Brit, a sustainability-minded person and regular vintage shopper who is a contributing writer and videographer to sites such as Inhabitat, brought me not one, but three vintage dresses from which to create her custom wedding gown. They are pictured below from left to right:

1) Her grandmother’s wedding dress – a beautifully constructed satin, lace, and tulle dress, which her grandmother recalls in retrospect as being very out of character in terms of her style!
2) A vintage (circa 1940s) lace dress discovered at Brimfield, the amazing antique fair Brit has been frequently with her family since she was young.
3) Her mother’s wedding dress (circa 1970s) – a very Stevie Nicks-esque satin and lace creation replete with winged sleeves and flowing skirt.

My biggest challenge in combining these dresses was integrating them into  a cohesive look that maintained a high level of taste and sophistication, instead of reading as a hodgepodge. Here is the lovely bride in the final dress, which we both ended up being thrilled with. I describe the process from A-to-Z below.

Before cutting or altering vintage fabric or garments, I always like to properly clean them and test for shrinkage. Since the 1940s dress was made of cotton we were concerned it might become too snug if washed, so I first tested a piece from the collar that we had removed, and thankfully the size stayed the same. In addition to testing for shrinkage, I also wanted to assess colour, both through washing and a restoration soak. The gentle soak cleaned off decades of dingy-ness, revealing a soft, warm hue. The restoration soak indicated a brighter, cooler shade of pink. In placing the pieces over the ivory satin, we both preferred the warmness and contrast of the lace after only a gentle soak (middle swatch below).

So the whole dress got a dip!

We knew we would be using the 1940s dress as the overlay, but knew that we wanted to change the neckline and sleeves. The original had a high front neckline with a peter pan collar, a keyhole-opening in the back, and these bizarrely-shaped sleeves with extra fullness under the arm. Brit’s mom had the brilliant idea when they were shopping at Brimfield that Brit try on the dress backwards, for a more sexy and contemporary neckline. So we opened up the keyhole for a deep v-neckline in the front, removed the collar, and added a closure at the back. We decided to get rid of the sleeves, creating a fitted dropped armhole, and shaped the bodice to fit Brit.

The next piece to be tackled was Brit’s mom’s wedding gown. While we found the beaded bodice to be absolutely fantastic, we agreed that the 1970s style aesthetic was just not right for Brit’s dress. However, the slip was going to work fantastically under the pink lace, so I sent it off to the drycleaners before dismantling.

The slip has a fairly closed back and high armholes, and of course had been made to fit Brit’s mom. To better match the lines of the pink lace overlay, I dropped the armholes and created a low v in the back. I also altered the slip by both letting out and taking in the seams at the right spots. Since Brit’s mom is shorter than her, we needed to created longer straps for the slip to sit in the right place on Brit.

The slip’s hemline was curved up in the front, which we decided to drop level with the floor. In order to do so, I needed to remove the entire lace skirt and train, and create a filler pattern piece to fill in the gap. That meant either sourcing a matching satin, or in our case, being able to use fabric from another dress in our arsenal! Brit’s grandmother’s dress, untouched as of yet, fortuitously had a satin underlayer in the very same shade of ivory as Brit’s mother’s dress!

Then came the difficult task of figuring out how to bridge the gap between the 1940s pink lace dress and the 1970s ivory lace dress (both laces being quite different in pattern, colour, and fabrication!) We really wanted to try to use Brit’s grandmother’s dress, but had to make sure to do so without making the gown look too busy or mismatched. The dress needed a middle tier to balance the lengths of the other two skirts. We decided to try to use the lace to add to our theme (this was yet one more lace variation, but we felt it could work). I suggested dyeing the lace a taupe colour and backing it with the same shade so the colour palette would flow smoothly top to bottom from pink to taupe to ivory.  So I set about taking the dress apart and separating out the different fabrics.

Inside the gown were the original labels indicating that the garment had been manufactured in the USA by women of the Ladies Garment Workers’ Union, as well as drycleaning instructions referencing the Zurcion Method.

Brit’s grandmother’s dress had never been cleaned, and had been “stored” in a ball in a garbage bag in the attic. To put it bluntly, it was filthy. The hemline was black (from walking in the mud perhaps?), the satin was spotted black (possibly with mildew?) and the lace and tulle were a dirty grey. I cut off the hem and sent the satin to the drycleaners, to see if they could remove the spots (yet another BC Cleaners success story!).

The lace not only needed to be washed, but restored back to its original colour, which was a bright ivory. Then after multiple dyeing experiments, I found just the right concentration of black tea to achieve the taupe we were looking for to connect the ivory and pinks of the gown. Phases of lace below: Aged/Unwashed | Cleaned/Restored | Tea-Dyed

Here is the full gown in its restoration soak:

A Hitchcock moment while capturing the soak:

And the tea dye:

Here are the fruits of my labor – the lace in its beautiful tea-dyed shade, backed with a perfectly matching taupe silk satin I had in my stock of fabrics:

This fall, my mom and I combined a visit to Brimfield, MA with time in Manchester, NH to visit family. My great-aunt brought out tins of buttons that my great-grandmother had collected from the floor of the mill where she worked, at the end of the shift. She was a seamstress trained in her native Greece, with impeccable hand-sewing abilities. Mom and I pored over the buttons of all shapes, sizes, and finishes, and sorted them according to our taste. Mom has been making beautiful bracelets with her selection, and I’m planning on using some of the ones I chose in my upcoming collection.

