Fourteenth: The Avant-garde Bride
The avant-garde bride is unique. She is forward thinking and opposed to trends. She is every designer’s dream.
Nicole Perez met with me in November of 2020. Headpiece.com was just opening up to brides after a long Covid pause. I remember wanting to feel alive again and longing for the expression of wild creativity and the ability to share it with my brides again. Nicole exuded confidence, style, beauty, and originality.
Nicole had no interest in a light ivory wedding gown or classic hair accessories. Her vision was vintage glamour and non-traditional while seeking a bit of her Spanish heritage. Nicole had only Garo Sparo Atelier in mind for her wedding gown design.
Avant-garde wedding gown Design
Garo Sparo Atelier
Nicole followed Garo Sparo long before his memorable appearance as a finalist on Season 17 of the popular show Project Runway. Sparo’s designer style is self described as old Hollywood glamour with a futuristic edge. While bridal design is only 30% of their yearly work, their main focus is designing for the entertainment industry. Show girls, burlesque performers, fire breathers, stilt walkers, and drag queens flock to their NYC design studio to wear one of his creations. When you see Lady Gaga, in a bombshell corseted garment there is a chance it was designed by Garo Sparo! Madonna, Cardi B, and Doja Cat have also been dressed by this notable celebrity atelier.
“This was very much a collaboration with the lovely Nicole! She brought us some stunning inspiration from both classic bridal looks to more unique inspiration like iconic glamor girls of the past like Jayne Mansfield and Gypsy Rose Lee. Our job was to meld these inspirations and create a dream wedding gown that was utterly unique and true to her.”
Designers Garo Sparo and Troy Allen
“Nicole loved our corsetry that we are famous for. We knew we wanted an ultra snatched silhouette with great support and a very dramatic tiered structured mermaid flare. To top it off we added tons of beading and sparkle to the gown to take it to another level of decadence.”
Fashion Illustration by Troy Allen
avante-garde Bridal accessory design
Nicole was the first bride in all of my career to request a mantilla worn with a peineta. Peinetas date back to the 19th century in Spain. Traditionally this tall ornate comb is always worn by securing it into a bun in the back of the head. Nicole’s hair was short with a beautiful natural curl. Marilyn Monroe’s classic rolled wavy curls inspired her wedding day hairstyle. Getting a peineta comb to stay in Nicole’s hair while floating an elaborate French lace cathedral veil over the top posed a few challenges.
“My headpiece was inspired by my Spanish roots. I wanted to wear a peineta, which is a comb traditionally worn in Spain for special events. I wanted to incorporate the peineta into my wedding to pay homage to my family.”
During the victorian era, it took skill to make a peineta by hand, molding and carving tortoiseshell. Today, peinetas are made of resin materials resulting in a thick and bulky comb at the base. The only way I could fasten Nicole's peineta into her short hair was to design a new system to hold it in place. The first step was to cut off the plastic prongs.
My lace vendor in France sent me several lace options for Nicole to consider for her mantilla. We compared them to the dress swatches Garo provided. Nicole chose a stunning, softly reticent silver and greige colored lace that was the perfect balance for her wedding gown.
“My headpiece was unique in the sense that it is not very common in the U.S. My veil was custom made with every detail in mind; color to compliment my dress, the finished length, and the hand-cut silver lace trim. The final design exceeded my expectations and was better than I could ever imagine. Marie executed it perfectly and I couldn’t have asked for more.”
Wedding Day- Nicole and Anthony
Wedding Photos by Hoffer Photography
BRIDAL ACCESSORIES | Headpiece.com GOWNS | Garo Sparo, Troy Allen VENUE | Trout Lake Weddings MUA | Alyne Halvajian HAIR | Lucy La Riot
“Nicole has a flair for vintage style and her gorgeous tattoos inspired us to use a very sheer lace on her arms to almost read as an extension of her tattoos. Nicole’s peineta and mantilla was an integral part of her original inspiration. ”
“We designed the silhouette of this gown keeping the headpiece in mind, and made sure the neckline was open and the flare was dramatic so that the cascading lace behind her would perfectly frame her corseted silhouette.”
“My vision for the wedding was to stay true to myself and who I am. Everything we did was 100% us.”
When it was time to party Nicole made an accessory change. Freshwater pearl, clear crystals, stones, and white opals make up this striking and comfortable "Ellen" headpiece. We upped the sparkle by adding flatbacks to reflect the romantic ambient lighting. Five matching crystal pins were scattered and nestled amongst her gorgeous curls.
“Nicole truly wanted to make and impact with her gown, so we worked together to come up with an unexpected and seamless reveal that would leave her guests and her husband in awe!”
Nicole had a surprise reveal in store for her husband and wedding guests. Nicole maneuvered from a contoured silver Garo Sparo Atelier original, with ease and a bit of magic, to another sultry champagne silk dress. She danced the night away in comfort while looking dynamite and Hollywood chic!
Designing for the avant-garde bride is a unique experience. There is a collective unleashing of creative ideas with little or no boundaries to change fashion imagery into real moments. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing it all come to life! —Marie
“This is a once in a lifetime moment and it should be the happiest. And it was!”
See you next month on the Fourteenth