A Godfather-Inspired Wedding Dress Is The Breakout Star Of ‘The Gentlemen’ Season 2

By Alison McGill

There is plenty of eye candy in the second season of The Gentlemen, the Guy Ritchie British gangster series now streaming on Netflix. Besides dreamy Theo James (he plays lead character Eddie Horniman, Duke of Halstead) and the sweeping English countryside, the fashion is one of the one of the most dazzling things about the series.

We fell hard in season one for the old money, aristocratic looks of Horniman family matriarch Lady Sabrina (Joley Fisher); and Eddie’s partner in crime, boss girl Susie Glass, who is the ultimate London cool girl. 

This series, we meet a new style star, Countess Isabella “Bella” Soranza de Parma played by Italian actress Benedetta Porcaroli. In fact, the character of Bella has the standout fashion moment of the season (spoiler alert!) when she marries duke-turned-drug lord Eddie in a big, beautiful Italian wedding set on the shores of Lake Maggiore in Verbiana in Northwest Italy.

The Gentlemen’s costume designer Loulou Bontemps says that Bella’s entire wedding aesthetic was inspired by Francis Ford Coppola’s 1972 masterpiece mafia movie, The Godfather. In an exclusive interview with Country & Town House, Bontemps talked about the process of dressing Bella the bride. “So, this was really my first big wedding dress fitting for a character, and I knew what I wanted,” Bontemps explains. “Guy [Ritchie] and I had many a chat, and we really wanted that Godfather vibe, that Italian mafioso vibe.”

Bontemps reports she initially thought Bella’s bridal look would be all lace, but as she got into the process of trying dresses on Porcaroli, the vision wasn’t working. “I thought she was going to be head to toe in lace—a huge lacey veil, lace up her neck. I had a beautiful Brigitte Bardot reference and some incredible dresses. I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s the look.’ But then when I put Benedetta in that dress, it just didn’t look right at all.”

After playing dress up in more than 20 wedding gowns, Bontemps landed on the perfect one for Bella: a floor-length, long-sleeve silk satin gown with a dramatic low backline and a minimalist silhouette by New York bridal designer Danielle Frankel. “We put that dress on— and it’s just a silk satin column, just hugging her figure and draping off in the most elegant, beautiful way, and the light just bounces off it in all the scenes,” Bontemps shared with the media brand.

To finish the look, there had to be an incredible statement veil. Bontemps worked with Los Angeles bridal designer Claire Pettibone to create a bespoke piece. Pettibone writes about the collaborative process with Bontemps on her website blog. “Classic Italian old-world romance was what she envisioned, and so we created a bespoke, cathedral length version of my Boho Veil, a romantic design of delicate embroidered tulle that frames the face with Guipure lace and trails into a dramatic, ethereal train.”

Bella’s wedding look puts her in the bridal style hall of fame alongside some other iconic television brides including Daphene Bridgerton and Carrie Bradshaw. It’s a beautiful pairing of romantic vintage and sleek modern elements which makes it especially memorable.