Marta Kostyuk recalls odyssey of Wilson-designed wedding dress at BNP Paribas Open

INDIAN WELLS, Calif.—Marta Kostyuk nearly went full Bridezilla last fall when the custom wedding dress she helped design with clothing sponsor Wilson arrived and didn’t fit.

“I had, like, two or three weeks until the wedding,” the Ukrainian recalled after reaching her first WTA 1000 semifinal at the BNP Paribas Open. “I was like, don't gain weight, don't gain weight, you had measurements when you were, like, certain shape.

“I received my dress by post, I think like 10 days or one week before my wedding, and it didn't fit me!”

Kostyuk had been laidback when it came to planning her November nuptials to fiancé Heorhii, ultimately settling on Cyprus when Tuscany proved too cold.

“Our wedding planner was like, ‘Wow, you are so easy to work with,’ and I was like, ‘Yeah, because in 10 years, I will hate everything I picked anyway!’” she joked earlier in the week.

The dress had initially come together seamlessly, with the former junior phenom tapping Wilson’s Design VP Joelle Michaeloff to create the ideal silhouette.

“We had a couple of calls, we had some ideas,” she recalled on Thursday. “First call was like, ‘I don't know what I want. You can do whatever you want. Give me ideas.’ Then we started: ‘Okay, this I like, this I don't like.’ And then…I had first fitting in Beijing, because the dress was made in a factory in China.”

But her efforts to maintain her measurements backfired, forcing Kostyuk to seek out emergency alterations.

“I was really scared. I was, like, ‘Okay, I have to do some changes.’ And, I mean, at the end it was great. Like, it was not much to do, but it was just still very stressful, because I was, like, ‘I don't know anyone in Monaco who can fix my dress, I don't even know where to go!’

“It was really an experience but it was really cool one and I'm very grateful they agreed to do this.”

Kostyuk has enjoyed a dream pairing with Wilson, becoming their first player to sign a head-to-toe deal in 2023. Formerly with Nike, the world No. 32 has gotten a degree of creative control over the sleek designs that Michaeloff, who previously worked with Lululemon and Urban Outfitters, oversees.

“Marta is amazing,” Michaeloff said of Kostyuk last year. “We’re super lucky that she wants to do this with us. And you’re now solving for an elite player, whose every detail can affect how she plays the game. “To have that responsibility is a big deal, because things just have to work. She can’t be thinking about her clothes.”

Now that Wilson has officially entered the wedding dress game, what else might they create for Kostyuk in 2024?