Under The Impression with Ines Di Santo

New York City Bridal Fashion Week wouldn’t be the same without Ines Di Santo’s show. The iconic leading bridal designer has been rocking the runway for years and never ceases to make us fall in love all over again with her glamour and romantic wedding and evening dresses. When the invitation popped up at the office, we were very excited to go and see what gorgeous surprises Ines Di Santo has in store this year. We got the first hint when we entered the first floor of the impressive IAC Building, embellished by dozens of huge windows letting the natural afternoon sunlight illuminating the runway. The walls were covered with colorful animated videos showing beautiful blooming flowers ornamenting Ines Di Santo’s name.

The Italian designer showcases flowers and bold contrasting colors, a daring choice to incorporate these strong elements into her collections. That’s one of the biggest reasons why we admire Ines Di Santo. She always goes outside of the box. It might be her south-American background, many years of experience and success, or a combination of both which give Ines Di Santo her fashion confidence and risk appetite. Anyways, it always works! You never expect that bright red and fuchsia can match perfectly and still make a dress look so elegant, as much as you cannot even imagine that you actually want a patterned dress for your wedding! Well, after attending Ines Di Santo’s fashion show, be ready to have all of your standards and taste re-evaluated.

Qualified of “unrestrained luxury”, Ines Di Santo’s brand doesn’t lose any of its sophistication behind colors and originality. Indeed, all of her gowns have a very couture and feminine touch. By playing with volumes and materials, Ines Di Santo has mastered the art of showcasing women’s body shapes and curves as a tribute to femininity. Once you’ve perceived this truly artistic side of the brand, the Impressionist art movement inspiration subtlety incorporated in Di Santo’s last collection named after the movement, is suddenly noticeable. Under The Impression showcases the metamorphosis and combination of colors and texture, exactly like in painting, but this time, the canvases were the dresses.

COLORS & MATERIALS

Besides the classic ivory and white tones always running bridal fashion show, Ines Di Santo, who could easily be nicknamed the queen of color has brilliantly incorporated a huge range of hues in her new collections. From pastels such as dusty pink and light blue mixed with tie-dye and blush (we’re still not over this super-girly trend) to bold colors like red, fuschia, purple, and royal blue; every colored or patterned dress had a unique and original style. We could easily imagine these stunning gowns worn by our favorite celebrities on red carpets, or even by our trendier best friend for her unconventional wedding. All of these colors were also boldly incorporated or combined to silk, lace, feathers, tulle, sparkling tulle, and satin which represent the proof that these materials are not wedding-kept or only suitable for white and ivory.

SHAPES & STYLES

Among many different models and silhouettes to please and suit every woman of every shape and size, some beautiful styles still were recurring:

Necklines

Lingerie bustiers, Draped scoop necks, Halter Necks, Trapezium necklines, Deep V cleavages, Sweetheart necklines, Suit necklines

Sleeves

Short sleeves and dropping sleeves

Skirt Shapes

Asymmetric, Slit skirts, Ankle’s length,

Style

Transparency, Mermaid dresses, Close fitting dresses, Short dresses, Jewelry dresses.

DETAILS & ACCESSORIES

For our pleasure, we saw not one, but two feather jackets embellishing and stylizing very simple and elegant silk and satin dresses, and we really enjoyed the idea! Especially now we know that the new wedding date trends are more and more shifting from Summer to early Fall and its cooler temperatures.

To modernize the jackets, the feathers were actually in 3D, which interestingly added volume to the silhouettes. 3D accents were also noticeable with alternative decors such as floral elements, textured fabric and jeweled butterflies.

Oversized elements were also to appear in this show. First, because it’s Ines Di Santo, and second because it’s been very trendy recently. Thus, we saw several oversized bows, shoulder elements, frills and furbelows.

Contrasting with the oversized elements, as the fashion world has been doing greatly recently, we also saw mini-bags, a first for a bridal fashion show — reminding us of Jacquemus’s mini-bags, but even smaller and closer to being jewelry pieces than bags. Their chains were modernly crossing the model’s chests, making the silhouette look a little more modern and urban.

We obviously also saw the unavoidable capes which we’re still obsessed with.

Adding to the art inspiration of this whole collection, the shoes displayed during this fashion show deserved to be called masterpieces. Ines Di Santo recently partnered with the amazing shoe designer Bruno Magli for this collection, and it was perfectly matching Di Santo’s fantasy and style.

The Fashion Show succeeded at bringing every guests in another period of time, not to say another dimension of romanticism, art, softness and refraishing colors in only a few minutes. We felt incredibly far from the busy big apple. Once I landed back on planet earth, I had the chance to interview Ines Di Santo. The Chanel-dressed, tiny and bubbly woman with an enormous talent nicely answered my questions:

LLG: For many collections, you’ve always succeeded to combine your personality to trends, and the result is always unique, different, but timeless. How do you do that, are you sourcing your inspiration from timeless designers?

Ines Di Santo: Christian Dior as always been an inspiration for me. Actually, french designers, and France is at the center of this new collection and always a bit subtly present in my creations. I’m Italian, I grew up in Buenos Aires, I studied with a French professor for years, and I now leave and work in Toronto, Canada. So, all of these different cultures have and keep on influencing my creative processes.

LLG: During this runway, I’ve sensed some Dolce & Gabbana vibes. Am I right?

Ines Di Santo: It’s possible! I wasn’t specifically thinking Dolce & Gabbana when designing this collection, but you know, we’re Italians! Italians love flowers! I just really like flowers and always end up having them everywhere.

What a nice and genuine woman! It was such an honor to talk to her and to attend her fashion show. We’re already excited for the next collections and the surprises to come.