The Dress by Jing Liu

the Dress

era Ellen Wang is a native of New York City. Her parents were first generation Chinese immigrants. As a child, Wang was a Figure Skater. She competed at the 1968 U.S. Figure Skating Championships. When she failed to make the U.S. Olympic team, Wang turned her focus to fashion design. She attended the University of Paris, and earned her art history degree from Sarah Lawrence College. By 1970, she was a senior fashion editor for Vouge Magazine.

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era Wang has been categorized as one of the most successful wedding gown designers of our time. Her name is recognized by young women and girls around the world. As an icon in the design world, she sets a high standard for the fashion industry as a whole. Her designs are inspired by the glamour of old Hollywood. She describes her design style as “Romantic, Classic, and Whimsical fashion.” In her designs, Wang uses an array of specialty fabrics and laces composed in unique yet elegant designs. She also has been known to use soft color and embellishments to create an ethereal, feminine look. The bride that has always dreamed of wearing a “Vera Wang Gown” has the tastes of royalty, but with her ever expanding empire, today those gowns are more within her reach than ever.

n 1990 Vera Wang introduced her first bridal collection. In the same year she opened

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her first Bridal Salon on Madison Avenue in New York City. By 1997 The first “Vera Wang Bride: Barbie Doll” was released. By 1999, Vera Wang was designing for celebrities, most notably at the time, Victoria Beckham. By 2001, Wang published her first book entitled: “Vera Wang on Weddings”, and the very next year, launched her “Ready-ToWear” collection. In 2005 she won the CFDA Award for Women’s Wear Designer of the Year. By 2008, her second Barbie Doll debuted, entitled “The Romanticist Barbie, featuring a extravagant mermaid style gown. Other famous women who have sported Vera Wang bridal gowns include Ivanka Trump, Alyssa Milano, Chelsea Clinton, Alicia Keys, Lily Aldridge, and many others. She has since opened two more shops, and debut another Designer Barbie Doll. In 2011 She launched “White By Vera Wang” with David’s Bridal, which allows the general public access to her extraordinary designs.

scar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican American fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo; he became internationally known in the 1960s as one of the couturiers who dressed Jacqueline Kennedy. An award-winning designer, he worked for Lanvin and Balmain; his eponymous fashion house continues to dress leading figures, from film stars to royalty. Oscar de la Renta is one of the world’s pre-eminent fashion designers. Expanding the collection to include bridal in 2006, Oscar de la Renta wedding dresses are created for “a woman who has a very strong sense of her femininity.” His wedding gowns can be dramatic, whimsical or glamorous, but are always fashion forward and sophisticated.

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“

In the same manner that she fell in love with that man, I hope she’s going to fall in love with that dress,” Oscar de la Renta told Vogue during a fitting with Kate Bosworth for her 2013 wedding to Michael Polish.

hat’s what de la Renta did for brides -- he made them fall in love all over again. The Dominican-born designer died on Monday at the age of 82, leaving an indelible mark on bridal wear. De la Renta designed wedding gowns with the same sense of glamour and sophistication that he brought with him throughout his career, from his early days alongside couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga to his tenure as the head of his eponymous ready-to-wear line. For de la Renta, experimentations in bridal design were subtle and always tasteful. A touch of color here; an unexpected hemline there.

p until his final bridal collection, which was shown to a select group of industry insiders last week, de la Renta was considered “the man of the hour” in a design realm where elegance trumps all. He was the designer for brides looking for the wedding gown of their fantasies, including Jenna Bush Hager, Katherine Heigl, Huma Abedin and, most recently, Amal Clooney, for whom he created a lace and tulle off-the-shoulder confection with a train that was almost too heavy for her flower girl to carry. (As shown on the next page)

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Amal Alamuddin dazzles in Oscar de la Renta wedding gown

