How a bride conquered the fashion world

Monique Lhuillier is celebrating 25 years of flirty, feminine fashions by going back to the future.

For her fall 2022 collection, she opened her archives and found the inspiration to create a collection that is at once delicate and glamorous, from mermaid gowns in seafoam that hug the figure, frothing about the neckline, sleeves and bottom, to stark, one-shoulder columnar creations with white designs snaking across a black backdrop. 

It’s all in a day’s show-stopping work for a designer who is as comfortable on the white wedding carpet as she is on the red one. While Lhuillier’s creations have been worn by former first ladies Michelle Obama and Melania Trump, Jessica Alba, Halle Berry, Regina King, Bedford’s Blake Lively, Jennifer Lopez, Demi Lovato, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katy Perry, Emma Stone and Taylor Swift, she is well-remembered for having designed Britney Spears’ and Resse Witherspoon’s wedding dresses.

Indeed it was a wedding that launched the career of the Filipina-American designer, who was born in the Philippines to a French-Filipino businessman and his socialite-model wife and grew up in Cebu City, where she studied at Saint Theresa’s College before going on to the Chateau Mont-Choisi finishing school in Lausanne, Switzerland. At the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles, she met her future husband, Tom Bugbee – and her future career.

“I started the search for a wedding dress, but that proved to be a little challenging,” she told Forbes magazine.  “It was hard to find wedding dresses that were beautiful but contemporary, so I just started making one.”

Kudos in the form of business cards convinced Lhuiller that she could make the gowns for others. She began small with bridal exclusively for four years, keeping it all in the family. (Her parents’ basement was her atelier; her MBA husband, her CEO.) LA stylists took note.

“(They) would say to me ‘if you’ve made this in color, I would love to put this on the red carpet.’ It made me wonder. Why am I just dressing a woman for the most important day of her life, when I could be there for all the most important days of her life?”

Lhuillier has set red-carpet records, once having eight looks at one Golden Globes event. And she has been honored by both her countries, with membership in the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the Philippines’ Presidential Medal of Merit and inclusion in that nation’s “Living Legends: World Renowned Filipinos” postage collection, along with fellow designer Josie Natori and singer-actress Lea Salonga (“Miss Saigon,” “Les Misèrables”). Her fashion houses span sea to shining sea, LA and New York.

And her collections cut a wide swath – couture, ready to wear, linens, tableware, stationery, fragrance, clothes for children and teens, furniture and jewelry. 

Lhuillier’s offerings, it would seem, are as voluptuously voluminous as the ball gown of cascading tulle in her signature blush pink that graces the cover of the new Rizzoli retrospective on her 25 years in fashion.

We’re looking forward to 25 more.

Tags: Monique Lhuillier, Tom Bugbee, Michelle Obama, Melania Trump, Jessica Alba, Halle Berry, Regina King, Bedford’s Blake Lively, Jennifer Lopez, Demi Lovato, Gwyneth Paltrow, Katy Perry, Emma Stone, Taylor Swift, Reese Witherspoon, Britney Spears, Josie Natori, Lea Salonga, Rizzoli, Council of Fashion Designers of America, the Philippines, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising

Mary Jane Denzer invites you to celebrate our store’s 40th anniversary. This special milestone is the culmination and crowning achievement of our careers in the fashion world. Our greatest joy has always been to dress women for the most important events of their lives, and this fall, we hope to share with you one of the most joyful moments in the life of our company. Join us as we look back on our marvelous heritage and look ahead to a beautiful future. 

The Mary Jane Denzer store is a symbol of old-world service and a beacon of style for the fashion community. Our fearless founder and local icon, Mary Jane Denzer, opened the store in 1980, and her superb style and luxurious taste continues to inspire us today. The Mary Jane Denzer experience embodies the perfect union of modern designs, gracious service, obsessive attention to detail and extraordinary tailoring. We turn our clients’ world into a dream for a day with the very best looks from the runway. We bring their red carpet moment to life.

Please join us in celebrating a wonderful 40 years of business. Stop by the store and have a glass of champagne sometime this winter season. We would love to see you.

Cheers to many more years of fashion and friendship!

“America is not like a blanket—one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt— many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread.”
—Jesse Jackson, 1984 Democratic National Convention

So begins “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” celebrating the 75th anniversary of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and running through Sept. 5, 2022. This is the first part of The Costume Institute’s two-part consideration of American fashion. The second part, “In America: An Anthology of Fashion” (May 5 through Sept. 5, 2022) will present clothing and accessories from the 18th century on in dialogue with the period rooms in which they’ll appear. Frankly, we can’t wait for that show.

In the meantime, “A Lexicon of Fashion” offers 100 men’s and women’s designs from the 1940s to the present in scrimmed cases presented mainly in the two-gallery Anna Wintour Costume Center. The cases, which are meant to evoke the patches of a quilt, are grouped into 12 sections that organizers Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu curator in charge of The Costume Institute, and Amanda Garfinkel, assistant curator. say describe the emotional qualities of American fashion – “Nostalgia,” “Belonging,” “Delight,” “Joy,” “Wonder,” “Affinity,” “Confidence,” “Strength,” “Desire,” “Assurance,” “Comfort” and “Consciousness.”

Word-bubble headpieces offer aspects of each category. So in “Belonging,” which contains four “flag sweaters,” Ralph Lauren’s is associated with “idealism”; Tremaine Emory’s, “affirmation”; Tommy Hilfiger’s, “solidarity”; and Willy Chavarria’s, “isolation.”

It’s hard to imagine, however, that the concept of the show as a three-dimensional quilt is going to resonate with visitors as they slowly snake through aisles of vitrines in the center’s tight quarters. And the outfits don’t always seem to match the accompanying words. A black silk georgette dress (2019-20) by Vera Wang, with black twill shorts and a black charmeuse bra, is accompanied by the word “romance.” Why not “naughty” or simply “sexy”?

Then, too, the offerings are so eclectic that it’s hard to find the common fashion threads, pun intended. American individualism may be one. The other is that fashion has become so embracing that all of the styles on view feel fresh and contemporary.

Certainly, you have to admire American designers’ breadth. From Isaac Mizrahi’s pink baby doll dress as shrunken ball gown (autumn/winter 1994-95), labeled “sweetness,” to Rodarte’s 1930s Hollywood glam electric-blue silk organza gown (autumn-winter 2019-20), labeled “ebullience,” “Lexicon of Fashion” has something for everyone, which may be why it’s hard to pin down.

Those searching for greater cohesiveness – and a lot more breathing space – are flocking to “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams,” through Feb. 20 at the Brooklyn Museum. https://www.timeout.com/newyork/museums/christian-dior-designer-of-dreams

As we’ve noted in another post on this blog, Dior’s fitted jackets, full midi skirts and cinched tulle ball gowns – all flattering to the feminine silhouette – defined the postwar “New Look” and return to romance. The exhibit pays homage to this and Dior’s worthy successors (including Yves Saint Laurent and John Galliano) in 200 works and 22,000 square feet that play with perspective, offering color-coded cabinets of curiosities, movie-set glamour and “conversations” between the works and the museum’s spaces.

It seems that for once The Met has been outdone by a crosstown rival.

For more, visit metmuseum.org and brucemuseum.org.

Tags: fashion, Costume Institute, Anna Wintour Costume Center, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” Brooklyn Museum, “Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams,” Yves Saint Laurent, John Galliano, Isaac Mizrahi, Vera Wang, Christian Dior, The Metropolitan Museum of Art