[ad_1]
Even during the pandemic, when weddings were scaled down and brides around the world were forced to put plans on hold, the fantasy “never went away,” she added.
A gown from Monique Lhuiller’s latest bridal collection. Credit: Monique Lhuillier/KT Merry
“(Brides) never wanted to compromise on the dress. Even if they were going to have a small ceremony, they still wanted the dream dress… (whether there were) five people in the room with them, or 200.”
Lhuillier has been doling out fantasies — and realizing her own dreams of running a successful label — since 1996, when she set up her eponymous brand in the basement of her parents’ Malibu home without so much as a business plan (“we didn’t know anything,” she recalled). Then a recent graduate from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, she and her husband Tom Bugbee built their business from the ground up, and put having a family on hold for ten years as they poured “90% of their time” into the venture.
A floral gown by Monique Lhuillier. Credit: Monique Lhuillier/Rizzoli
At the time, Lhuillier, who was born and raised in the Philippines and later lived in Switzerland, was inspired by a sense of “California ease,” she writes in a new book charting her 25-year career. Her early designs offered romantic, modern silhouettes that were close-cut to the body and embellished with unexpected details, from colorful sashes to blush veils.
However, the brand was not, Lhuillier recalled, an…
[ad_2]
Source : cnn