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onique Lhuillier grew up in Cebu City, Philippines before moving to Los Angeles to study at The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. While planning her wedding to husband Tom Bugee in 1996, she was surprised at the wedding dress selection she found, and started her first collection the same year. She opened her first brick and mortar store in Los Angeles in 2001, and by 2004 was garnering attention for the wedding dress she designed for Britney Spear’s wedding to Kevin Federline. Monique Lhuillier’s flagship wedding dress store opened on Melrose Place in 2007, and the designer added a New York City store in 2012. Since then, she has expanded her collections to include not only wedding dresses

but ready-to-wear, evening gowns, bridesmaid dresses, and even linens. The designer has dressed red-carpet celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Lopez, and Taylor Swift. Monique Lhuillier has quickly risen to the top of a relatively short list of amazing wedding dress designers. Her designs are classic and feminine, and are fashion-forward and elegant enough to please you AND your mom. My favorite Monique Lhuillier wedding dresses are the ones where she goes a bit outside the box. My favorite collection of late would have to be the wedding dresses from her Spring Summer 2014 collection. I love the capelets and overskirts she’s been using, as well as the lace details that have been showing up in every collection since.

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orn in Italy and raised in Argentina, Ines trained in the finest European fashion design schools. Ines Di Santo wedding dress styles reflect her Italian, French and Spanish heritage and her devotion to representing the romantic and feminine form. Ines Di Santo continues to bring exclusive Haute Couture gown design with a creative flair to the marketplace. Ines Di Santo wedding dresses use fabrics that reflect her obsession with the romantic. Ines strives for the ultra extravagant, combining the finest of English and French tulle, Italian silks and elegant antique laces. She has been referred to as a leader, taking risks and cre-

ating bridal gown styles that are fashion forward, classic, unique and distinguished. Come see all of Ines Di Santo’s wedding dresses in New York City. Ines Di Santo’s Haute Couture bridal designs are breathtakingly innovative, luxurious with contemporary style. Ines Di Santo’s creations portray a variety of looks and styles, catering to even the most distinct and individual bride and personality. When asked to describe what women should look for in a bridal gown, Ines responds: ‘A wedding gown is an expression of the bride’s personality. Her dress should complement her figure, her mannerisms and mirror her personal style and aura.

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ANGEL SANCHEZ Á

ngel Sánchez (Valera, 1957) is a Venezuelan fashion designer. Sanchez's designs reflect his architectural discipline and structure while creating new shapes and proportions that hold true to the timeless perfection of traditional couture. His designs are architectural, contemporary, and feminine; which always include a touch of drama. Angel Sanchez began his career as a designer in the early 90’s in Caracas, Venezuela. While his first love was architecture, his mother’s work as a designer inspired him to go into fashion himself. Having an architectural background provided Sanchez with a sense of structure and form that can be easily spotted in his collections. He pays special attention to cut, fit and proportion which is why his creations fit the women who wear them better than a glove. He presented his collection at Bryant Park in 1997. His exquisite taste

is what led his fashion house to rise so quickly in Latin America and eventually led him to expand internationally, when he opened the company’s headquarters in New York City. oday, Angel Sanchez is a proud member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA.) His celebrity clientele includes everyone from Taylor Swift, to Eva Longoria to Sandra Bullock who had her wedding gown designed by Sanchez. Although Sanchez has been based in New York since 1997, he has remained loyal to his Latin-American roots throughout his career. This is why he has been working as a judge for Project-Runway Mexico since 2010. He also presents his collections at Mercedes-Benz. Angel Sanchez founded his eponymous eveningwear label in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1987, after working as an architect for two years. He moved his corporate headquarters to

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New York in 1997 and launched a popular bridal collection in 1999. The label is known for architectural, contemporary silhouettes and monochromatic, brightly colored cocktail dresses and evening gowns. Sanchez launched a collection of lower-priced cocktail dresses and separates in the U.S. in spring 2009 called Angel by Angel Sanchez. Fashion Week Mexico. Angel Sanchez founded his eponymous eveningwear label in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1987, after working as an architect for two years. He moved his corporate headquarters to New York in 1997 and launched a popular bridal collection in 1999. The label is known for architectural, contemporary silhouettes and monochromatic, brightly colored cocktail dresses and evening gowns. Sanchez launched a collection of lower-priced cocktail dresses and separates in the U.S. in spring 2009 called Angel by Angel Sanchez.

