding day necessities.
As it turned out, the sewing kit came in handy. Zoe had cautioned that, due to the age of the antique textiles, Hannah’s dress was quite delicate. “Shortly before I was meant to walk down the aisle, I was walking up some steps and I stepped on the front panel of the fabric and my dress ripped,” she says. Luckily, an expert was on standby: Hannah’s dad, Roger.
“My dad is an artist and he’s very crafty,” she says. “He sprung into action and saved the day.” While a ripped dress might be many brides’ nightmare, Hannah notes that “it actually ended up being one of the sweetest moments.”
If anything, the small imperfection made the dress feel all the more meaningful: “I love when a garment has a handmade repair,” Hannah says. “I think it’s what I like about vintage textiles in general—they tell a story.”
