Antwerp, Belgium-based high-end ready-to-wear label Bernadette, founded by mother-and-daughter duo Bernadette and Charlotte De Geyter, is officially getting into the bridal game with the launch of its highly anticipated first in-house bridal collection.
The duo said they launched the brand five years ago with an emphasis on high-quality silk dresses in simple shapes with bold prints or pastel hues. Years later, the brand’s shapes “exploded,” with new volumes and the introduction of taffeta.
“Once that started, we started getting a lot of emails and [Instagram] DMs with questions about making the shapes in white,” Charlotte De Geyter told WWD. Naturally, they started peppering in a few white options within each collection and teamed up with Matches Fashion in 2021 to launch a collaborative bridal capsule of six styles.
The brand has on Thursday debuted its first in-house collection of bridal fashions and wedding dresses designed to cater to a wide variety of customers.
“We looked at the past five years of all of our shapes and signatures, as well as all of the requests we had from brides,” the duo said. “We have a lot of silhouettes in our signature taffeta with big volumes, such as a perfect coat and dresses with signature bows. There are dresses for summer, but also for autumn and winter, and lots of different shapes and for different ages.”
For instance, the Pam silk satin slipdress with pink rosette detail was a favorite they brought back. Initially, it was designed with a shorter hem in cotton and positioned as more of a sporty or vacation takeaway style, but was updated to be more “festive, bridal and glamorous.” Ditto to the collection’s swing coat and customer-requested Bernadette icons, like the roomy Nathalie dress.
The debut bridal collection includes an array of silk satin, silk velvet, taffeta and heavy crepe styles ranging from minidresses (said to be a big request from customers) and matching sets to layerable cozy knits and simplistic, voluminous gowns with puffed sleeves, enveloping capes, big bows, rosette accents and new accessories.
“Our customer loves glamour, but she also loves balancing dressing up and dressing down. She really styles the dress in her own way, so we also have fun accessories like the roses, embroidered gloves and veils. It’s also important that she can wear the dress later [beyond her wedding day]. There’s a big price range, so you can wear the dresses also in a casual way. I also feel she wants to wear different dresses for the different occasions,” Charlotte De Geyter added.
The collection is available to shop via the brand’s e-commerce, with prices ranging from $875 to $2,150 (with tops starting at $490). Going forward, the duo plans to release one bridal collection a year, in January, with around 15 to 20 silhouettes.
“For us, I’m really excited to see the brides. It’s nice to see all the different silhouettes and to imagine how every dress can really suit a different kind of party and atmosphere, because it’s not just about the dress, but the entire party, location, food, etc. Every dress has a little universe,” De Geyter said.
