Just two months before her Tuscan dream weddings earlier this year, Emily Law worked on her registry. By clicking on the source of the wedding focused on fashion Over the moonshe came across a service she had never thought of — nor did she realize it existed.
‘I just saw’Styling Services‘, says the bi-coastal web designer. “I read to the end [the description] and he immediately said, ‘OK, me need this.'”
Stylists are quite common in the domain of celebrities: they are the ones who will take exclusive pieces off the runway, determine custom cover designs and help create a public figure through recognizable fashion for famous clients. Still, you may not find them anywhere else. However, engaged couples regularly depend on event planners – why not have someone who will also deal with fashion?
According to Shelley Brown of The Knot magazine, interest in wedding stylists began before the pandemic. However, the unprecedented wedding boom 2022 has created a plethora of “maximalist” celebrations that stretch over the weekend – or even a full week – of related festivities, and this has increased demand for “curating an equally maximalist wedding wardrobe,” she writes in an email.
Emily Law, at Tory Burch in the spring of 2020, at her wedding lunch in Tuscany.
Photo: Jose Villa / Courtesy of Over the Moon
“Because it’s not just one dress anymore – it’s not only your wedding dress, ”says Micaela Erlanger.
Celebrity Stylist has expanded to Organic Weddings 2019 (with Amanda Hearst epic weddings in the family castle) after noticing the “white space” in the luxury experience market. “It’s your afterparty dress. It’s your wedding, the girl, the bride’s mother – all those different things,” she says.
For her picturesque weekend in the Italian wine country, Lo has already secured a hand-embroidered Reem Acra ceremonial dress, but has been “overwhelmed” by the large number of online options for all the other events on the schedule. “I scrolled thousands a page of dresses, shoes and skirts, and I just had no idea what would look good, “she says.
Anny Choichief stylist Over the Moon, jumped in with her fashion expertise and connections, created in six or more years as Vogue editor. (The founder of Over the Moon Alexandra Macon is also a Vogue vet.) Choi first introduced Law to the questionnaire and studied her new client’s Pinterest boards to perfect herself in Lo’s style, taste and vision of the wedding.
Law in old Lanvin at her reception.
Photo: Jose Villa / Courtesy of Over the Moon
“She made an amazing interactive package that had a ton of clothing,” says Law, who received four looks, including a floral handkerchief with hem and a skirt set that closed the Tory Burch runway in the spring of 2020 for a wedding lunch and a stunning feather-trimmed vintage Lanvin dress from a vintage bridal studio Happy Isles for admission. “[Choi] it just helped me create this vision of an Italian wedding that I could not have imagined on my own. “
With more events to be documented and shared through photos, videos and social media, today’s weddings have become the equivalent of a very sentimental editorial. Of course, couples want to elevate their personal style in order to create top fashion moments that will help them celebrate their big day.
“Walking down the aisle is closest to walking the red carpet,” says Erlanger, whose specialty is luxury wedding style for the “discerning” clientele. “There are so many parallels: it’s a big milestone, it’s a high-pressure event, it’s a live event, you wear evening clothes most of the time.”
Los Angeles-based Kennedy Bingham – who previously worked at the now-closed startup for Floravera wedding dresses – quickly developed her wedding dress design business at TikTok. She made her debut Eyed Girl Dress persona in the early days of the May 2020 pandemic, and differed from the more traditional wedding content on TikTok with style-oriented videos.
Kennedy Bingham, aka Gown Eyed Girl.
Photo: Emma Wynn Paul Photography / Courtesy of Kennedy Bingham
“I didn’t really see anyone look at it from a fashion perspective,” says Bingham. Instead of posting a video of the expected “beach wedding,” for example, she created content through the lens of a creative editorial director. “Like, what would I wear if I were villain? Or that I was inside this film? “It gathered 300,000 followers within a few months. It is now at almost 975,000 and 29 million likes (and almost 68,000 followers on Instagram), and partners with newlyweds brands in their marketing efforts.
After planning, Bingham began remote design for weddings 2021. Based on questionnaires and interviews with clients, she will compile “style guides” thematically related to the event and aesthetics, with brands such as Selkie, Catherine Regehr and Toni Matičevski. It will include links to buy, research, set up and purchase your own ensembles from there. (She personally designs and buys for a Los Angeles clientele.)
