The Tamesis
Seven years ago, writer and performance artist Ingvild Gillet and Rick Owens industrial designer Connor Hickey met briefly in London. “I vividly remember her delicate, captivating words and wide-eyed gaze,” Connor said.
A few years later, when Connor moved to Paris, the New Zealand-born designer contacted Ingeveld again. “It was a brief and distant interaction, but of all the people I met on my previous trip to Paris, Ingeveld was always at the forefront of my mind,” he said. When the French-Norwegian writer invited him to her home, Connor was surprised to find Ingeveld in a white nightgown in a room filled with candlelight. “The first night Connor came over, that’s how I welcomed anyone…and I fell in love,” she recalled. “That night I saw a man celebrating life. I was in awe of his ideas, projects, sketches, designs – all of which had yet to be built.”
Despite starting life as a couple, they were initially unsure whether marriage was for them. “After four years together, I saw Ingwild as the love of my life and the person I wanted to share the world with, but it took some consideration to see the beauty of marriage,” Connor admitted. “Ultimately, we decided to honor our love and the relationship we built in the most legal way possible.” Ingveld also said it would take time to decide whether they should get married. “The engagement itself stretched into a season, a year where we realized what it meant to dedicate our lives to another person. In a way, that quiet, difficult, extraordinary year meant more to us than our wedding day,” she explains. The two were officially engaged in September 2024. Ingvild shared, “We are secretly excited to introduce each other as ‘fiancés.'”
The creative couple spent nearly a year planning their wedding, which took place on July 5, 2025. The celebrations took place at the Saint-Eustache Church in Paris, followed by a reception at Ingeveld’s parents’ home in Braroux. The groom said the planning process, which they took on themselves, was a huge undertaking, but noted that it brought them closer to each other and their family. “My parents spent an entire year gardening, growing hundreds of cosmos at their country house,” says the bride.
A number of creative partners also helped plan the festivities. The couple worked with Alix O’Byrne of Les Diners Perchés to help plan their table settings, and even sourced tablecloths, silk banners, custom napkins and bronze vases from Rick Owens and his team. One special project the couple took on was a custom fragrance for their wedding. “Together with Sophie Wismann of Lethe, we created a fragrance reminiscent of cathedral incense and, with the help of friends in New Zealand, poured 200 candles infused with the scent to take home for each guest,” says Ingvild.
It’s no surprise that Connor wore Rick Owens on the red carpet. The industrial designer wore a custom suit design that “borrowed from Rick’s old tailoring, with a few cuts here and there,” the groom noted. “The shirt is slim sleeves and has a spear-point collar—a nod to Chester Cordite.” Instead of opting for a white shirt design, Connor decided to make it a “dening color,” quoting Owens: “If you make your T-shirt dirtier than your teeth, your teeth look whiter. That’s my beauty secret.” With tailoring help from Wil Barber, he paired the top with jet black wool pants and a blazer.
