Seven years ago, writer and performance artist Ingvild Gillet and Rick Owens industrial designer Connor Hickey’s paths briefly crossed in London. “I clearly remember her delicate, fascinating words and wide-eyed stare,” says Connor.

A few years later, when Connor moved to Paris, the New Zealand-born designer reached back out to Ingvild. “It’d been such a brief and distant interaction, but out of all the people I’d met in my previous trips to Paris, Ingvild kept emerging in my mind,” he says. When the French-Norwegian writer invited him over to her home, Connor was surprised to find Ingvild in a white nightgown in a room filled with candlelight. “That first night Connor came over, it was how I would have welcomed anyone… then I fell in love,” she remembers. “On that night, I saw someone who celebrated life. I was in awe of his ideas, projects, sketches, designs—all that was yet to be built.”

Despite jumping into life as a couple, they weren’t sure at first if marriage was for them. “After four years together, I saw Ingvild as the love of my life and the person I’d like to share this world with, but it took some consideration to see the beauty in marriage,” admits Connor. “Eventually, we decided to, in the most legitimate means given to us, inscribe our love and this relationship we’d built.” Ingvild echoes that deciding on whether they should get married took time. “The engagement itself stretched into a kind of season, a year spent realizing what it truly means to dedicate one’s life to another. In a way, that quiet, demanding, extraordinary year meant far more to us than the wedding day,” she explains. The two officially considered themselves engaged in September 2024. Ingvild shares, “We were secretly thrilled to introduce each other as ‘fiancé.’”

The creative couple would spend almost a year planning their wedding, which they hosted on July 5, 2025. The celebration began in Paris with a ceremony at Église Saint Eustache, followed by a reception hosted at Ingvild’s parents’ home in Blaru. The groom describes the planning process, which they undertook themselves, as a lot of work, but notes that it brought them even closer to each other and their families. “My parents spent the whole year gardening and planting hundreds of cosmos at their countryside house,” says the bride.

Many creative partners also helped craft the celebration. The couple worked with Alix O’Byrne from Les Diners Perchés to help curate their tablescape, and even sourced tablecloths, silk for banners, customized serviettes, and bronze vases from Rick Owens and his team. One special project the couple took on was to create a custom scent for their wedding. “We created a perfume with Sophie Wismann of Lethe reminiscent of cathedral incense and, with the help of friends from New Zealand, poured 200 candles infused with this scent for each guest to bring home,” says Ingvild.

It was no surprise that Connor would wear Rick Owens to head down the aisle. The industrial designer wore a custom suit design, “taking from Rick’s old tailoring, with a few crops here and there,” notes the groom. “The shirt was slim-sleeved with a spear-point collar—a nod to Chester Cordite.” Rather than choose a white shirt design, Connor decided to have it as a “dinge color” based on a quote from Owens: “If you make the t‑shirt dirtier than your teeth, then your teeth look whiter. That is my little beauty tip.” He paired the top with jet black wool pants and a blazer, with tailoring help from Wil Barber.