my friends carol and katie put together a field trip to a wedding dress designer's studio. there were actually two designers: steven birnbaum and robert bullock of birnbaum and bullock couture. they had my interest at the very beginning when i saw this beautiful dress on a poster in their hallway. i love empire waists and gathered greek tunic looking gowns.
here's the dress hanging in the studio. they like giving their dresses names after famous actors and often their friends and co-workers! we liked how this dress was named after a good friend of ours: camille.
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birnbaum and bullock began their partnership in 1994. they had both been working in the clothing design industry for several years already. steven birnbaum grew up on long island and studied costume design at suny new paltz. he successfully designed costumes for several broadway shows before meeting robert bullock, who owned a highly popular hat design business that sold in barney's, nieman marcus and several other specialty stores throughout the states. they believed they could bring something new to the wedding dress business and launched three lines of wedding dresses: the pricey couture line, and two more affordable lines. the couture line's prices start at $3000; the more affordable lines start at $950 (my sister's neighbor made my little wedding dress for $100!).
steven birnbaum talked with us the most and shared how he likes to work. he sometimes starts with sketches, and sometimes starts with the fabric. the fabric is brought over from europe on sheets, and sometimes seeing these sheets of fabric inspires him to create a design. his favorite parts of the business are the photo shoots and fashion shows, next to designing the gowns. he shared how he needs to find creative aspects to the business end in order to keep his focus.
morgana liked the audrey hepburn dress.
i was fascinated with the different fabric textures used for the gowns.
on this one i love the combination of cotton eyelet and satin.
and on this one i like the little satin bows juxtaposed to the square cotton boxes.
flowers and beads . .
flowers and satin . .
flowers and beads and gauze . .
this is priscilla who gave us a tour of the studio. she's explaining how each button is sewn on individually and what a ritual it is to button up the bride (and to unbutton!).
she also showed us the dress steven and robert gave her for her wedding six months ago. she said it took her a long time to decide and they were getting a little impatient with her! i think it must have looked gorgeous on her.
this is the dress the designers named after priscilla for their collection.
what do young homeschooled girls think about when they visit a wedding dress shop?? what do you think chanda was trying to do in this movie?
she and silvie with the long blond hair wondered what the material felt like inside, against your skin! i also felt inside the dress . . and the material was incredibly soft! sooooo soft!!! worth every single penny of that $950 or $3000!!!
the full group with priscilla and her wedding dress.
i took a picture of the windows to my friend's apartment directly across from the dress shop (second floor . . white curtains).
and when we returned to her apartment, i took a picture so you could see what she sees of the dress shop on the second floor across the way. her husband is an independent filmmaker, specializing in documentaries. he filmed birnbaum's and burke's latest fashion shows for which he used one camera, filming two shows at different angles and then editing them together.
my friend has a paper store above her from which she gets paper scraps that she shares with us. today she shared lace remnants from the wedding dress shop.
maybe they'll make cards or collages . .
the material looks so beautiful just lying around on the floor . .
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