“I always like to say: ‘I’m not a wedding party – I am fashion a person who happens to specialize in weddings, ”Bingham says.
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A slide from a recent style guide prepared for the client by Bingham.
Image: courtesy of Kennedy Bingham
Over the Moon’s Choi attributes its Condé Nast days in creating close relationships with wedding-specific brands and fashion designers, so it can “invite services” to order a reissue of last season’s pieces, customize existing wedding styles. paint or quickly schedule an appointment at a luxury home. Because uniqueness is so important to today’s consumer, she also has insider information on upcoming designers who can create customized layouts for their clients, and will work with its Garment District network to customize an existing piece for their clients. (Choi channels its fashion assistant days and, as an additional personalized touch for clients, will include restaurant recommendations and a coffee break in its geographically optimized wedding scheduling schedule.)
Erlanger, meanwhile, says her specialty “is not only on-site experience – which is truly the gold standard – but also custom design. I bring my many years of experience in designing dresses combined with top luxury red carpet houses.”
Erlanger will work with teams of private clients and designers at home for a fully “fashion experience” at weddings, similar to what he does for List A list which includes Lupita Nyong’o, Meryl Streep and Diane Kruger. Just look her own wedding celebration 2022 as an example: Erlanger worked with Prada on an ivory georgette ceremonial dress with a delicate lily-of-the-valley embroidery (top), a reception dress adorned with crystal and feathers, and a two-piece mini skirt for late-night dancing. Markarian created custom-made looks worn by her bridesmaids, including Nyong’o.
Erlanger in his second custom Prada dinner and spouse William ‘Mac’ Osborne.
Photo: Christian Oth Studio / Courtesy of Micaela Erlanger
Costume Designer “Judas and the Black Messiah”. Charles Antoinette continues to develop its prolific portfolio – which includes fine line jewelry design and guidance Black Designer Database – planning and styling a wedding, recently fine-tuning her mother’s wedding on a beach in Jamaica. She smoothly conveys her skills and relationships on screen to provide the resources needed to tailor and fit pieces to different bodies, as well as for her own appearance.
“I did different types of weddings – as if it wasn’t just cis-hetero,” she says.
Kat Contreras in the style of Charles Antoinette and Melissa Leong.
Photo: Helene Howard / courtesy of Kat Contreras
Antoinette recalls helping a friend and colleague who became a client Kat Contreras (above), whose custom-made wedding suit has become a crisis of the wardrobe. “The suit fit terribly, and they went crazy. So I went with them to the tailor and we fastened it and made it look much better on me, ”she says. Antoinette stylized the final look with suspenders and a matching bow tie and pocket.
During the pandemic, Antoinette also acted as a personal buyer in New York for Darin Maxwell, at his wedding to a floral designer. Farah Maxwell. “We found this beautiful white tuxedo with a black silk lapel, which was very thin and fashionable with black tuxedo pants,” she says, noting that she helped the bride with the final styling details for their big day.
Farrah and Derrin Maxwell, in the style of Charles Antoinette.
Photo: Scott Smith / courtesy of Farrah and Derrin Maxwell
As this unprecedented boom continues and another round of engagements begins, interest in wedding stylists – and the need for more – will grow.
Choi noted that “demand has just risen sharply” for Over the Moon styling services last year, after images of civil and courtyard ceremonies went viral on Instagram.
“God, I’d say my inquiries have grown, easily, by 80%,” says Erlanger, who also consults and collaborates with wedding-related brands, such as Forevermark.
In the first six months of styling, Bingham received more than “50 inquiries a month,” she says, although she has since refined her client list to focus on a more personalized approach. Looking at her next tripod, she would like to be a partner with stylists on the red carpet – Law Roach is at the top of her wish list – to provide wedding-specific services for a famous clientele.
Either through word of mouth recommendations or TikTok and Instagram (especially Instagram), styling is fast becoming another important wedding supplier – and a new (or additional) career for fashion professionals to shape and grow in their own way.
“With amazing photos and amazing clothes, most of my guests were like,‘ When we do weddings, we want to have a wedding stylist, ’” Law says.
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