Since founding her eponymous clothing label in 2011, designer and stylist Rachel Zoe has made bohemian-chic pieces for every scenario imaginable—work, party, vacation, you name it—and at a price point any shopper would appreciate. (Her luxe ready-to-wear is all priced under $1,000.) There’s one category, though, we’ve been waiting to see from her clothing empire: bridal. Don’t worry—Zoe’s on it.
Available for preorder today, Rachel Zoe Bridal offers eight Spring 2018 wedding gowns imagined for what Zoe calls a “modern” bride: someone who “wants to look incredibly beautiful and special and glamorous, but doesn’t need to validate her experience with fifteen fittings and a custom-made, traditional dress,” she explains. This translates into dresses with familiar materials like lace and satin, accented with unexpected ruffles, open backs, and delicate crystal trimming. Best of all, these dresses aren’t just for the big “I do”—Zoe intends for her designs to be worn at any number of events before and after the actual wedding ceremony.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rachel Zoe.
While bridal wasn’t officially included in Zoe’s original design repertoire, she tells Glamour that it may as well have been in her design DNA. The proof? She reworked a cocktail dress from her clothing line’s debut collection for a close friend’s wedding. “One of my best friends was getting married, and she wanted to wear one of my dresses: a red cocktail dress in organza,” Zoe says. “She loved the dress [so much that] I made it for her in white, and she got married in [it].”
Even when she wasn’t dressing friends for their weddings, the big event always seemed to come up during styling sessions with her clients. “As a stylist for twenty years, I can’t even begin to explain the amount of red-carpet moments I’ve collaborated on where [the client wore] a beautiful white dress,” she tells Glamour. “And you know, [the client always said] ‘I would get married in this dress!’” These moments inspired Zoe to consider bridal as a future part of her business. “It really struck a chord in me to sort of say, I really want to be part of this moment for so many women, not just my friends,” she explains. “The idea of being part of a woman’s life on the most important day of her life is so exciting to me.”
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rachel Zoe.
So what sets these dresses apart from previous Rachel Zoe designs, and other bridal boutiques out there? “It’s a lot about the details,” she says; “adding organza, adding lace, adding crystal buttons, adding those moments that are true to bridal, but still feel very modern.”
Aside from simply making gowns that any bride would wear down the aisle, Zoe also wanted to take away the stress of wedding dress shopping—especially the usual price tag on a perfect dress. “I truly feel that there aren’t many wedding gowns available at an [affordable] price point. And the modern bride today is so different than the bride of past, [who] spends a year getting her dress and doing a hundred fittings,” she explains. “It’s fine if you are that bride, but we also have to speak to the woman that isn’t that bride, and just wants to go and find a beautiful dress she loves, buy it, and get married.”
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rachel Zoe.
True to her word, Rachel Zoe Bridal will set you back between $595 and $1000. Of course, no matter how beautiful your dress is, there’s always the risk of forking over a fortune for a dress that’ll spend the rest of its days collecting dust in your closet—but with this collection, Zoe wanted to create gowns that were both special and re-wearable. So for brides-to-be asking themselves, “If I wanted to wear this dress again, could I?” Zoe has the answer you want to hear: “Yes,” she confirms, “you actually could.”
With so many options to choose from in her first line, it’s only fair that Zoe can’t pick one favorite gown from the collection—so she gave us her top three. “There’s one [dress] that I’m obsessed with because it’s so simple. It’s a beautiful, silk satin bell sleeve with a fully open back, and it’s long, but it’s very clean and very simple, [with] tiny little crystals along the neckline, and one crystal button in the back.”
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rachel Zoe.
Her other two favorites? A sequined dress with three tiers of ruffles, and a hammered satin gown with a ruffle strap and lace back. “I’m obsessed with that one,” Zoe says of the third dress.
Wedding gowns are just the start for Zoe’s new bridal line. After the initial launch, she hopes that her collection will eventually include every accessory a bride could need for her dream wedding: “head pieces, bridal footwear, and bags, anything [relating to bridal]” are all fair game for future products. “If people love [Rachel Zoe Bridal] as much as I do, there’s no end to where we can go with it,” she says.
All eight gowns in Rachel Zoe Bridal’s Spring 2018 collection are available for pre-order at ShopRachelZoe.com. See the rest of collection, below.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rachel Zoe.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rachel Zoe.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rachel Zoe.
PHOTO: Courtesy of Rachel Zoe.
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