The Bride Wore A Vintage Baby Blue Dress To Marry At A Moroccan Villa Steeped In Fashion Lore
In the days leading up to her wedding, set to take place on a Moroccan rooftop at sunset in the unpredictable month of November, Constance Barnwell was praying not to the weather gods, but to Yves Saint Laurent. The venue was Villa Mabrouka in Tangier, once the coastal retreat of the legendary couturier and his partner Pierre Bergé, now a tiny jewel of a boutique hotel steeped in all the glamour of a bygone era. Perhaps its late owner was listening. “We were so bloody lucky,” says the bride, who is the co-creative director of Charlotte Tilbury. “It was not the prime time of year for Tangier, but we had this amazing crushed velvet purple sky.” As the couple exchanged vows, the bride’s brother sang “Into My Arms” – the house piano having been hoisted onto the roof for the occasion – and birds in murmuration swooped overhead.
If it sounds like a fantasy, Barnwell confesses that, not so very long ago, she might have struggled to imagine it herself. She recalls a bleak January morning in 2023 when, following a particularly dispiriting spell of Hinge dating (a “phantasmagorical journey of boggarts and trolls”, as she puts it), she rang a psychic. “He said, ‘You’re going to be engaged by the end of the year to someone called Tom, and he’s on the TV.’” A month later, Constance and Tom Cheshire – a Sky News correspondent – both swiped right. “When he popped up on my Hinge and I saw his name and his job, being the sort of person I am – your archetypal creative, probably – I was like, ‘Well, that’s him!’ We met and fell in love, and the rest is history.”
The couple had their first date in March, and that December Tom proposed during a Christmas Eve walk on a moody Isle of Wight. “It was not walking weather, it was like Wuthering Heights,” says the bride, who nonetheless had a sneaking suspicion the big moment might be imminent. “He was acting quite sheepish,” she says, laughing. “Plus, I had been doing some light hinting around how much I love Jessica McCormack jewellery…”
The couple first tied the knot in London at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace (scene of many a Cambridge family Christening), a “fabulously grand option” that arose via the groom’s father. “That was smaller – just family,” says Constance, who wore a custom dress and veil by The Own Studio with pink Saint Laurent shoes for the ceremony. But the plan was always to throw an unforgettable party for all of their friends, and given that Tom (who was previously Sky’s Asia correspondent) and Constance’s international guests would be travelling from as far afield as LA, Beijing, Pakistan and Utah, a destination wedding made sense.
And so, to Morocco, after Constance’s “Googling rampage” led her to Villa Mabrouka – now owned by the designer Jasper Conran, who is also behind L’Hotel in Marrakech – and Tangier, the louche port city whose irresistibly naughty reputation prompted Anthony Bourdain to christen it a “station of the cross for the bad boys of culture”. Needless to say, it lent itself perfectly to a three-day wedding bacchanal, kicking off with welcome drinks in the medina at Palais Akaaboune, and culminating in a Slim Aarons-esque pool party to stave off the hangover.
“Villa Mabrouka is just so beautiful, it’s beyond. Like stepping into a 1960s Norman Parkinson image,” the bride says. “There are amazing flowers draped all over the building, and it has this incredible kidney-shaped pool. Everywhere you look it’s like a beautifully curated vignette.” It made an ideal backdrop for Constance’s vintage-heavy bridal wardrobe, itself the result of a breathless Portobello spree with her stylist friend Fiona Rubie just a month before the wedding. “I was being too chilled about it, and then four weeks out I got this sudden surge of adrenaline and was like, ‘Oh my God, everyone’s coming, and I’ve got nothing to wear!’”
This time, a traditional gown wasn’t on the cards. “I know everyone says this, but I never fantasised about the big white dress,” says Constance, who did briefly flirt with a “huge” corseted white number at Lovers Lane Vintage, but ultimately decided against it. “It looked kind of amazing, but I’d have been totally immobile. A marshmallow in Tangier.”
