Farewell Priscilla!

In years past, Priscilla of Boston was THE name in wedding gown couture--- hands down. Now, with sadness we bid a fond farewell to this historied company.  Now we all know that there are many fabulous designers of wedding gowns, plenty of them independent----- but it is with sadness that a milestone passes us by. We're sharing this super interesting article from the New York Times.

A Last Sweep of the Gown

By TATIANA BONCOMPAGNI

Published: September 9, 2011 From the New York Times

"Janie Bryant donned a birdcage veil for her wedding last week in Los Angeles. It was a nod to the retro fashion Ms. Bryant has become known for as the Emmy-award winning costume designer for the television show “Mad Men.” Ms. Bryant also wore a strapless white silk chiffon gown she described as “almost modern Grecian.” But the dress’s maker was a name also synonymous with a bygone era in American glamour — Priscilla of Boston.

"And bygone it now truly is. Last week, David’s Bridal, the parent company of Priscilla of Boston, announced it would be shuttering 19 Priscilla of Boston salons and discontinuing all of its 8 higher-end labels, to focus on the growth of its core business. The stores will be closed after Dec. 31. “You didn’t think of bridal in America without thinking of Priscilla of Boston,” said Patricia Mears, deputy director of the museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan. Ms. Mears noted that the amount of news coverage that Priscilla Kidder, a founder of the company, received for her part in dressing Grace Kelly’s bridesmaids in 1956, and the White House brides Luci Baines Johnson, Julie Nixon and Tricia Nixon (whose lace dress was scandalously sleeveless), was unusual for that time.“She represented the high-society style, which she brought to the masses,” said Vicki Howard, the author of “Brides, Inc.: American Weddings and the Business of Tradition,” who credits Ms. Kidder for helping institutionalize the white wedding gown after World War II and, in later years, defending the formal ceremony against anti-establishment, countercultural pressures. “In the ’70s she had a sign on her desk at the factory that said, ‘Don’t Elope,’ ” said Ms. Howard, an associate professor of history at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y. “She was a voice of tradition.” Alexandra Lebenthal wasn’t thinking of tradition, or the Priscilla Kidder legacy, when she chose a blush-colored silk-taffeta gown from the design house on a shopping trip to Kleinfeld bridal salon before her 1991 nuptials at the Cosmopolitan Club in Manhattan. “I didn’t care who the designer was, but my mom had gone with me, and she knew exactly who the name was,” said Ms. Lebenthal, an author and wealth manager. “To her generation it was well known.” 

In 2004, Tanya Boland wore a high-collared lace and crystal-embellished overcoat and strapless satin gown to her candlelit wedding reception at the Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Quebec City. “What grabbed me was the craftsmanship,” said Ms. Boland, a mother of two in the Rowayton section of Norwalk, Conn., who first saw the ensemble in a bridal magazine. “It wasn’t your typical wedding dress with a veil.”
But without the force of Ms. Kidder’s personality behind the company (she stepped down in 1994 and died in 2003), the label has struggled to maintain its cachet in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
“Celebrity weddings are a huge part of what drives young women to certain designers, and because Priscilla of Boston was more classic, and she wasn’t one of the names that celebrities sought out, she doesn’t have that status anymore,” said Susan Allen, an event planner based in Boston.The economy hasn’t helped either. “The recession has made brides much more focused on their wedding spend,” said Brian Beitler, chief marketing officer for David’s Bridal, who noted that the average wedding dress costs $1,000. (Priscilla of Boston gowns begin at $1,500, and go up to $10,000; samples are currently marked down 40 percent, Mr. Beitler said.)“I can’t believe I am wearing one of the last gowns,” said Ms. Bryant, who married Peter Yozell, a tour manager who has worked with artists and rock musicians, including Morrissey. “It makes the gown even more incredible and bittersweet.”She also wore a lace blouse and multilayered silk miniskirt from the company’s Reverie by Melissa Sweet line for the dinner the evening before her wedding. “I love anything that is not as well known,” she said.

Maria Iannucci, a legal secretary from Central Islip, N.Y., was “blown away” by the news of the brand’s Manhasset store’s closing via e-mail last week. Ms. Iannucci ordered a drop-waist dress and cathedral-length veil from the company’s Jewel line as well as four fig-colored bridesmaid’s dresses from the Melissa Sweet line.“As soon as my fiancé proposed, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere else,” she said. “It makes me sad to think that it’s over.”