The Cut’s solo “Spring Fashion” print issue features Bad Bunny, Doechii, Rosé, conversation-provoking features, unique fashion and beauty coverage, and more.
FOR THE LUCKY (and brave) ones who decide to get married in New York, there is no request too specific or demand too outlandish. A Mexican-Jewish couple, for instance, can find a caterer who’ll appease both of the families with papayasofrito-topped latkes (p. 135). Venues exist for every sensibility, price point, and guest list (p. 141)—even for those who want to invite 1,400 friends to a gala at the refurbished Ziegfeld Theatre or throw an all-night rave (complete with wind machines) at an industrial loft in East Williamsburg. Oenophiles can hire a wine consultant (p. 48) to pick out their Bordeaux and Champagne, and Francophiles can visit the Parisian dress designer (p. 47) who recently set up shop on Wooster Street. And for the couple who’d rather forget the requests…
ALEXIS “When I walked out of the house where I was getting ready, my dad erupted into this wail—it’s truly the only way to describe it. We got it on video. He’s a total crybaby. He cries every time he drops me off at the train station after a weekend visit.” MATTHEW: “We arranged for a drag queen to burst in and surprise the crowd. Shimmer picked my mom out immediately. They did a runway strut to ‘Sissy That Walk,’ by RuPaul, just reading each other’s energy and improvising—true showgirlship all around.” TARYN: “This is how my mom and her friends are all the time; they have so much energy. After the reception, 500 of our friends went to a warehouse for the after-party. Most of the other parents opted…
You started out creating women’s casualwear in Paris. What led you to bridal design? In 2009, my cousin asked me to design her wedding dress. She couldn’t find what she wanted in the bridal stores—everything was strapless and rigid. So I designed a vintage-inspired dress in a light georgette silk with Calais lace; it was very different from the wedding dresses people normally see. When I looked at the bridal market, everything was very complicated. I thought there was something new to propose to girls like me, who prefer a simple design. Why did you open a New York boutique? We had a lot of American brides coming to us in Paris. There was even one New York bride who already had her dress and then discovered our collection on…
Why should couples work with a wine consultant? Choosing wine for your wedding is nothing like picking a bottle you like for dinner. My job is to navigate that (from $500). Venue plays a big role in what options you have, and you might not have great wines to choose from. I recently had a wine-savvy couple getting married in a high-end hotel, and they were not thrilled with the available bottles. I found out which distributors the hotel works with and ordered some other wines from their portfolio. It’s not the client’s job to speak the industry language the way I do. I’ll also help guide couples to crowd-pleasers an entire wedding party would enjoy. Not everyone is wine-studied, not everyone loves tannins. Sometimes you need a Pinot Grigio…
Zola started as an online registry, but you added some new services this year. Why the expansion? We noticed people were using six to eight different apps for wedding-planning tasks; we wanted to put them all in one place so you just need one service. We created over 30 wedding website templates that couples can choose from, a guest-list management tool where you can keep track of RSVPs and people’s addresses, and a customizable to-do checklist where you answer a few questions about yourself and then we generate a list of what you need to get done and when. And there’s still the registry, of course. After four years of running it, what tips do you have for couples? Based on the data we’ve collected—from hundreds of thousands of registries—if…
The henna tradition goes back thousands of years. How do you make it feel modern? Instead of the traditional intricate, lacy designs, I enjoy doing geometric henna with striking patterns ($350 a session), so that you can really see the lines in your wedding photos. A lot of brides are calling me directly and requesting simpler work. That definitely wasn’t the case earlier on. The family used to coordinate the ceremony, and then everyone wanted a say—it was like Say Yes to the Dress. Mothers wanted the bride to get whatever they had: “I had it up to my elbows, and I had paisley print, so you should have that.” I once had a bride whose future mother-in-law had all these ideas. When I went over, the bride met me…
