Vera Wang

Nope, you don't have to live in Montana to have a Big Sky celebration the likes of any of these images. Any country setting will do. When I lived in upstate New York, bluegrass was a big attraction and here in California there are plenty of ranch lands to kick up your heels and wing ding it country style.

Anna Maier/Ulla-Maija

Claire Pettibone
Below left: Edgardo Bonilla

Right: Junko Yoshioka

Being a highly visual person these inspirations really put me in a spring mood.  So many shades of purple and cream in food, fashion and plants . .  Thanks Naomi Goodman of Enchanted Dream Weddings and Affairs for putting this board together . . .You'll find more chic like this on her blog.

An elegant silhouette in casual fabric: Sabrina neck white linen dress . . . a great look for the bride who is more at

 Looking for a new way to go green on your wedding day?  I found these gems by Love June on Etsy.  Love June is known for long, slim silhouettes in beautifully draped crepes and chameauses.  They also use every inch of fabric via a no waste production system for every garment made so, as they put it, "none of that pretty material ends up in the garbage!"
All gowns and garments are made to order. which means you get a brand new cut not the sample.  You can also customize.  Their  lead time at present is about is 3-4 weeks for single dresses, 4-6 weeks for multiple dress orders.

You can make quite a statement by adding  real ivy and flowers to your gown and headpiece.  Here we've woven in real and silk combinations.  Below Hana is wearing the Magnolia wreath of silk florals mixed in with sprigs of real ivy.  The neckline of her gown is framed in variegated ivy as smaller pieces are dappled all over the tulle skirt.

ring 917-239-2615

Every so often I find one of my brides featured on SMP Style Circle's Inspiration boards.  The dress on the lower right with the red and purple slip underneath was Donna's unique touch to my APRIL dress from the 2009 Dioresque Collection.  Don'tcha just love her Vivienne Westwood shoes?  We have Mfrezza over at SMP Style Circle  to thank for this swell board gone Rockabilly chic . . .

Enjoy this spot on blending of the rustic and elegant touches . . . a cake wrapped in a diamond brooch, a bouquet of just picked cotton . . .a tattered dress of the most exquisite silk . . .Thank you to Tuyet over at SMP Style Circle for this beautifully juxtaposed inspiration.

Once upon a time in the 1950s, this is what the cover of  Bride's looked like.  Okay so not all Eisenhower-era brides looked like cake toppers. True, we may not have ODed on so many bridal magazines back then but there's no lack of originality here as this bride has shucked her veil for a pleated organza hat echoing the pleating on her magnificent dress. . . . . 

In the 50's you still went to the department store to get your gown (and everything else).  Salons were inside department stores and every big one like Lord and Taylor or Macy's had one.  BTW: There were no real  'big name' designers in bridal back then save Priscilla Kidder in Boston and a few other manufacturers, only store labels.  If you were a designer, the store hired you to do custom work or you manufactured for the store or store(s).  How times have changed.

Exploring more crocheted laces, check these out.  Reminiscent of the 1970s era, a crocheted star accented with a diamond gives the headpiece below a bit of jaunt!   

Below: Undeniably bohemian, Tracy Reese's floor-length crocheted lace design is dotted with globe buttons and encircled by grosgrain at the waist; a keyhole nape makes for dramatic exits—simply tuck a wildflower behind your ear for maximum effect.

 

