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The coronavirus outbreak has swiftly and efficiently cleared our schedules for the next few months. It’s hard to know when exactly we’ll be “available” again; optimists are hoping it’ll be sometime in late April, while others are preparing for a summer of continued social distancing. It’s gotten most of us thinking about the silly things we used to complain about: the subway, the frigid AC in our office (we’d take it over #WFH isolation), dinner plans we regretted making, even the weddings that once dominated our weekends. (What we wouldn’t give for the inconvenience of a 36-hour trip to the Midwest to watch our second cousin get married now!)
Many of us have been notified of at least one canceled or postponed spring wedding, and brides and grooms getting married this fall are starting to feel anxious, too. Destination weddings feel like a particular risk; post-pandemic it’s fair to assume we won’t be traveling nearly as much as we used to. Of course, these are small problems in light of the rising death tolls and the sacrifices our healthcare workers are making, but like the retail industry, the wedding business employs millions of people, with a global market value of nearly $300 billion. Planners, florists, caterers, venue owners, musicians, makeup artists, and the myriad other professions involved in weddings are no doubt suffering losses right now.
Bridal designers certainly are, too. Unlike traditional retail, shopping for a wedding dress is still an in-person, collaborative experience: It often takes multiple appointments just to find “the dress,” followed by several fittings in a designer’s studio over the course of several months. In our time of social distancing, that just isn’t possible, and since showrooms and boutiques are temporarily closed, designers have no new orders coming in. The one upside (for their bottom line, at least) is that with gowns produced so far in advance—all the better to make final adjustments before the big day—brides who canceled their spring weddings likely already paid for and received their dresses. (Whether or not they’ll still be able to wear them to their TBD ceremonies is another story; it’s hard to imagine a bride who planned to get married in Puglia, Italy, will want to wear the same dress for a winter wedding in New York.)
Bridal designers are also among the first to contend with a canceled fashion week. The spring 2021 bridal shows were meant to take place in New York in mid-April, but were canceled due to the coronavirus. While some designers still plan to photograph their gowns and post look books online for a “virtual fashion week,” many won’t have a full collection ready in time. “[The development] of our collection has been halted due to showrooms and factories being closed,” Lela Rose says. “We had already completed about half of the collection [before the outbreak], but I am not certain how and if we will show it now. We may decide to launch in November, rather than doing an abbreviated collection for April.”
Meredith Stoecklein, the founder of New York bridal label Lein, is also anticipating delays. “I’m not even finished with sampling [spring 2021] dresses,” she says. “The collection is on pause as my factory has temporarily closed. We sample and produce everything in New York, and our fabric comes from mills in France and Italy [which are also closed]. I plan to finish sampling once my factory reopens, then shoot the collection and release spring 2021 in a thoughtful way online.”
There’s also the question of what these designers can do right now, other than wait for things to blow over. Unlike ready-to-wear, in which collections are designed, produced, and shipped to stores, bridal designers make their gowns on a rolling basis. Now is the time they’d be meeting with brides with fall or winter weddings on the horizon, but since those women are staying home, things are likely pretty quiet. Rose says brides in Dallas who were in the process of choosing their dress can still schedule a private appointment in her Highland Park Village boutique, but that’s ostensibly a small number of women. “I do think there will be a lag time before people start ordering again,” Rose says, “due to timing uncertainty and just wanting to wait until there’s more stability.”
Considering the differing opinions we hear on the news, it’s impossible to predict when things will feel stable and weddings will pick back up. But brides with late-2020 weddings in the works will need to make a decision soon, and if they choose to move forward as planned, they’re going to need a dress. For designers, getting their business will mostly depend on how deftly they embrace technology. Danielle Frankel has already been taking appointments with brides at home via video chat: “I have a very specific customer and can connect directly with them now more than ever,” she says. “I want to provide the same experience a bride would receive in the studio, but with a sensitive approach to every fitting, as each bride is facing her own hurdles in wedding planning right now.”
Frankel is also working on relaunching her website next month with an option for virtual fittings, and she’s using the grant she won as a runner-up in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund to invest in a capsule of ready-to-wear gowns that can be purchased immediately online. “These gowns will be available the moment you click purchase and they’ll ship within a week,” Frankel explains. “This is more relevant than ever as women won’t be shopping in stores.” It also echoes what she told Vogue last year about brides needing faster turn-around times and more online, “off the rack” options. That was long before we knew our lives would be so dramatically changed by a global pandemic, but even when things (hopefully) calm down, the ease and efficiency of virtual appointments and e-commerce will appeal to busy women.
“We’ve been FaceTiming with current Lein brides to talk through their changing timelines, and we’re consulting with new brides who are planning weddings for fall or 2021,” Stoecklein adds. “We guide them through the design process, assist with measurements, and offer to send fabric swatches so they can see and feel the fabrics and trims without leaving their homes. So far,” she continues, “the response has been great. If there was ever a time or opportunity for change, it’s now. We are focusing on ways to stay connected with our brides and future brides, and will launch a newsletter, focus on virtual fittings, and overall try to stay positive and support our brides during this time.” (Stoecklein also expressed plans to introduce “ready-to-wear” gowns for retailers.)
Giselle Dubois, the co-CEO of Spina Bride showroom, has been advising the designers she represents to do remote meetings as well. “I still think it’s important for a bride to come in to a store and try out a gown before committing, but the idea of doing virtual consultations is genius,” she says. “This experience has been an eye-opener. Even [after the crisis], virtual appointments could help brides narrow down their ideas before they come in for an in-person meeting.”
Another silver lining? None of the women we interviewed seemed to think weddings would be any less popular in the months and years ahead. “On the other side of this,” says Frankel, “there will be explosions of happiness and togetherness after a very rough period.”