STYLEWEEK Northeast

A sneak peek at wedding fashion ahead of the Newport Bridal Show.

By Rachael Thatcher

STYLEWEEK Northeast wrapped up its four-day run at the Rhode Island Convention Center with its bridal edition on Sunday, February 3, 2019.

The bi-annual runway fashion show’s winter installment comes a month ahead of the Newport Bridal Show, presented by Newport Wedding Magazine, to be held on March 3.

But don’t mistake STYLEWEEK Northeast for a bridal expo. The hashtags used on the STYLEWEEK social media accounts, like #SWNEBRIDAL2019 and #NOTABRIDALEXPO, ensure there’s no confusion.

While it displayed a bridal theme, this event was a red-carpet fashion show through and through.

The accessory showcase, exhibited in the lobby during check in, was presented by Uniquely Chic Vintage. The owner of Uniquely Chic Vintage, Briel Delmonaco, started her rental business about five years ago and does around 150 weddings and other events annually.

Delmonaco designed an installation of vintage furniture with romantic decor for the accessory showcase. “It’s kind of like an elevated boho chic,” Delmonaco said of the gilded furniture with velvet, tufted upholstery, softly lit candles and dark maroon and green accents.

The installation was accentuated with fresh florals by Jasmine & Geranium, a new-to-the-scene floral company based in Newport.

Jerilyn Gagnon, owner of Jasmine & Geranium, also provided the flower crowns worn by the Spark Bridal models, drawing on the style of the dresses to create complimentary arrangements.

“Laura [Zabbo, co-owner of Spark Bridal] chose the dresses and we wanted to go with a vintage boho look for the first one, which was kind of funky, but the second was a little more traditional with the floral applique on the top of the dress,” said Gagnon, “For the colors, I went off the pieces of the Uniquely Chic install. So I added color in there and used that with the flower crowns to make it a cohesive feel.”

Spark Bridal kicked off the runway show with a variety of nontraditional dresses, incorporating champagne and pink hues and interesting textures in addition to the typical white.

Following Spark was Aldo’s House of Formals, which has a brick-and-mortar location on Thames Street, showcasing a series of sharp tuxedos and suits with gilded designs, navy and maroon suit jackets, bow ties, velvet blue loafers and more eye catching details. Colors and patterns were the name of the game.

Aldo Segama, owner of Aldo’s House of Formals, said he curated his selection of looks based on the concept: “I wanted to show things people dream about, but don’t necessarily do.” He went with looks that are against the grain, something different. “I want to show your guy can still look smashing, and he doesn’t need to be in plain black or blue.”

Looking ahead at 2019 and 2020, Segama predicts peak lapels, which he presented on most of the models, to become more common. He says typically people aren’t as familiar with these collars, and as such tend to stay away. But recently he’s seen an uptick in interest, as opposed to shawl or notch lapels.

Next was Candice Wu Couture, showing elegant, elaborate gowns with intricate embellishments and lace detail.

Arianna Nicola Designs closed out the show and went outside of the box, mostly forgoing gowns for skirts, jumpsuits and more casual dresses accentuated by similar patterns and pearl embellishments marrying each unique look.

The 17th annual Newport Bridal Show, presented by Newport Wedding Magazine, will take place on March 3, 2019, at Rosecliff and OceanCliff. Jasmine & Geranium will be the floral sponsor at the Rosecliff fashion show, Candice Wu is a fashion show sponsor at Rosecliff and Aldo’s House of Formals will be a fashion show sponsor at Rosecliff and OceanCliff.

This article was originally posted on newportri.com, a sister site of newportweddingmagazine.com.

Click here to read the story on NewportRI.com