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Carolina Herrera is a fashion designer with Venezuelan and American citizen-ships.Her stylish designs are notable because of its lack of fuss. She has been known to dress First Ladies all the way from the time of Jacqueline Kennedy to Michelle Obama. Herrera got her training from her grandmother who exposed her to the world of fashion design by taking her to shows and buying her clothes from Balenciaga, Lanvin and Christian Dior.

She has been the recipient of several awards, including a gold medal from the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, gold medal for Merit in the Fine Arts from Spain, New York Award of Excellence, Designer of the Year from Womenswear and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Known for her traditional designs, she has recently added color to her wedding gowns, particularly pink and gray hints.

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ome of the hallmarks of Herrera's clothing found their way into the more mainstream fashions of the 1980s. She was one of the first to use padded shoulders, believing that broader shoulders made a woman's waist appear smaller, and she loved elaborate sleeves as well. When she began designing in the early 1980s, Herrera told National Review interviewers John O. Sullivan and John Simon, "the whole fashion world was going mad on layer after layer of very loose skirts and free blousesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and no shapes. I came out with a collection that was all fitted." Her big sleeves were novel for the day, and Herrera recalled that "Everyone asked me: 'Why big sleeves?' I replied: 'Well, they are not that new. They have been a fashion feature from Elizabethan times, or even the Middle Ages, up to the Gibson Girls.' All I did was to adapt them to modern times. They were successful because women liked these big sleeves framing their faces."

Herrera's company enjoyed even stronger sales after she designed the wedding dress for Caroline Kennedy in 1986. It made her a household name overnight across North America, and the ultra-feminine gown was quickly copied. Soon Herrera's business expanded to include not just her "pret-a-porte" or designer line and the made-to-order items for women like Onassis, but bridal wear and a lower-priced line named CH. In 1988 she launched a fragrance line with an eponymous, jasmine-heavy scent based on the memory of a jasmine bush that bloomed outside her bedroom in Caracas when she was a teenager. Lucrative licensing agreements for accessories, costume jewelry, and eyewear boosted the fortunes of her company even further. By 1990, after a decade in business, its wholesale figures reached $20 million. She celebrated by opening a new, luxurious showroom on Seventh Avenue.

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ronovias is a fashion company that used to be led by Manuel Mota, who passed away on 8 January 2013 in Barcelona. The company is known to have created dresses for supermodels like Miranda Kerr, Bar Refaeli and Doutzen Kroes, including the wedding dress of the latter in 2010. Wide and cascading trains complemented by subtly tucked pockets characterize its wedding dresses usually.

or over 50 years, Pronovias has been designing wedding gown collections for the couture loving bride. The Pronovias brand is known for creating bridal gown collections that are filled with luxurious fabrications and couture details. A bride that wears a Pronovias creation will feel confident and sexy on her wedding day. Discover the latest 2015 wedding dress collection from Pronovias.

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t has since become the leading firm in the bridal sector in Spain, as a pioneer in designing prêt á porter wedding dresses and as founder of the first specialised stores in our country.In the 1970s, 80 stores were opened over Spain along with the head offices in El Prat de Llobregat. In 1980, it ventured into the foreign market, with the creation of subsidiaries in France, Italy, UK and Germany and the channelling of its products in the Latin American market.

ince then, the presence of the label in foreign markets has expanded to make it into one of the leading companies worldwide.Its exports represent a world-

wide market share of 5% with the brands Pronovias, La Sposa, W1, AD, St. Patrik and SP Collection in more than 60 countries worldwide, with 120 stores in Spain (70 own stores and 50 franchises) and new subsidiaries in the USA, Canada and Greece.The company’s signature collections, which include the line of Wedding Dresses and Accessories and a line of Gala Dresses, have contributions from renowned designers such as Hannibal Laguna, Manuel Mota, Miguel Palacio and Lydia Delgado.Currently, it continues with international haute couture projects with the addition of collections by Elie Saab, Emmanuel Húngaro and Badgley Mischka.

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