We all witnessed a social flipside when My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding aired for the first time on our televisions in February 2010. Representative of the stark contrast between the Gypsy and Traveller community way of life to that of modern Britain; we were transfixed by a terrifyingly aggressive form of passion better known as ‘grabbing’, and wedding dresses that outshone Katie Price’s Cinderella-inspired catastrophe for her wedding to Peter Andre in 2005.
It almost seems Gypsy and Traveller girls are born to marry: it’s the only day in their lives they constantly, subconsciously, plan for, with many considered ‘out of date’ past 18. And it was this very alarming fact that inspired Kate Moss – at 37, a very ‘out of date’ bride-to-be by Gypsy and Traveller standards – to marry beau, Jamie Hince. Talking to American Vogue, about My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding Kate said,
“They’re not allowed to do anything until they get married. So they all get married really young, at 16. You can’t believe the dresses.
“They’re like blinging butterflies times 10; they can’t move down the aisle! It’s so genius.
“I was just watching Jamie, so cute, and I was like, ‘These girls, they just spend their whole life waiting for that day — let’s do it!”
Thankfully she left the Gypsy wedding influence behind as she wore a dreamy creation by long-term friend and ‘creative rehab’ returner, John Galliano, for the big day. It’s safe to Kate is yet to befriend Thelma Madine – the woman behind the ostentatiously nauseating Gypsy wedding dresses. A day we all pray never comes.
