Almost four years after Brooklyn Beckham married Nicola Peltz, their wedding refuses to fade quietly into celebrity history.
Instead, it’s been pulled back into the spotlight not because of the Valentino couture or the Palm Beach setting, but because of a question that internet sleuths have raised since the blow-by-blow account of the Beckham family feud: what is appropriate wedding attire, really?
When Brooklyn took to Instagram Stories in January 2026 to speak openly about his estrangement from his parents, David and Victoria Beckham, the internet didn’t just listen, it scrutinised, went over every detail with a fine-tooth comb.
Among his most startling claims was that his mother “hijacked” his and Nicola’s first dance, describing the moment as humiliating and deeply uncomfortable.
Almost instantly, TikTok sleuths and fashion commentators rewound the tape, zooming in not just on behaviour, but on what Victoria wore.
@victoriabeckham My ultimate occasion dress! My exclusive Liquid Metallic Evening Gowns echo the glamour of ’40s Hollywood, but with the boldness of the ’70s club scene🪩✨ Shop shimmering silver and gold exclusively at VictoriaBeckham.com and at 36 Dover Street xx VB
♬ Level Up – Ciara
Because at weddings, clothing is never just clothing.
The dress that launched a thousand think pieces
Victoria, the former Spice Girl turned global fashion mogul, wore a silver metallic slip dress from her own label to her son’s 2022 wedding.
According to Vogue, the gown was inspired by “moonlight reflecting on the ocean”. featuring delicate French lace panels and a liquid, body-skimming silhouette.
Objectively? It was very Victoria; minimal, chic and expensive-looking. Subjectively? The internet is still undecided.
In the wake of Brooklyn’s claims, some media outlets retrospectively labelled the look “lingerie-like”, questioning whether it crossed an unspoken line, especially for the mother of the groom, not just a guest.
And that’s where this stops being just about the Beckhams and starts being about all of us.
WeddingTok vs real life
Spend five minutes on WeddingTok, and you’ll hear the same rules repeated like scripture: don’t wear white, don’t outshine the bride, don’t make it about you. But those rules are far from universal and often deeply cultural.
In many Nigerian and other African weddings, guests dress from head to toesequins, feathers, headpieces, drama, unlike in many Western weddings, where guests typically avoid outshining the bride.
In these African celebrations, no one worries about drawing attention away because the bride is untouchable. The atmosphere is communal, expressive, and maximalist.
Contrast that with more traditional Western weddings, where restraint is often prized, and attention is tightly choreographed, usually reflecting cultural expectations around formality and individual roles. Suddenly, a slip dress becomes a symbol not just of style, but of power, boundaries and hierarchy.
Fashion, family, and the emotional minefield of weddings
Brooklyn’s focus was on behaviour, not fabric. But fashion is emotional shorthand. What someone wears to a wedding, especially a parent, can quietly signal presence, dominance, or support.
Nicola Peltz Beckham previously addressed rumours of tension around her wedding dress, telling Variety that Victoria was unable to design it due to atelier limitations, a claim Brooklyn later disputed in his 2026 post.
Nicola ultimately wore a Valentino Haute Couture piece, having worked with Pierpaolo Piccioli for over a year.
Even here, fashion becomes layered: ambition, disappointment, expectations and perception.
So… was the dress “too much”?
Honestly, here’s the uncomfortable truth: there is no winning in wedding attire discourse.
Victoria isn’t just a guest; she’s a fashion icon, a multimillionaireand the groom’s mother. A reception dress will naturally differ from a ceremonial look.
And yet, weddings are one of the few spaces where even powerful women are expected to dim themselves.
What feels inappropriate to one culture feels normal, even celebratory, to another. What reads as “chic” to fashion insiders may feel “attention-grabbing” to outsiders. And when family dynamics are already fragile, everything becomes symbolic.
This isn’t just about a silver slip dress or an awkward dance. It’s about boundaries, about parents learning when to step back, and about how weddings magnify every unresolved family tension under fairy lights and floral arches.
The Beckham wedding moment resonates because it’s rare to see these dynamics so publicly dissected: fashion, parenting, power, and perception colliding in one very expensive room.
In the end, appropriate wedding attire isn’t just about colour palettes or hemlines. It’s about intention, awareness and knowing when a moment isn’t yours, no matter how iconic you are.
