Here Comes the Bride...Part 3

I am so proud of this collection.  I wanted to make dresses that women feel special and beautiful in, and bring a smile to the face of people who see them.  I absolutely love these photos that Anastasia was able to take in between the crazy preparations and after the show was over.  She found this perfect gazebo that was the perfect wedding/Sound of Music scene (16 going on 17...anyone?)  I can't thank my team of models enough for being their lovely selves and giving life to these garments I put my heart into.  I hope you all had as much fun as I did!

Ashley Hanson, Sarah Sadovsky, Alaina Agnello, and Jennifer Marie

This dress was originally a thrifted wedding dress, that I restyled and hand-painted

RediChoi Shorter and Marie Muhammed

Heather Novak, Sarah Sadovsky, and Marie Muhammed

#BRIDESQUAD

Here Comes the Bride...Part 2

Showtime!  The dresses in this collection are all made from thrifted/vintage materials that I dyed, painted, and re-styled.  The show began with a dance choreographed and performed by Joori Jung, founder and artistic director of ARTLAB J, and Thomas McCarter.  This amazing duo set the dreamy romantic mood with a beautiful routine full of lifts and spins.  I made Joori's dress out of a pleated vintage dress, and covered it with tiny feathers and Swaroski crystals that caught every spotlight as she twirled.

Ballerina flower-girl Alaina charmed the audience and tossed flowers as she opened the show.  This awesome group of models were so much fun, they totally got on board with my wedding theme and adopted their roles of flower girls, bridesmaids, and brides.  Finale model Sarah Sadovsky told me that walking down the runway in the finale wedding dress was an emotional moment...she almost felt like she was walking down the aisle!  She totally pulled off the bouquet toss like a pro (congratulations to Madison Ortiz for the catch!)

Alaina Agnello 

Madison Ortiz

Jennifer Marie 

RediChoi Shorter

Ashley Hanson

Included in the model line-up was author Heather Novak.  I created a custom rehearsal dinner dress out of material from her mother's and both grandmother's wedding dresses (whole post on that to follow!), and was thrilled that she was willing to make her runway debut in my show. 

Heather Novak

Marie Muhammed

Sarah Sadovsky

all photography by Anastasia Cheatham

Here Comes The Bride...Part 1

Hello hello!

It's been awhile! Within the same weekend of the Showhouse closing this spring, I packed up everything from my old apartment and moved to a new house with my boyfriend.  Moving is the absolute worst, but worth it because I am in totally in love with the new place.

More on that soon, but I now am lucky enough to have now two lovely studio rooms to work in, major upgrade from using my entire first floor as a workspace!  I spent the summer creating this new collection of romantic wedding-inspired dresses.  These dresses are all about soft colors, flowers, sparkles, ruffles, pleats...can you feel the love?

I showed my new collection at the Detroit Design Festival's "Design Ball" on September 22nd in Eastern Market.  As usual, I'll be posting in sections; prep, show, and photoshoot.  This series shows my mom and I working furiously back stage dressing our gorgeous models, while makeup artist Taryn Scalise whips up beautiful bridal looks and hairstylist Kayla Hernandez creates intricate floral hairstyles.  It was a whirlwind as usual, but photographer Anastasia Cheatham caught photos of the action.

Photos of the show and photoshoot to come soon!