We talked a few days back about bridal fashion of the  seventies era.  While the world was exploding politically and socially, bridal fashion stayed pretty much restricted and traditional.  One exception was Tricia Nixon.  In June of 1971 when she walked down the aisle of The Rose Garden on her father's arm, little did the world realize just how she'd revolutionize bridal fashion. Though traditionally turned out in a gown dappled in Alencon lace, Tricia donned bare arms on her wedding day, something not done at ultra-formal weddings back then. Though she did have on a pair of lace gauntlets to replace gloves, the press dubbed her Priscilla of Boston look, 'capped sleeved'. Priscilla, the Grand Dame of bridal design circa 1940s-80s outfitted a couple presidential daughters--Tricia's sister Julie as well as Lucy Baines Johnson. While the 1950s-60s ushered in a era when even top designers were using the new and improved synthetics in their collections, Priscilla of Boston stayed with the delicate English silk nettings and imported laces that were the trademark of the Boston  bridal house's look.
As beautiful as the gown was though, Priscilla of Boston never duplicated it and even, in an era of social unrest and experimentation, the conventional bridal market wouldn't embrace bare arms til nearly a decade later. Personally, I think the design itself is a tour de force of fine elegance and truly timeless. With a change of accessories, this gown could be worn today and not look one bit dated. . . .

 

 

 Princess Anne has always been something of a paradox to the fashion press.  These images bring back memories of the day Anne's engagement to marry Captain Mark Phillips was announced.  When her pictures hit Vogue in 1973, we no longer thought of her as the lopsided looking daughter of Elizabeth and Phillip but a woman of unusual beauty way ahead of her time. Albiet her  wedding dress by Margaret Baker was the standard and ho-hum by today's standards but on video at her Westminster Abby Wedding, the satin moves beautifully and the detail is magnificent. Above is the engagement photo with fiance Captain Mark Phillips.  Check out the dress by Zandra Rhodes in embossed organza . . . the real breakthrough in the peasant-look and to me, timeless.   The portrait right is circa early 70s with a headband I know any one of us would wear today.

A little spring preview thanks Naomi Goodman who made up this yummy board so sweet we can taste it.  An inspiring wedding and event planner, her blog, Enchanted Dream Weddings and Affairs is where you'll find more great inspiration . . .

Take a look at some of these stunning mauvey and golden images put together by Sarah over at SMP Style Circle.  Any chance to turn you on and tune you into her Green Dandelion Blog makes me very happy.  I'd call it a hub for some of the best posts on flowers and environmentally friendly wedding and event design.  She also has an eye for the best that's out there beyond the bouquet . . .

The BEATRIX dress is a 2011 addition to the Dioresque Collection.  With a bodice of embroidered organza, the full underskirt and five layers of tulle skirt are cut on the bias with the top layer gathered.   The waist is cinched by a silk satin ribbon belt accented by a row of white silk hydrangeas.   This dress goes great with the TRILBY fascinator out of embroidered organza and Venise lace.  Available through Amy-Jo Tatum Bridal

 

 Silk dupion sheath with a gauze sash and hand rolled floral has both a past as well as contemporary feeling to it.

 Here are some of the most memorable and extravagant gowns to hit the runways in the last ten years.  Created by top designers the world over, some really flash.  Above is a gown by Lebanese designer Toni Yaacoub. 

Never was there a decade more in sync with cinema than the 1930s.   Hollywood designers and the actresses who wore their creations influenced the way we look at weddings and fashion today.  What could be more 1930s than Robert Kalloch's creation above for Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night? The body-hugging bias cut was still a new, even radical concept in 1934, especially for a wedding gown. During this golden era, it was not Paris anymore as much as Hollywood that decreed fashion. This simple satin gown with florals surrounding the neckline could be found today in a few designer collections. The look has become timeless. Attached to the cap head piece you'll see miles of chiffon netting, a light and airy fabric the designer chose because in this story, Colbert needs to become the runaway bride once she decides Clark Gable is the one. As she runs, the veil, long as it is, lifts and floats beautifully off the ground to produce a kind of 'bride in flight' look.

When Hollywood designers are mentioned two stand head and shoulders above all others: Adrian and Edith Head. Head of course had flair and that remarkable staying power. In a highly competitive arena, she outlasted just about every designer for two generations in Hollywood(or was it 3?). Then there was Gilbert Adrian, head of costume at MGM from 1928-1942 in a time that would mark his fourteen-year reign one of the most innovative in Hollywood. His inventive, often shocking designs are still state-of-the art today and evoke glamour always. He dressed Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford and Norma Shearer and was instrumental in helping make them beautiful for the camera, so they would eventually go on to become icons.  Seventh Avenue had particular interest in Joan Crawford’s screen wardrobe and the MGM publicity machine made sure pieces from her 'movie wardrobe' were in stores in time for the release of her pictures. Adrian’s famous Letty Lynton dress you see here in white organdy is an example; Macy’s in New York sold half a million copies of it (not bad for 1933 when most of the world was feeling hard hit by economic depression).