In the end, Constance fell hard for a liquid silk Paco Rabanne gown from 2005, in a “Y2K Tamagotchi” shade of blue with a black diamanté trim. “I tried it on and immediately felt like myself,” says the bride, who added silver Celine shoes, a custom matching cape made by London designer Claire O’Connor, and a Juliet cap that amped up the romance without detracting from the beauty look. (“I’m co-creative director of Charlotte Tilbury, so obviously, smoky eye till I die.”)
The vintage Rabanne was the first of three looks for the big day, which Constance planned with creative input from Jasper Conran himself (the pair got along famously, so much so that the designer ultimately attended the wedding as a guest). “I found this incredible Dsquared2 dress at Lovers Lane, so I wafted around in that for a while after the ceremony,” says the bride, who styled it, rather fittingly, with a pair of Yves Saint Laurent Bianca Tribute heels. “And then for the party later I changed into a gold metallic number from Turner Vintage. It actually split late in the night and my bum was out on the dancefloor but… what are you gonna do? It’s the Tangier vibes.”
Looking back on it all now, Constance says that magical sunset on the rooftop will be a core memory – “all of our beautiful friends were in front of us, everyone had a martini, and my friend Lydia read from The Waves by Virginia Woolf” – along with some entirely unexpected details dreamed up by the “generous, brilliant and fabulous” Jasper. “He surprised us with a 1970s-themed marquee called ‘Club Constance’, which he had curated with lanterns and reupholstered sofas from the market. He even colour matched the wedding cake to my blue dress!”
At the pool party, she says, “everyone was… as everyone is the day after a wedding.” But the celebrations swiftly ramped up again when the Villa Mabrouka staff filed down to the terrace clad in their crisp white jackets, each holding a different jelly on a silver tray and dancing to Madonna’s “Get Into the Groove”. “The whole thing was so camp and amazing. We were just blown away.”
Nic Ford1/69“Getting ready for the London ceremony at The Twenty Two. My long-time colleague and friend Sofia Bermudez came out of make-up artistry retirement to create a ’90s tonal make-up look, whilst Thassio Leal created hair magic and Nilam Holmes was a skin prep wizard.”
Nic Ford2/69“My custom dress by The Own Studio. We flared the sleeves and cropped the jacket to give it a 1960s feel, and the veil was placed higher in the hair, Priscilla-style. The drama of the detachable train felt fitting for the majesty of the Chapel Royal.”
Nic Ford3/69“Nervously waiting to go in. My friend, stylist Fi Rubie wears 1997 Chanel and Miu Miu platforms. I’m in The Own Studio and Saint Laurent pale pink courts.”
Nic Ford4/69“Never too late for confetti… thanks to Tom’s mother, Kate Cheshire.”
Nic Ford5/69“Ready for the evening party at The Twenty Two. Tom wore a vintage Balmain dinner jacket stolen from his father, and I wore Alessandra Rich.”
Ana Marina Sanz6/69“On Villa Mabrouka’s magical rooftop.” Constance wears Agent Provocateur.
Ana Marina Sanz7/69“My best friend and acclaimed make-up artist Sofia Tilbury creating her signature supernudes ’90s make-up look on me. Smoky eyes till we die…”
Ana Marina Sanz8/69“The vows were heartfelt but also written last minute. Hairstylist Harry Payne tweaks hair, as Sofia calms the nerves and perfects her famous feline flick.”
Ana Marina Sanz9/69“Pep talks from Sofia, and lip liner renewal after champagne swigs. My 1930s couture Juliet bonnet was designed by Fi Rubie and myself, and custom created by Claire O’Connor.”
Ana Marina Sanz10/69“I wore an icy cornflower blue 2005 Paco Rabanne dress, with a couture Claire O’Connor silk cape. My vintage magic star brooch is from Sorrell Jewels, and my Tapestry bracelet and engagement rings are Jessica McCormack.”
Ana Marina Sanz11/69“Waiting to walk the aisle in the sun-dappled Yves Saint Laurent Suite – aptly named, as it was Yves and Pierre Bergé’s bedroom for 20 years.”
