Runway brides unveil drama at Crème de la Crème Grand Wedding Showcase

“In some ways, I think it’s the most drama we’ve seen in the wedding industry in a while,” Soha Lavin, founder and creative director of Crème de la Crème, tells the Georgia Straight by phone. “Wedding dresses have kind of looked the same for years now, but this year, for the first time, there’s a bit of drama. For example, Vera Wang put black dresses down the runway.”

Lavin is referring to the nine gothic-inspired wedding dresses the designer debuted during her fall bridal show in New York last month. At Crème de la Crème, a few of Wang’s black dresses will be shown alongside ones by Oscar de la Renta, Melissa Sweet, Nicole Miller, and Romona Keveza, at the Four Seasons Hotel (791 West Georgia Street). The event runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with the fashion show at 1 p.m. (and an encore at 3). Advance registration is encouraged ($45), as the fall’s only bridal show regularly sells out.

“We will have Monique Lhuillier, who also put some really new designs—like not the typical strapless dress—down the runway,” Lavin says. “Literally, we have dresses flown, right after they’re shown in New York, into Vancouver, and we put it on the runway at our show.”

Drama doesn’t just mean over-the-top opulence. Lavin says that Ines DiSanto, a Canadian designer with an international following, presented modern, statuesque creations for her collection this year.

“Some are very romantic and very ruffled,” she says. “I could cry at this one [Lazaro] dress—it’s so gorgeous, so dramatic, so pretty.

“But some of the drama comes from just the silhouette of the dress, like not having a princess-cut dress, but something a mature woman would wear as well as a young bride—more couture-looking versus something that was just mass-produced in a factory.”

Lavin says that the boutique feel of the wedding dresses on Crème de la Crème’s runway reflects the approach she takes with the entire event, which includes decorators, florists, and cake artisans among its exhibitors.

“With Vancouver becoming more sophisticated, becoming more international, people are exposed to a lot more…There’s more of a European influence, and typically that means more couture, more expensive.”

While an Oscar de la Renta wedding gown costs upwards of $10,000, Lavin says that there is a demand for designer dresses in Vancouver.

“The wedding day is a different animal. It’s not the same as getting dressed up and going to a ball or fundraiser.…It’s such an important piece.”