|
Satin
and lace
Michelle
Fields’s latest wedding gown collection combines classic
shapes, unconventional color
By
Ajla Grozdanic
for The Brooklyn
Papers
At first glance, Michelle Fields’s new Atlantic Avenue
boutique looks like a spin-off of the SoHo Prada store, where
rows of mannequins are the first thing that captures the eye
of a passing window shopper.
Closer examination, however, reveals a major difference: unlike
Prada’s often naked models, Fields’s forms are outfitted
in wedding gowns.
Open since September, Fields’s Boerum Hill shop, Michelle
New York Brides, is still a work in progress. A sign has not
yet been installed above the entrance, and, aside from two
beautiful orchids on the windowsill, the sunlit, wide-open
space with high ceilings and white walls is completely bare.
But what’s not missing is truly the only thing a bride-to-be
would need from a designer: Fields’s Spring 2006 collection
is ready to be given a spin.
“Can you think of anything else where your job is built
around something happy?” said Fields, 37, when asked
why she decided to become a bridal designer.
A wife and mother of two boys, Rusty, 7, and River, 4, Fields
has always known that she wanted to become a bridal designer.
After graduating from Parsons School of Design in 1990, she
spent some time studying design in Paris. She opened her first
Michelle New York store six years ago on Bond Street, where
she carried a ready-to-wear collection in addition to custom-made
wedding gowns.
Today, she owns two separate stores on the same block of Atlantic
Avenue, Michelle New York Brides and Michelle New York.
Michelle New York, which opened in February, carries a collection
of streetwear designs that grew as an offshoot from the bridal
line, said Fields. The boutique’s wide range of formal
and informal dresses, skirts, blouses, coats, pants, purses
and belts were either designed by Fields or a well-known designer
that, she feels, complements her style. This store also carries
jewelry and accessories made by local designers. The ready-to-wear
clothes are priced between $50 and $500.
Bridal collection
Her designs are for brides of all ages, shapes and sizes,
said Fields. And although her dresses can be purchased off
the rack, she said that most of her customers opt for ready-to-measure
dresses. She schedules an appointment with the bride, and
together they decide what will look and fit the best.
“The bride usually has a vague idea or a concept of what
she wants,” said Fields. “My job is translating
the idea into a dress.”
Fields, who not only loves to dress up, but loves to dress
others, said that what she appreciates most about her job
is the instant gratification of having created something and
the fun she has in the process.
She calls her style “high-end, urban chic – unpretentious,
but absolutely beautiful and not too uptight or too dressy,”
she said.
“Like a midtown girl,” she said. “Not too uptown,
not too downtown.”
The Spring 2006 collection on display is “very feminine”
and it consists of four key shapes of white and off white
dresses — full skirt, A-line, empire waist and straight
skirt. Fields also offers about four variations of each given
shape.
And she likes to mix colors and fabrics. A simple white A-line
dress, for example, is adorned with a moss green velvet band
around the waist, which, in turn, can translate as a theme
for bridesmaid dresses, said Fields.
As far as fabrics go, Fields likes to stick to soft silks
and French lace.
“Most of my dresses are silk because it’s so beautiful,”
she said. “It feels nice on her body.”
One of her favorite pieces from her spring collection –
a dress with a box-pleated maxi skirt and a V-neckline that
plunges to the waist, front and back — is made with buttercream
silk taffeta underlining that peaks through the outer layer
of soft, creamy French lace. This is also the most expensive
gown in the line, priced at $2,500.
While ready-to-measure dresses range in price from $600 to
$2,500 and include fittings with the designer, Fields also
offers a more affordable line, bought off-the-rack for as
low as $500, for the so-called no-fuss bride, also referred
to as a “destination bride” in industry terms.
A destination bride is a woman getting married in a far-off
location, such as an exotic island, and needs a dress that
travels well, Fields explained. Typically, this type of bride
is looking for a simple, pretty dress in pink or white. Since
destination dresses are more practical and less elaborate
— and less expensive — the material used to make
them is usually a polyester alternative.
The bridesmaid’s dress from Fields’s 2006 collection
is a sleek, floor-length piece with thin straps and a slight
hint of a fishtail shape at the bottom. The $495 four-ply
satin dress comes in only two shades, moss green or black.
But Fields offers a staple collection of bridesmaids’
dresses, ranging in price from $250 to $500, that can be ordered
in almost any color.
Michelle New York Brides also carries veils and, for the perfect
shoe, she has partnered up with high-end designer, Peter Fox.
The construction and interior design of Michelle New York
Brides should be complete by mid-December, predicts Fields.
She plans on keeping the white color scheme as part of the
museum-like setting in the front of the store, where gowns
will be displayed on forms as well as hanging on the walls
— as pieces of art would be showcased. The back of the
store will be set up as an open space that Fields’s brides
can use to get dressed on their wedding day, compliments of
the house.
“That way, they won’t have to get a hotel room big
enough to fit them and their attendants, as some brides have
to,” said Fields.
So, what does Fields think a bride should look like on her
special day?
“She should be beautiful,” she said with a smile.
“She should be absolutely beautiful.”
Michelle New
York Brides is located at 396 Atlantic Ave. between Hoyt and
Bond streets in Boerum Hill and is open by appointment only.
Bridal gowns range from $500 to $2,500; bridesmaids gowns:
$250 to $500. Michelle New York is located at 376 Atlantic
Ave. between Hoyt and Bond streets and it is open daily. For
more information, call (718) 643-1680 or visit www.michellenewyork.com.
December
17, 2005 edition |. Read
more about Brooklyn Weddings
Back
to Top .|.
Return Home
|
