Featured Bride: Ali Larsen in Jorge Manuel's 'The Pei' Gown

 

Travis J Photography

Featured Bride: Jessica Lauren Arsenian in Jorge Manuel's 'The Emerald' Gown

Jessica met Jorge Manuel at one of his trunk shows at The White Dress in Corona Del Mar, California. The unforgettable dress journey began with a bride who looked for 'something different' in her wedding dress and found it in a designer that later became a good friend. Accompanied by an  artist sister and supportive mom, Jessica was able to narrow her dress with their help to the Emerald gown featured in the designer's Nebula Collection 2011. "The moment she stepped out of the fitting room and I was called to see her in the dress and truthfully she radiated in it. The entire store could not get their eyes off of her as she "yes'd" the dress" recalls Jorge Manuel. But don't take his word for it let the images of Jessica taken by photographer Benj Haisch on her wedding day speak for itself. It looks as if she's headed to an editorial rather than to her wedding. Congrats Jessica may your married life be filled with many joyful memories.   

Bridal Market in New York City....What does this mean?

Twice a year designers from all over the world get together for a three-day event in New York City. In this event boutique owners have the opportunity to shop for their store's next season wedding gowns. So it is tradition this time of the year for bridal designer's to get a move on it. There are hundreds of invitations to mail, phone calls to make, but most importantly, a bridal collection that is both beautiful and innovative.

The bridal industry has seen some drastic changes in the last years. It has become more competitive and a lot more inviting of new designers.  Stores have flourish out of the blue and closed soon after. The cycle of rebirth in this industry has become inevitable. In the midst, Designer's are choosing to make statements with their work and leave their imprint in the bridal world.

We have seen a shift in bridal fashion in the last five years. Whoever thought a decade ago that wearing black, red, green, pastels, metallic, and even short dresses would become all the trend in bridal? It has been a privilege to have witnessed the positive change.

Bridal Market is exciting for many because designers will be shaping the future of bridal with the presentations of their gowns at fashion shows. Some shows are coveted and even a waiting list to attend has also become the crave. Bridal stores and boutique owners and buyers plan ahead with the fashion calendar and make it a point to visit as many designer's as they carry as possible. Sometimes, if time permits, they look around for new designers that will give their store an edge to other stores in their area. All in all, the three-day extravaganza can be exhausting.

For this year's bridal market, designer Jorge Manuel focused on materials and textures:

"I will be honest with you. I have never loved lace. I think its pretty, but it feels so vintage, heavy and old. I have always been a believer about wearing the sign of the times. But, I have had a change of heart. For my next collection, I decide to give lace a whirl and make it my own.

I have been collecting information from various distributors for quite some time now. I finally chose laces that were "different" per say, in that the design, pattern, color and texture added dimension to the design. Some laces I found in warehouses that have had them for over 20 years and others from design houses with modern cutting edge design. It is quite easy to make a lace dress that looks flat and boring. If one thing I have learned is that brides want that "something different," but after seeing the designs out there for lace I decided to give them that something different by actually doing something different. 

In fact, most lace dresses all look the same regardless of what designer they are from when you seen them hanging together in a rack at a store. I understand the timeless quality of lace, but I also understand that the bride of today has more of a say in what she decides to wear. She is bigger in personality and I need to provide dresses that will represent who she is best in the dress. I laugh because when I had all the laces I had chosen from this collection on top of my cutting table, all I could think about was, what should I decide to do? dresses or curtains?  I chose the former."