Danielle Frankel describes her eponymous brand as “a fashion label” whose “medium is bridal,” a small but important distinction that indeed captures her creative output. Remember, this season started with the exploration of an extremely down-to-earth fabric: jersey. “There are a few things I’ve wanted to do for a long time, including working with Jersey,” she explained in her Midtown showroom. “Jersey is a fabric that I simply live in as a person. I try to live comfortably, but this has nothing to do with comfort. I just thought [jersey] would be visually very, very new and perform well.
And so her super-soft silk jersey, with a hand that looked more like suede, was used in a springy strapless top in the shape of a babydoll, decorated with a small bouquet of real metal cast flowers, and worn with a draped skirt that reached the reached ankles. that was sure to make a beach bride very happy; while a draped goddess dress has subtle lace appliqués and has the sinuous lines of ancient carved marble sculptures. But it was Frankel’s application of the fabric to a ball gown with an ultra-low-slung, deep V-shaped pleated skirt whose bodice was layered with a sheer layer of sand-colored lace, appliquéd with contrasting ivory flowers, that the ‘fashion look’ first” distinction completely struck – it is not a pristine white dress, but instead indicates a deeper melancholy in its unexpected beauty. Certainly an emotional rarity in the bridal world, but not Danielle Frankel’s.
Even her more “classic bridal” proposals are taken to new heights: delicate Lyon floral lace is layered over honeycomb lace on a simple slip; on the other side, lace with cords was carefully cut into bias-cut strips and then reassembled into a sleek ball gown silhouette with spaghetti straps. “The other thing about this season is I didn’t want to do any tucks,” Frankel added. “We do a lot of pleating and I wanted to make a new version. That’s why we developed this technique with diagonally cut strips that almost look like pleats, but they aren’t.”
Elsewhere, a series of hand-painted gowns in silk fabric woven with metallic fibers were reminiscent of both Impressionist paintings: a ball gown with a subtly pleated bodice and a skirt painted with abstract dusty pink flowers against a sea of moody blues and greens that created the illusion that the dress was made of papier-mâché – and a romantic whimsy – as on an easy, sheer slip painted with cascading flowers, and worn over white silk trousers. The thick paint edges on the lace indeed appeared to be real petals flowing around the model. These two – along with another strapless sheer one with a little bit of floral on the curved hem – were made for ‘I Do’s’, but god, how amazing would it be to see them walk down the steps of the Metropolitan at this year’s Met Gala Museum to see walking . (The dress code, if you remember, is “The Garden of Time.”) “I think we challenge ourselves in different ways,” Frankel adds. “I want to give [our customer] what she doesn’t know she wants.”
