By Leah Schwartz
In a world where fashion trends are constantly evolving, the bridal industry remains a blend of traditional charm and modern innovation. For NLWA Bridal owner Nadia Williamson, details on wedding dresses may shift from year to year, but the base designs endure as “elegant, timeless and classy,” at least in her shop.
According to Williamson, this year, embroidered flowers, rather than traditional lace, tacked onto classically cut dresses, are trending. These floral elements also reflect a shift in bridal bouquets, where smaller arrangements are preferred, allowing the dress to become a floral arrangement unto itself. These floral elements also reflect a shift in bridal bouquets, where smaller arrangements are preferred, allowing the dress to become a floral arrangement unto itself.
Modern brides also gravitate toward clean lines and contemporary gowns, often inspired by 18th century aesthetics. These gowns, characterized by drop waists and corset backs, are usually crafted in flowing fabrics like silk mikado and satin. Adding a twist to these modern silhouettes, brides incorporate lace details such as veils and gloves. With this approach, brides “get the best worlds,” Williamson explains. The simple yet elegant silhouettes, paired with the lace accents and accessories, “looks really pretty and romantic,” she says.
Williamson explains that wedding fashion is a perfect storm of multiple factors: culture, personal taste and even venues, which all influence the ever-changing landscape of bridal wear. Popular culture plays a significant role in influencing bridal trends. Many brides cite the weddings of celebrities like Nicola Peltz and Hailey Bieber as inspiration. Peltz’s wedding, for instance, nudged some brides in the direction of gowns with straight or square necklines, focusing on accessories rather than intricate dress details. Similarly, Bieber’s off-the-shoulder, lace long-sleeved gown has influenced many to adopt a similar style, in contrast to the high necklines that were popular in previous years. For Williamson, Bieber’s gown is a harbinger of the romantic dresses to come this year.
Wedding venues also play a crucial role in determining gown styles. For example, Williamson’s clients who marry in Italy, a current hot spot, opt for dresses that complement the romantic and traditional ambiance of Italian vineyards and villas. This desire for a locale look influences the choice of gowns that blend modern styles with conventional romantic elements.
Before delving into the bridal industry, Williamson worked as a costume designer in the film industry. Her transition to bridal fashion was a natural progression with her experience with fabrics and design, marking a two-decade journey leading to the establishment of her boutique. In 2018, Williamson opened NWLA Bridal on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. The store is the American counterpart to Williamson’s Canadian bridal and dress boutique, NWL Dressess.
The intimate boutique bridal shop only serves a handful of soon-to-be brides a day and features a variety of couture designers like Lihi Hod, Mira Zwillinger, Reem Acra, Mark Ingram and Francesca Miranda.
“They’re all amazing designers,” Williamson says. “We don’t want to have a lot of designers, but we have very specialty designers, and we are really close to them, like family.”
The relationship between Williamson and the brides she serves is also key to the shop’s success. Word-of-mouth recommendations have been the crux of her business, which is powered by a base of loyal customers.
Owner Nadia Williamson in her bridal salon, NWLA Bridal. (Chris Mortenson/Staff)
“I never thought that when I moved to LA, there would be such nice brides that spread the word about my shop,” Williamson says. “There’s such a supportive community, and it’s really been special.”
Hanna Hartnell has been designing wedding gowns on the Westside for over two decades and other clothes for longer than that. Hartnell started over 50 years ago as a self-taught seamstress on Abbot Kinney and worked up to create her own bespoke business.
Her work has been featured in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She shies from boxing herself in as a bridalwear designer. “I just do elegant gowns,” she explains. “They go everywhere.
“I never intended on doing bridal; I was just doing gowns, but there are women that want my type of dress,” she says. “They’ve already arrived. Whether they’re 22 or 52, they don’t need an important-looking dress to show they’re important. People know who they are, or they know who they are.”
Her long bias-cut gowns are simple and elegant, reminiscent of slip dresses from the 1920s, meant to accentuate a bride’s beauty rather than overpower it. The brides “are the star, not the dress,” Hartnell says. Necklines might change from cowl to V-neck, but the basic cut remains unchanged.
“(The dress) doesn’t cling to the body. You see the body, and it moves inside. That’s what makes it so seductive. If it was just tightly fitted, that’s sexy, but my dresses are seductive because they get your imagination going.”
Dresses are made from a flowing fabric like silk charmeuse and are cut and draped along the bias to allow maximum movement, an almost psychological aspect of Hartnell’s designs. People are attracted to movement because it could mean danger, Hartnell explains.
“It could be a lion in the bushes or a snake under the rock. When something moves, even if it’s a leaf, your eye looks to it instinctively because you don’t know what it is, and your body is protecting itself,” she explains. So when you wear a dress, and it glides over the body, and the fabric’s shine catches your eye, it screams movement.”
When Hartnell started putting out her slip-like couture dresses 25 years ago, “no one else had a dress like that,” she says. “I just saw a need for it and did it.” Now, similar dresses can be found across the internet, but Hartnell cautions that they won’t have the same effect.
“When something is simple, it has to be perfect. Because you can’t paste another flower or pearl on top of it,” Hartnell explains. “It needs the right fabric and pattern, which has to be laid perfectly on the fabric, or the dress will hang crooked or just lose shape. But when it’s done right, it’s like nature.”
As a testament to Hartnell’s timeless designs, brides from the beginning of her career have begun to return as mothers looking for similar dresses for their children’s weddings. “And do you know what?” she says with a laugh. “They want the same damn dress I made them 20 years ago.”
NWLA Bridal
1627 Montana Avenue Suite D,
Santa Monica
424-238-5202, www.nwlabridal.com
Hanna Hartnell
310-393-6587
www.hannahartnell.com
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