Amsale

Amsale

Amsale was founded in 1985 by Ethiopian-born American designer Amsale Aberra, who — unable to find a simple, refined gown for her own wedding — began making custom dresses from her New York loft apartment. Her clean, minimalist aesthetic arrived as a deliberate counterpoint to the ornate bridal styles of the 1980s and became the prevailing bridal look of the 1990s; Mark Ingram, who worked with her for four years, called her “the inventor of the modern wedding dress.” A graduate of the Fashion Institute of Technology, Aberra grew the business into The Amsale Group, acquiring the Christos and Kenneth Pool labels, opening a Madison Avenue flagship in 1996 and launching Amsale Evening Couture in 1997.

She was a member of the CFDA and a Trustee of FIT, and died in April 2018 at 64. The house continues under CEO Neil Brown, director of arts and legacy Rachel Brown, chief creative officer Sarah Swann and head designer Michael Cho, with every gown handcrafted using couture dressmaking techniques in the New York atelier. Amsale is a fixture of the New York bridal calendar and shows across all three days this season.

For more fashion week news, click here.