My great-grandmother, Soultana (whose name was changed to Sally when she arrived in the States) immigrated from the village Eptahori in Northern Greece. We always called her YiaYia (Greek for grandmother). In looking through old photographs recently we discovered this gem, which we believe to be a small sewing school she attended in Greece. She is pictured at the far right, and below. She was an amazing lady with spectacular sewing and cooking abilities. In my family we continue to carry on her recipes and sewing techniques. We plan to visit Eptahori this coming summer during their annual festival, and I greatly look forward to experiencing her homeland.

We immediately eliminated strapless and full-length options, instead going for a tea-length dress with a fitted bodice, low back, and a full circle skirt. In looking for a more formal and structured fabric than the muslin from her mom’s dress, we layered silk gazar over silk taffeta, and were able to use the cotton muslin as an inner layer of the bodice. We removed the crochet hem trim from her mom’s dress, softly gathering and converting it into straps. For a final subtle decorative element Molly selected her favorite embroidery pattern from her mom’s dress, which we appliquéd at the back bodice.

Photography: ELC
also NY party photos

Stephanie’s mom on her wedding day: July 1972 in Albemarle, NC

Here is Stephanie in her mom’s dress (sans the bow veil!) before dismantling occurred

A benefit of being able to attend the wedding is being on-hand during pre-ceremony prepping. Helping the bride get dressed before the big event helps relieve any stress over last-minute styling decisions, and brings the dress to life for me. Plus there are typically countless other tasks to help contribute to, such as stitching corsages. Stephanie was relaxed and happy before her wedding, and enjoyed being surrounded by her mom and closest girlfriends.

The ceremony took place at an idyllic setting on a quiet lake near Elkin, NC.

Here is Stephanie with her fantastic dad & mom (who loved the end result of reclaiming her own wedding dress)

And dancing with her brother – always a good sign when the bride can feel comfortable letting loose in one of your designs!

I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of Wedding Crashers, a Brooklyn wedding fair for couples seeking to personalize their special day. It was great to meet all the fantastic brides and vendors!

Event page
Facebook event page

Lev and Gabrielle were married at the Metropolitan Building in Long Island City, Queens in NYC.

Wedding Photography: Amy Touchette

Ecological cleaning product company Ecover hosted a party on November 10th in Manhattan to celebrate its 30-year anniversary, and announce the winner of its 30 Under 30 contest, open to 18-29 year-olds making advances in sustainability. Ecover CEO Mick Bremans announced the winner as Ryan Arnold, self-proclaimed “energy geek” who works with low-income citizens in his home state of Idaho to reduce their energy costs. The event was held in the beautiful Environment showroom, who also provided an amazing prize of a sustainable bedroom or dining room set!

Rachel Sarnoff of EcoStiletto also hosted a Green Blogger panel discussion, featuring Treehugger‘s Meaghan O’Neill, Inhabitat‘s Jill Fehrenbacher, Eco-Chick‘s Starre Vartan, The Daily Green‘s Brian Howard, and 30 Under 30 winner Ryan Arnold. Some personal takeaways from the panel:

* An alternate use for Facebook and Twitter: to LISTEN. Use these community tools not just to promote and re-post, but also as an open forum to learn from your readers and customers.

* Surprisingly, fact-checking does NOT seem to be standard for online content – not just due to lack of resources or time pressure to publish, but because the Web audience’s instant feedback is such a highly effective method.

* Ethical practices can lead to profits: Ryan mentioned a study in which financial success was measured for two categories of entrepreneurs: 1) those who focused and remained loyal to their morals 2) those who focused solely on making money, and 100/101 cases of financial success were from category 1.

I have been a long-time supporter of Portland-based urban & activewear company Nau for their attention to what matters: integrating least-negative-impact practices into their business model and sustainable materials into their product, fashion-forward detailing and high standards of apparel construction, commitment to giving back to the community, and the super-chill and talented members of their company. I love how their pieces are slim-cut, travel so well, stand up to weather, translate from trail to taxi, and are made to last and often recyclable at end of life.

So naturally I’m excited to have a Nau retail space in NY territory, even temporarily. They have partnered with workwear fashion brand Dunderon to open a three-month pop-up shop at their Soho location. Design Director Peter Kallen was in town last week, and Thursday’s event at the space brought out another Nau loyalist, actor Matthew Modine (of Full Metal Jacket fame), whose presence + fancy Batavus Old Dutch bicycles contributed to the great vibe of the evening.

The next event at the space will be held Thursday, December 2nd from 7-10pm, so come mingle, buy some fall jackets & holiday presents, and take part in the (as rumoured) bike-themed party!

Nau + Dunderdon NYC / 25 Howard St 10013

More pictures on flickr