Olivia Culpo and Christian McCaffrey celebrated what many say is the happiest day in a couple's life when they married June 29 in Rhode Island. But in the days and weeks since, the couple has been criticized online for Culpo's wedding dress, makeup and her comments to Vogue about her look. Now, Culpo is responding to the backlash.
Culpo and McCaffrey wed in a Watch Hill, Rhode Island, chapel. The couple, who got engaged in April 2023, announced their marriage in a joint Instagram post with Vogue, which featured a first look at Culpo's dress: a long-sleeved bright white gown with a full A-line skirt paired with a long veil that served as a train.
For her dress, Culpo told Vogue that she "didn’t want it to exude sex in any way, shape or form," adding that she wanted it to feel "complementing" rather than "overpowering."
Culpo later spoke to People and said she was “very surprised” at the backlash.
“I feel like I personally like to give people the benefit of the doubt. And unfortunately, I feel like the words I said were spun out of context to fit an agenda that I did not have,” she said in an interview shared July 25.
“I loved every part of my wedding because I love my husband and the people we got to celebrate that day with,” she told the outlet. “The choices that I made are because I wanted to feel like they’re choices I could be proud of in 50 years. And that’s it.”
The backlash continued when it came to her glam. She also wore simple makeup for a clean, sculpted face and peach lips. The magazine reported that she didn't wear mascara, lip liner or eyebrow makeup.
“I never felt more beautiful than when I was in my ceremony dress and under my veil — I really wanted the simplicity of each component to harmonize perfectly," Culpo previously Vogue of her look.
But some TikTok users described her comments as "pick me," which Urban Dictionary defines as behavior from someone who "seeks male validation by indirectly or directly insinuating that she is ‘not like the other girls.’”
"I'm gonna need Vogue to be astronomically for real right now, because we know Olivia Culpo has a lash lift," one TikTok user said July 2.
The TikToker, who uses the handle @jessweslie, also pointed out that the model appeared to have some sort of makeup on her lips.
"For Vogue to even point these things out just gave me such weird vibes, because obviously Olivia Culpo did something in order to not wear mascara, in order to not wear lip liner," the user said.
Culpo herself hopped into the comment section of @jessweslie's post, writing, "It was an interview….. they asked me what my makeup was……………………….."
While speaking to People, Culpo stressed the importance of staying "true to yourself" and your wants as a bride.
“Stick to the vision you have in your head and don’t worry about anything else,” she said. “No matter what you wear, no matter what your decisions are from your makeup to your hair, to the gown, you will look absolutely beautiful because it’s a beautiful day.”
Backlash against Olivia Culpo’s wedding dress
Another TikToker, Kennedy Bingham, posted a more than 5-minute video July 2 criticizing not just the "simple, elegant" dress, but the “bitter aftertaste” she had after reading the why behind Culpo's look.
"From Miss Universe to Miss Pick Me, Olivia Culpo is earning her crown," Bingham captioned the video.
Bingham accused Culpo of going "beyond just wanting something modest for herself and pushing this idea of what she thinks all brides should look like.”
Culpo told Vogue she wanted "something that felt as serious as that commitment" to wear for her wedding. She added that she thought of her then husband-to-be as well.
“When I think about Christian and what he loves and the moments that he thinks that I’m most beautiful, it’s absolutely in something like this: timeless, covered and elegant,” she said.
Bingham pushed back against Culpo's intention.
"First and foremost, you can get married in your underwear and be taking your marriage vows very seriously," she said.
She also criticized Culpo's comments about "coverage," saying the model "in her day-to-day life is not exactly a modest dresser.”
Lastly, Bingham criticized Culpo's decision to work with Dolce & Gabbana. The fashion house, who notably designed Kourtney Kardashian Barker's looks for her May 2022 wedding, has a history of controversies, from speaking out against members of the LGBTQ+ community being able to adopt to a 2018 ad featuring a Chinese woman that viewers said was full of racist stereotypes.
McCaffrey, as well as other social media users, jumped to his wife's defense in the comments.
The San Francisco 49ers running back said, "What an evil thing to post online. I hope you can find joy and peace in the world, the way my beautiful wife does."
In response, Bingham said, "So what’s evil is pointing out the potential internalized misogyny behind her reasoning, your (imo) patriarchal comment, and the racist/ homophobic/fatphobic history of the designers she worked with?"
Another user asked Bingham to use her platform to "uplift women."
"Olivia’s choice to dress modestly does not demean others who do not. in fact, olivia chose to express herself differently throughout the night. representing what i can imagine might be the varying intersections of her personality and style," they wrote.
Bingham responded, writing, "This is not an issue of people dressing modestly, I have posted multiple times about other brides who did dress modestly without pushing a narrative that modest is the only way to dress to take your marriage seriously."