Ana Marina Sanz12/69“I wanted a dress that felt fresh, dream-like, and not too ‘wedding’. The 2000s Paco dress had a liquid-like, body-gilding quality that I loved, and the diaphanous icy-blue and silver Chantilly border lace veil felt like magic. My shoes are by Celine.”
Ana Marina Sanz13/69“A traditional band welcomed guests.”
Ana Marina Sanz14/69“The results of some excellent, neat ushering ahead of my entrance.”
Ana Marina Sanz15/69“My brother, actor Jona Barnwell, sang ‘Into my Arms’ by Nick Cave as I entered, accompanied by Victor Khadem, great friend and brilliant musician.”
Ana Marina Sanz16/69“The groom, nervous. He wore a made-to-measure suit by Fielding and Nicholson, a rose linen shirt from Hong Kong atelier The Anthology, Tom Ford loafers and a vintage ruby red cabochon heart-shaped YSL brooch from the ’80s, a gift from me. He’s standing in front of the custom arch, the work of Jasper Conran himself.”
Ana Marina Sanz17/69“Walking down the aisle with my father, Mark Barnwell.”
Ana Marina Sanz18/69“My best mate Mickey Down – co-creator of HBO’s Industry – performing a reading of Nick Laird’s ‘Epithalamium’, wearing an Issey Miyake suit and a Prada cap.
You’re beeswax and I’m birdshit. I’m mostly harmless. You’re irrational. If I’m iniquity then you’re theft. One of us is supercalifragilistic.”
Ana Marina Sanz19/69“LOLZ.”
Ana Marina Sanz20/69“Sundowners after the ceremony.”
Ana Marina Sanz21/69“A quick pose pre-dinner against Jasper Conran’s magical Villa Mabrouka.”
Ana Marina Sanz22/69“A ripple of blue against the bougainvillea. Every part of Mabrouka feels like a Norman Parkinson photo.”
Ana Marina Sanz23/69“Happiness.”
Ana Marina Sanz24/69“At the entrance to Jasper Conran’s Villa Mabrouka.”
Ana Marina Sanz25/69“A portal into a 1970s dream…”
Ana Marina Sanz26/69“Francesco G and Industry co-creator Konrad Kay in Todd Snyder, Chanel and Loro Piana.”
Ana Marina Sanz27/69“Jewel-toned beauties. Daisy Down in The Attico, writer Sara-Ella Ozbek in Tom Ford, Melissa Morris and Sophie Syder in Galvan, and El Delmonte in Reformation.”
Ana Marina Sanz28/69“Friends Leah Tilbury and Sophia Kelly in De La Vali as the sun sets.”
Ana Marina Sanz29/69“De La Vali founder and creative director Jana Sascha, wearing her own 1920s design.”
Ana Marina Sanz30/69“Dream couple, Bella Tilbury and Louis Lambilliotte.”
Ana Marina Sanz31/69“Daisy and Mickey Down against the Tangier skyline.”
Ana Marina Sanz32/69“Andie Jue and Mikey Rothkopf.”
Ana Marina Sanz33/69“Matt Morris in Prada and Lauren Keeley in olive-green Victoria Beckham.”
Ana Marina Sanz34/69“A shock of colour! Artist Petroc Sesti and Alex Pugh, both wearing Whitley London custom suits, and Antonia Woloshyn wearing a vintage pink suit from the ’70s.”
Ana Marina Sanz35/69“Andre Fonseca in David Catalan and Harriet Lyle in a Nensi Dojaka dress.”
Ana Marina Sanz36/69“Etiene Ekpo-Utip wearing a Loewe suit and Converse.”
Ana Marina Sanz37/69“Andie Jue in a tiered Zimmermann creation, and Mikey Rothkopf in a custom suit.”
Ana Marina Sanz38/69“A swirl of birds in a sun-crushed sky.”
Ana Marina Sanz39/69“Sara-Ella Ozbek and Sophie Syder.”
Ana Marina Sanz40/69“My make-up artist and best friend Sofia Tilbury wears 2000s Roberto Cavalli from Lovers Lane Vintage.”
