Carine Halabi began her career in fashion more than ten years ago when she moved to New York City to join the design team at Aeffe, the parent company of Moschino, John Paul Gaultier, and Alberta Ferretti. She later returned home to Washington, where she specialized in bridal fashion at Vera Wang, Priscilla of Boston, and Saks Fifth Avenue in Tysons Galleria. While at the salons, she continued to work with New York designers twice a year for bridal-fashion week.
Halabi developed a knack for hand-picking dresses off the New York runway that would be instant bestsellers in the Washington bridal market and decided it was time to open a store of her own. In November 2006, Carine’s Bridal Atelier (1726 Wisconsin Ave., NW; 202-965-4696) opened its doors in Georgetown, offering wedding-gown expertise and tailored bridal fashion for every body type, personality, and style. The shop’s long list of designers includes Angel Sanchez, Carolina Herrera, Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld, Melissa Sweet, and Monique Lhuillier.
Carine’s Bridal Atelier is the fashion sponsor of Sunday’s Washingtonian Bride & Groom: Unveiled wedding showcase, where Halabi will present mother-of-the-bride evening wear and bridal gowns by Monique Lhuillier. Want to see her hand-picked gowns but don’t have a ticket yet? Buy yours today, and don’t miss Sunday’s event with Halabi, Mindy Weiss, cuisine from Blue Duck Tavern’s chef Brian McBride, and luxury door prizes including an overnight stay in the Park Hyatt’s Park Suite and a $150 gift certificate for Blue Duck Tavern.
When it comes to getting Halabi’s expertise this week, we at The Washingtonian are twice as lucky! Not only will she be at Sunday’s spectacular show, but we’ll also have one-on-one time with her during a live Bridal Party chat on Thursday. In addition to her background in gown design, she’s a wedding expert from personal experience—she got married in September, so she knows every step of the planning process. Want the inside scoop on fashions for Sunday’s bridal event? Need tips for finding the perfect gown for your body type? Submit questions now and Halabi will answer them from 11 to noon on Thursday.
Have you tried to call the store that you bought the gown from to see is Melissa Sweet has even cut your gown yet? If not, you might be able to change the size…I would try that immediately. But trying to lose weight or tone for your wedding is what almost every bride tries to do, so you are not stupid, you just had high goals. You do have 5.5 months to go and as you workout everyday and stick to your plan, you will see your body start to tone.
The gown "Dora" is a modified a-line, so it does fit at the hips. If the salon cannot change the size for you and you do not reach your goal, if you have a lot of extra hem that needs to be cut…then maybe the seamstress can cut a seam underneath the sash and move the bottom of the gown up to the new seamline. That might work but it might make the price of your alterations a little bit higher.
Petite brides have a very wide selection to select from. But some of the tricks to follow to give you length are:
-look for an empire or natural waistline before you look for a dropped waist or any seam that is below that line.
-if you do find a gown that has a lot of design elements at the bottom, ignore it and just move on, because with you have added those design touches to the hem of the gown, such as heavy lace or a one to two inch satin border, have basically framed your height.
-if you find a gown that has fabric that is continuous from the top of the gown to the bottom, such as all lace or beadwork, that would look great on you as well.
Hope this helps and don't forget these are just options, if you see a gown that you have to try on that doesn't fall into the above guidelines, try it on…you will never know unless you try it…good luck.
I wore Monique Lhuillier for my wedding gown…I was looking for texture and depth in my gown and I knew I wanted the antique look and color. Knowing that, my gown was made with four layers of lace and re-embroidered lace, so I layers the colors from the inside out to create the antique look that I was looking for, starting with white to off-white to ivory on the top layers. As for the cut of my gown, I knew that I was going to try to tone up for my wedding so I selected a trumpet cut…but my mom had always dreamed of seeing me in a ballgown, so for my mom, I wore a custom styled ballgown skirt over my main gown for the ceremony with a large belt to hide the waistband and for the reception I took the skirt off and wore the slimmer gown with a smaller belt….Accessories are always a great new add on to any gown, just by throwing on a belt or a bolero or beautiful chandelier earrings, during or the beginning of your reception can add a new element to your gown….
How did I know my gown was the one…I have been working in the bridal industry many, many years before I got married in September 08 and I had seen so many brides get "that feeling"…I never knew if it was true if you get the butterfly feels or that teary eye feeling but I have to say it is there…it does happen and you will know when you put it on. Basically don't let anyone pressure you into thinking it is your gown, if you don't know just yet, leave the store go home and think about it. Mostly brides visit between 4 to 5 shops before they find "the" gown. Having seen so many gowns you will be exhausted and overwhelmed, so go home and think about everything you have seen and if there are a few gowns that are always on your mind visit them again on the same day and then you will know which one it is…Its out there and you will find it.
This is all the time I have to answer questions…if i have missed yours please feel free to email me at info@carinesbridal.com and I will definitely try my best to help you out. It has been a pleasure and congratulations on your upcoming wedding…
