Bridesmaids Dresses, a study.

Photos by Joe Tanis

 I've watched 27 dresses, (it's actually really funny, don't judge me) and there were some amazing dresses in that movie, all of them terrible. I learned, that most of these dresses were bought for this movie! They were made ON PURPOSE to sell to the public, not just dreamed up by a costume designer challenged to make 27 terrible dresses!


We all know these dresses have a really bad rap. As a designer, I've given this a lot of thought, why are they so often unattractive? And when they are really great, why doesn't anyone say anything about it? You'd think it would be similar to seeing a unicorn. You want it to be true, cute dresses that could be worn again! And yet they get so little attention.


There is something about the "Bridesmaid Dress" that just has a specific look to it. I haven't figured out why that is.


In full disclosure, the only times I've been a bridesmaid, it's been for my siblings and I designed my own dress, (theirs too) so the only person I had to complain to about what I was wearing was myself (I'm a designer, it happens).


Pictured is the outfit I designed to be a "bridesmaid" or bridesmaid-like (it was a nontraditional wedding) for my brother's wedding. And remarkably, I have worn it again (not always together). I love this outfit. It's a corset with a circle skirt with pockets. It was really fun to wear. (It was also 103 degrees that day and really difficult to breathe in this corset.)

Now, I'm in the happy position to be inviting people to stand up for me, and I'm totally stumped! How to make something lovely, (nursing friendly) practical, flattering and affordable. Oh! and that hopefully that they can wear again. Okay, go!


Thoughts? I'm open to suggestions.

Christina's Fourth of July Wedding!

I'm not always invited to the weddings I design dresses for, in this case however, the Bride is a good friend of mine and Joe's (who took all these beautiful images!). For this wedding, not only were we invited, I was also invited to help her get ready. 

Their love story is really so touching. Christina and her now husband John, met in the 80's, back then, they were together for years and John actually proposed. However, she said no. They broke up, John moved away. Then 25 years later, they were back in touch, and he proposed AGAIN! and this time, she said YES!

Really it was such an honor to be present for a day that was so long in coming.

Anyway, since I was going to be there, we decided to put the final ironing off until the day of, so her cotton sateen dress would be as fresh as possible. Since the groom was still present when we arrived, I was ironing in her bathroom so he couldn't see the dress! (You know this is a nice New York apartment when there is room for an ironing board in the bathroom! Christina is an architect.)

And I was able to add the last finishing detail, a silk organza and haboti flower to the neckline/collar.

Here's her dress, a beautiful lilac cotton sateen with cotton voile sleeves, the collar and cuffs were silk organza.

The Bride! We choose cotton for this dress since they planned their fourth of July wedding in Central Park. It's always a challenge to be comfortable and look lovely when it's hot outside, but I think we found a great balance.

Jessica the hair and make-up stylist and I collaborated on fixing Christina's veil, sometimes the best thing for veils like this is to just work the tulle into the hair style and fix it with hair pins. For her veil, somehow I'd found vintage silk birdcage tulle the exact color of her dress. We decided to layer this lilac tulle on an ivory tulle and keep them together. It really created a great color. I love layering tulles, it reminds me of watercolors.

You can tell Christina trusted me, as I cut away the ends of the tulle while it was already fixed in her hair!

And here is the happy couple! before and after the wedding! It's true that when you're truly happy, it doesn't matter how hot it is outside! It also seems to be true, that when two people belong together, they will end up together... :) Don't they just look so lovely?! 

Then a few days later, they hosted a lovely reception. For this, we took some pieces she found and rebuilt them, they turned out so well. This outfit is almost like an old fashioned trousseau, now she has some great summer pieces to go out on the town with her new husband!

Here's to many years of much joy and love to come! Cheers Christina and John!

Archive, Jenn's Emmy Dress

I posted photos of Jenn in this dress when she originally wore it, but she was kindly willing to be photographed in it in the studio for my archives.

It was 2 years ago that I designed this dress for her trip to the Emmy's, but I still love this dress! And this color!
As always, Joe Tanis takes such beautiful images..... :)

Sara's Wedding Fascinator

Sara arriving for her wedding!

I just got this photo of Sara arriving for her wedding. I love this photo of her! Full of excitement and love (and maybe a little nervousness?). I also love that she choose a grey dress! For her fascinator, she made me a Pinterest page of things she liked and the main colors of her bouquet. 

Since she was wearing grey, I covered the headband with grey silk, then for the flowers, I worked with pale pale green, gold and ivory fabrics and some sweet white feathers. Sara lives in Texas, so we did the whole thing via email. I'm so flattered that she trusted me to work out the colors and proportion from so far away! It worked out well, yes? 

I couldn't be happier for Sara and her groom! And hopefully she'll be able to wear her fascinator again! 

her fascinator