Huma Abedin and Alex Soros Are Married! Inside the Final Fittings of Her Givenchy and Erdem Wedding Dresses

It is an unseasonably cool and overcast June day in New York City, but Huma Abedin’s disposition is sunny. Dressed in a gray and navy sweater and dark, straight-leg jeans, she arrives at a private townhouse in downtown Manhattan for the final fitting of her two custom wedding dresses: one by Erdem and one by Givenchy, designed by Erdem Moralıoğlu and Sarah Burton, respectively. “I’m really happy, just floating most days,” Abedin says of her mood ahead of marrying investor and Open Society Foundations chairman Alex Soros. Indeed, there are no less than a dozen people on the second floor of the home—seamstresses, assistants, photographer Carl Timpone, and tailor Bill Bull—and Abedin moves about the space with ease, soon disappearing into a back room. Her off-the-shoulder Givenchy gown, fashioned from ivory silk satin-backed crepe, hangs from a staircase and receives one final steam before its whisked back to Abedin. A few moments later, the bride-to-be reappears.

Abedin’s off-the-shoulder Givenchy dress features a delicate belt and a row of covered buttons along the back.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

“I can’t get over how light it is,” Abedin says, gliding across the room.

“It’s beautiful,” the roomful of onlookers replies. But as Abedin told Vogue days before the fitting, from the glass-walled Manhattan duplex she shares with Soros, none of this was foreseen when the couple decided to get married.

“We got engaged June 4, 2024, right downstairs by the dining table,” Abedin says. She wears a simple, A-line navy knit dress with white accents—“old Armani,” she says—and sits relaxed, legs crossed, in her second-story office atop a spiral staircase. “I was shocked, not by the fact that he proposed, but it was the timing that made no sense. It was a very hectic, very chaotic day, and I was leaving for a trip the next day. I went to get my hair colored in the morning [and] I dropped something on my foot, so I was wearing sneakers.” (The political strategist and former longtime aide to Hillary Clinton is a noted fan of heels and ballet flats.) “You know those days where everything is falling apart? And then he just proposed.”

Abedin said yes to Soros—and a stunning, emerald cut diamond ring flanked by a pair of slim baguettes. A few weeks later, the couple made their intention to wed Instagram official with a grid post shared while on vacation in Italy.

Abedin and Soros’s initials are discreetly incorporated into the olive branch embroidery on the bride’s Givenchy dress.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

At Abedin’s fitting, hairstylist Kelli Hoff sculpted the bride’s hair into a classic chignon, while makeup artist Kirin Bhatty created a classic beauty look.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

While Abedin and Soros intended to elope, that plan changed during an engagement party co-hosted by Clinton in December. “It was such a magnificent evening,” Abedin says. “It was very intimate—the nearest and dearest to us were there.” Unbeknown to her and Soros, their nearest and dearest had plans beyond toasting to the happy couple. “At the end of the evening, one of the people making a toast said, ‘We’ve all decided this notion that you both had about eloping is nonsense, and you have to have a wedding.’” Someone suggested June 14, 2025, and one by one, guests confirmed their availability.

Why the insistence on Abedin exchanging traditional “I dos” with Soros? “Because I think she deserves it,” Clinton tells Vogue over the phone. “She deserves to have that kind of moment. She has a huge group of friends and family and others who share her joy in this new chapter in her life, and I thought it would be a great way to begin their life together,” she adds of her not-so-subtle suggestion.

Sarah Button fashioned Abedin’s Givenchy gown from ivory silk satin-backed crepe.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

Shortly after the engagement party the couple decided they’d have two ceremonies in the Hamptons: a small one with family and close friends to sign the Nikah in honor of Abedin’s Muslim faith and the Ketubah in honor of Soros’s Jewish heritage, and a larger celebration the following day inclusive of a cocktail hour, dinner, and dancing. For the smaller gathering, “I’m wearing this ethereal, unbelievable Erdem dress,” Abedin says. She fell in love with the label about a decade ago while working in D.C. “I had to give a very, very stressful testimony on Capitol Hill, and I was very nervous about it,” she says. “I wanted to feel and look my best. I remember going into [a] store and finding the most extraordinary black dress with white floral on it. It was Erdem.”

At first, Abedin was a little overwhelmed by the task of deciding on her wedding looks—but she felt wholly at ease during her first appointment with Moralıoğlu, which was held in February at Erdem’s London atelier. “The minute I walked in, I just felt very relaxed,” Abedin recalls. “He had so much love, care and attention in the way he approached me.” Moralıoğlu, who also dressed Abedin for the 2024 Met Gala, presented Abedin with a series of sketches he had drawn based on references she shared during a previous conversation—among them Grace Kelly’s wedding dress.

