More brides are choosing to forgo the traditional white ball gown for a black dress in order to express their personality during one of the most important moments of their life.
Yet, despite the color's popularity in ready-to-wear, there is still limited availability when it comes to black wedding dresses. When Starr Lively started looking for a “big and poofy” black gown in 2019, she was unable to find the look she envisioned despite looking “everywhere.” Finally, she opted to go directly to an independent designer who could custom-make her one: “They were able to take a design that I created and bring it to life.
” In the end, after spending a lot of time looking, she ended up finding a dress that matched her expectations — an A-line tulle dress with a matching veil that she paired with a flower crown. The lack of black wedding dress options is what inspired England-based designer Hannah Chivers to start her own boutique focused on black bridal gowns. Similarly to Lively and Kowalewski, Chivers had a hard time finding a black dress, so she decided to make it herself, which eventually prompted her to start her label“I got loads of messages from people asking, like, ‘Can you make me one?’” she says.