Southern California Brides : Page 2 / NEWS, TRENDS, PLACES TO GO, STUFF TO DO : Frustrated Bride Started Her Own Line
Amsale Aberra needed a wedding gown. But with every bridal magazine she flipped through, she became more frustrated by what she saw.
“Everything was so overdone with beads and fishnet and too much ornamentation,” says the 45-year-old, Ethiopian-born Aberra. “I wanted my wedding gown to be a blend of formal and bridal with elegant simplicity and clean lines.”
So Aberra, who lives in New York, designed her own: a white, beaded column dress with a narrow chiffon bodice. That was 14 years ago when she married Harvard law student Neil Brown, who today produces films. In 1986, she started her own custom bridal design business under the label Amsale. Her designs attracted fashion editors from Town & Country, Metropolitan Home, W and Cosmopolitan.
Two years ago, she opened a Madison Avenue boutique and launched an evening-wear line. She calls the store “a laboratory where we can find out what the customer wants,” which she says is usually style and comfort, elegance and simplicity.
Aberra was in Los Angeles last week, camped out at the Peninsula Hotel, showing off her evening-wear collection to celebrities Lucy Liu, Kim Delaney, Holly Robinson and others for the upcoming Emmy Awards telecast.
On Monday, Aberra will be part of New York’s Fashion Week. One of her wedding gowns will hit the runway at the NYC 2000 Fashion Show in Times Square.
Her wedding gowns are available in Southern California at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills and Costa Mesa. Mon Amie Bridal in Costa Mesa and Pasadena’s White Rose, a bridal boutique, also carry her wedding gowns, which range from $2,600 to $8,000.