The belt of Abedin’s Givenchy dress was adjusted to sit slightly higher on the silhouette.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

Despite initially planning to forego a veil, Abedin fell in love with a custom Givenchy shroud.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

“During the initial fitting, we explored different silhouettes to help define the shape and understand how she wanted to feel in the dress,” the designer says. Several Zoom meetings and a handful of custom swatch options later, they landed on a 1930s-esque long-sleeve silhouette, marked by a high neck and a delicate bow around the waist. “For the fabric, we selected a beautiful French Chantilly lace—crafted in a historic mill in Caudry, dating back to 1840—and mounted it on a smooth Italian silk crepe. We wanted the lace to feel light and delicate, capturing a sense of movement as she walks.” Hidden details imbue the gown with more sentimental touches. “The thing that made me gasp when I saw the dress is that [Moralıoğlu] embroidered my father’s name in Arabic, inside, right by my heart,” Abedin says. “My father passed away in 1993 and he was a very instrumental person in my life. I think about him every day.” Abedin and Soros’s initials are also embroidered inside the dress, in light blue thread on a delicate ribbon, as the bride’s something blue. “The entire process felt incredibly collaborative and seamless,” Moralıoğlu says, “[and] the dress is everything we had envisioned—graceful, classic, and quietly powerful. It is a joy to be a small part of Huma’s special day.”

On the same trip to London that saw Abedin visit the Erdem atelier, she had tea with Burton to discuss a dress for day two. “I knew I wanted a dress that my husband-to-be would look at and say, ‘She looks extraordinary,’” Abedin explains, describing the making of her custom Givenchy gown as an iterative process. “We started with something very much along the lines of an Audrey Hepburn-inspired classic Givenchy house look. We had a fitting in New York around the Met with a style that [was] very voluminous and dramatic.” Abedin, however, was after something a bit more refined. “My favorite part of that fitting was watching Sarah Burton with a pair of scissors; she literally cut fabric off of me and essentially constructed a new dress on my body, which was kind of insane.” The result still wasn’t quite right, though, so Burton started again—from scratch.

Abedin admires her Givenchy dress.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

“I started a back-and-forth exchange with Sarah over text about my family, what Alex was like, and what was important to me,” Abedin explains. Soon, a new dress materialized: a slim, sleek silhouette that fans out softly at the hem, the skirt embellished with a hand-stitched olive branch motif. “I often quote my father reminding us to always remember our roots, so the olive branches represent so much to me—of nature, of roots, and of the peace so desperately missing from our world,” Abedin says. The bride and groom’s first initials are seamlessly incorporated into the embroidery, and a row of covered buttons lines the back.

Abedin’s Givenchy veil was designed to match the olive branch embroidery on her dress.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

Still contemplating shoes and accessories in the weeks leading up to the wedding, Abedin turned to stylist Bailey Moon, who styled the looks for her 2021 book tour and has been on speed-dial ever since. “He solves everything,” Abedin says of Moon, whose bridal resume includes putting together a high-fashion trousseau for Naomi Biden’s 2022 White House nuptials.

“Huma has a great eye and a deep appreciation for fashion and craftsmanship,” Moon says. “We have always aligned on a shared love of timeless style through a modern lens.” To that end, the two decided on Camilla Dietz Bergeron pearl-and-diamond drop earrings and Aquazzura sandals to complete Abedin’s Erdem look. Victorian-era diamond earrings from Briony Raymond and satin Loeffler Randall sandals were selected to complement the Givenchy dress.

Abedin wearing her custom Erdem wedding dress.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

On the day of Abedin’s final fitting, slight adjustments are being made to each look. “Much better,” she says when the belt of the Givenchy gown is snipped off and raised ever so slightly; “The hem is going to be a little shorter,” Bull notes of the Erdem dress. Though Abedin planned to forgo a veil, “I put it on and it’s so beautiful,” she says of the silk tulle shroud the Givenchy atelier trimmed with the same leaf motif that embellishes her dress, “so I’m going to wear the veil.” Hairstylist Kelli Hoff offers a glimpse of what to expect during the wedding festivities, styling Abedin’s hair in a low ponytail, a chignon, and loose waves throughout the fitting. Makeup artist Kirin Bhatty, meanwhile, is creating a classic, understated beauty look, leaning on neutral hues.

A bouquet of bright, late season ranunculus.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

The interior of Abedin’s Erdem dress, which includes the couple’s initials on a bow inside the bodice.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

That Abedin’s bridal looks came together so smoothly is no surprise to those who know her well. “She has a real sense of style and she has an awareness of what she likes and what looks good on her,” Clinton says, her enthusiasm for the Abedin–Soros wedding palpable through the phone. “I’m looking forward to being a witness to their marriage; to the celebration that we all are going to be part of; to seeing so many longtime friends gathered in one place to really enjoy being part of Huma and Alex’s start of their married life. And I think we all could use some fun, so I’m looking forward to all of it.”

Abedin’s Erdem dress also features French Chantilly lace mounted on Italian silk crepe.

Photographed by Carl Timpone

Everything about Abedin’s wedding—from the Hamptons location to her two custom looks—is different to the low-key elopement she once envisioned, but “I’m so glad we’re doing it,” she says. “It all just feels exactly the way it should.”