Fred and Ginger were the icons of romance during the Golden Age of Hollywood. If you've checked out most of the top designer bridal collections the past couple years, the Astaire-Rogersesque glamour is still allover the radar screen. Ginger's gowns were legendary yet no one designer was synonymous with creating her costumes at RKO. The famous Feather Dress above by designer Bernard Newman hails from Top Hat 1935. She was also dressed by Irene Sharaff,and Walter Plunkett.

Kate hepburn's roles had her wearing sportswear out on the golf course while her at home and evening- chic were the ultra-fem confections of Hollywood designers like Adrian and Howard Greer.  Hepburn's wardrobe in Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story did  indeed inpire some delectable bridal wear.

Vintage patterns are tres chic right now.  If you're intrigued with past patterns and plan on finding a designer/seamstress who can whip up your creation, here are a few things you should know. Unlike today's patterns that include many sizes in one package, those from yesteryear are a one size only deal.  Not only are silhouettes reminiscent of an era, did you know overall cut, types of darts and dart lines are as well?  With all the changes in machinery over the last thirty plus years as well as hemming products, range of notions available and faster techniques, whoever is making your dress will have to know how to adapt instructions provided by the original pattern.

Want to do a Gatsby or roaring twenties theme?  The 1920s was about women's freedom and it played itself out most dramatically in fashion.  It was one of the first times in history the female body was comfortable.  Typically wedding dresses were short with loads of lace and  a graduated hemline forming a train in back.  Most headpieces were cloche-like and worn low on the forehead.  The above pattern is for an informal affair . . .

 True bias cut, body-hugging, gowns made their way into bridal wear in lightweight satins and crepes.  Hollywood had a great influence on fashion during this time and many brides to be looked to the cinema for inspiration.  This is also the era Brides magazine premiered its first issues, not only featuring gowns and veils but ideas for trousseau and setting up home as well.

The early sixties of Audrey Hepburn and Jackie Kennedy's influence on fashion was radically different from the Mod swinging late sixties.  The styles on the above right pattern envelope show a Mary-Jane and lace child-bride look so prevalent in fashion by the youthquake years . . .

Though this was an era of funky fashion we were still stuck with the cookie-cutter bridal image like the one above.  Nina Ricci did great with this bride's boho veil and headpiece though and the lines of the dress are flattering.  What we lacked then that we have now is brides brave enough to step outside the box and do something really earthshaking . . .

Yuck!  Okay so I shouldn't be so judgmental especially since this is the era I began designing in, that of pouf and paste, millions of glued on sequins and overdone puffy veils.  And the ones in the images above are the tamer versions done by Vogue.  You shoulda seen the schlock out on the racks back then.  The result was, most brides looked consumed under all the layers of frippery . . .But . . . this was the look 

If you're imaginative, you know you don't necessarily need a pattern that says, bridal on it or have a dress pictured in white. Any design or color shown can be created as a wedding dress.

A last word here.   I don't believe in the theory bodies change from era to era but I believe foundations do.  In the twenties women wore binders to flatten their boobs into chests; in the fifties rubberized armor-like girdles and long-lined bras to achieve a Dioresque ideal.  Studying the underwear of the decade you're going for could be very helpful

 Looking for something to cover up in?  BHLDN had its launch earlier this month and what a premiere it was.  The gowns are all over the web but have you seen the shrugs, wraps and boleros?  You have to admit, these are certainly original and not something you can find just anywhere.  Can't say enough about this company and the marketing genius here . . . .