Ana Marina Sanz41/69“My great friend and beauty boss Charlotte Tilbury. We’ve been working together to make make-up magic happen for 12 years and counting! Charlotte is wearing custom Versace.”
Ana Marina Sanz42/69“With Melissa Morris, Daisy Down, Sophie Syder and Sara-Ella Ozbek.”
Ana Marina Sanz43/69“With my mother, Jacki Barnwell, wearing a signature Ossie Clark Lamborghini satin trouser suit from 1969 and a Varon snakeskin clutch bag from the 1960s.”
Ana Marina Sanz44/69“It’s getting dark, time for another drink…”
Ana Marina Sanz45/69“A busman’s holiday for Justin Roberton, senior photojournalist for CNN International, who was fresh off the plane from Beijing.”
Ana Marina Sanz46/69“The speeches were such a beautiful moment. I thanked Charlotte for her wisdom in mine.”
Ana Marina Sanz47/69“Dream-maker Jasper Conran being charming as ever at the dinner, with film producer George Waud and interior designer Tobias Vernon.”
Ana Marina Sanz48/69“The best men, Charlie Chase-Gardener and Tim Hoare, unflustered by the mics failing, took to higher ground.”
Ana Marina Sanz49/69“Best friends, fashion journalist and influencer Chloe Street, and singer-songwriter Lydia Goedhuis, digging up the dirt in De La Vali and Galvan, respectively.”
Ana Marina Sanz50/69“First outfit change of the night. A 2006 Dsquared2 couture creation purchased from Lovers Lane.”
Ana Marina Sanz51/69“As seen from the back.”
Ana Marina Sanz52/69“Heading into Jasper Conran’s ‘Club Constance’, that he had designed especially for the wedding. Let the dancing begin!”
Ana Marina Sanz53/69“Jasper Conran designed the most beautiful, disco-dappled club for the wedding. The tent seemed to take off to another planet!”
Ana Marina Sanz54/69“Jasper’s dreamy pool, heated for swimming in when the party took off!”
Ana Marina Sanz55/69“Outfit number three… a 1930s Egyptian woven metal creation found at Turner Vintage. This was SO vintage it split in two on the dancefloor. Tom wears vintage YSL as an homage to Yves.”
Ana Marina Sanz56/69“DJ Pablo Saavedra de Decker kept everyone dancing all night long.”
Ana Marina Sanz57/69“En route for another martini.”
Ana Marina Sanz58/69“Jana Sascha on the dancefloor.”
Ana Marina Sanz59/69“Jana Sascha and Emily Butler.”
Ana Marina Sanz60/69“Fire eater. Yum.”
Ana Marina Sanz61/69“Camille Martin and Bella Tilbury. There was – understandably – a big Charlotte Tilbury contingent at the wedding!”
Ana Marina Sanz62/69“Harry Syder and Sara-Ella Ozbek striking a pose outside of Club Constance.”
Ana Marina Sanz63/69“Charlotte Tilbury owning the dancefloor – her happy place.”
Ana Marina Sanz64/69“Happiness.”
Ana Marina Sanz65/69“Sofia Tilbury wearing a Clio Peppiatt dress paired with a Dolce & Gabanna corset.”
Ana Marina Sanz66/69“A bird’s eye view of the party.”
Ana Marina Sanz67/69“A view over the pool party the next day, the Mediterranean and Europe beyond. A quick overnight set change by our hero, Mabrouka’s Meriem Barakat!”
Ana Marina Sanz68/69“Remarkable powers of recovery. The bloody Mary helped. I’m wearing a 2000s Cavalli dress and corset with brown suede Saint Laurent Bianca Tribute heels and a Lacroix necklace, found in Lovers Lane. Tom wears a Dries van Noten shirt and Lemaire trousers.”
Ana Marina Sanz69/69“The parade of Villa Mabrouka’s famous jellies. DJ Charlie Mostyn cranked up Madonna’s ‘Get Into the Groove’ as they descended!”
