Amy Michelson - The Bridal Industry's Queen of the Sheath

The fact that my gowns are all silhouette, slinky and glamorous makes them distinct.   I'm known for bias-cut gowns.   Often called the queen of the sheath in the bridal industry.

Designer Amy Michelson creates silk wedding gowns made to look sexy and feminine.   Her bias cuts invoke images of that Hollywood glamour back in the1920s and 1930s.   She has successfully brought back a mysteriousness and sensuality to the modern and discerning bride.

Amy describes her current bridal collection as just that--glamorous and slinky.   It is well-suited for the destination wedding, the second time bride, and/or the more mature   bride.   Since destination weddings require the feeling of the location, she often uses very soft, fluid fabrics like silk sheer chiffon, flowing satins, or anything that has a "drapey" or "goddessy" look.

One of the fabrics that Amy loves to use is silk charmeuse because it has the drapey quality Amy is known for.   Silk charmeuse is the fabric used back in the 1930s, which helped to create and perpetuate the glamour look of the old Greta Garbo, Lana Turner movies.  

It has that very slinky movie star quality, and I think a bride should look like a movie star.   She's the star of her day.

The Laurel dress from Amy's collection is a good representation of a bias-cut gown.   Using jewelry as embellishments has become Amy's signature style.   But Amy's clientele base ranges from the very young bride to brides in their 50s, or even 60s.   It's great for second-time weddings because it's a sleek, elegant collection. And it doesn't have that junior prom look.   It's also great for eveningwear, something that Amy will be doing more of in the future.

I'm having a great time translating these sexy wedding gowns into color for the evening and red carpet.   In the new collection, I am working with a lot of gold and crystal, and silver-plated jewels with crystal.   It's really fun and glamorous.   Glamour is a great description for my collection.

Who are your celebrity clientele?

I do dress a lot of celebrities, and I think I have a sense of how to make a woman look absolutely gorgeous, sexy, like a star.   The gowns have a movie star quality so celebrities are drawn to them.   I just did a wedding gown for Sandra Bulllock, who is doing a new movie, Eva Longoria, Halle Berry, Kim Bassinger, Geena Davis, and Michelle Pfeifer.   Obviously, they're divinely beautiful, and they love this kind of body-conscious style.

The great thing about Amy's collection is that it makes every woman look like a movie star, whatever size she is.   When some women first see one of her sheath gowns, they don't think they could wear it.   Actually, that type of gown is more flattering than one that adds more fabric to your body if you're a bigger size.   It is very sensual, feminine, and beautiful.   Consequently, Amy has had many grooms thank her for helping their brides to look glamorous on their wedding day.

Highest High

When first I won the Couture Bridal designer of the year award.   I have since won three.   I really felt embraced by the industry, especially because this bias-cut look was something really new when I brought it into the industry.   (People were used to the ballerina style, full skirt, cake-topper wedding gowns.)   Buyers were very skeptical.   I came in at the right time, when brides were more keyed into celebrities and how they were dressing.   The audience grew, and so did my collection that also sold very well at retail. I was rewarded for bringing a whole new look into the industry.   That was deeply gratifying.   It's nice to get a prize.

Lowest Lows

The challenges of being a designer are that you're truly as good as your last collection.   You have to reinvent yourself every season.   We started seven years ago.   I had been doing evening wear prior to that.   I started small, and wasn't fully embraced right away.   You really have to turn within and trust your own instincts and vision, and really be tenacious about believing in yourself and knowing that what you have is good, and it's true, and it's right, no matter how many people might not be able to see it.   The reason they can't see it is because my job as a designer is to be ahead of the curve.   So I may come out with something that is a little ahead of its time, and I find it will sell a couple of seasons later.   It used to upset me, but now I just realize it is part of the process.

Love is the Cure is the charity that Amy founded to help women that are going through breast cancer. Through Amy's personal experience with breast cancer five years ago, and a couple of years after that experience, it came to Amy as a full-blown concept.   She realized the wedding industry had no charity.

This is an industry that is built on love.   Every other industry has a charity, so why not do something and give back?   Then I went through the process of...Oh, do I   have to do it?   Then I thought, of course, who else.   Because of my experience, my connections and visibility, I got together with The Knot, the Wedding Channel, all of the retail stores, and everyone was very enthusiastic about coming on board and helping out.

Go to www.amymichelson.com or loveisthecure.org.   People can donate online, and the money goes directly to organizations that bring meals to women who are going through chemotherapy, that provide child care, peer support, and shop for groceries for people with the disease.   It's the real hands-on loving care that people need when they're sick.

What do you envision for the future?

I have been writing a lot of tips for brides.   I'm having a really good time with my appreciation of the bride.   She's not just a woman buying a dress, but a whole bride--body, mind, and spirit, and all that goes into being a bride. It's a rite of passage that includes emotional and physical stress. I'd like to be of service to the bride beyond the gown.   Here are some of my tips that I plan to eventually publish on my website or possibly in a book:  

1. If you are having trouble with annoying distant relatives that want to come to your wedding suddenly appearing out of nowhere, or those office workers that are guilting you into inviting them to your wedding, I say go on a destination wedding.   That is the best solution to cut the fat right off your guest list.   All those people that thought they wanted to come suddenly will pass.   You'll find that these destination weddings are very intimate.   Relationships are formed that wouldn't be formed when you just have a more traditional service of just a couple of hours in an afternoon.

2. As far as hemlines go, always bring your shoes that you're going to wear to the final fitting.   The worse thing that could happen is your dress comes up too short, and there's not a whole lot you can do about it.   I always say, wait until the very last minute.   Avoid if possible, ordering something that's called hollow to hem, which is taken from the hollow of the neck to the floor.   But those things can really change depending on whether the dress is strapless, or has straps.   So unless your gown has a border around the bottom that can't be hemmed, I really recommend that you just order the dress, have it come in the length it's going to come in and get your shoes, and then get the final fitting done with the exact shoes you are going to wear. I like a hem to go exactly to the floor.   I don't like seeing any toes showing.   And you certainly don't want to trip going down the aisle.

For more information about Amy Michelson's collection, her charity, or where to purchase her gowns, visit her website at www.amymichelson.com or loveisthecure.org.

Interview by Pamela Heath, written by Kaylene Peoples.

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