Kirstie Kelly brings high couture wedding dresses to the mass market — and to the beach
“I understand the South Bay woman. I am a South Bay woman,” said Kelly. “I know who she is. To be designing for women in the South Bay is very fun. It’s incredible to be able to help influence style in a community that I grew up in, and I love working with the women here.”
She also said there is less of a difference between working with celebrity clients and more everyday women than might be imagined.
“I think high profile women are the same as all women,” Kelly said. “All women tend to have concerns about their figures – it doesn’t matter if they are a celebrity or a regular gal, everybody has things about themselves they want to change or hide. The biggest difference working with celebrities is a much tighter and shorter time frame.”
Her salon is a completely on-site business. The comfortable showroom in the front is cozy and classic, hugged by flowing, charming gowns encircling a comfortable area for the bride and her entourage to celebrate and plan the upcoming wedding. Her salon is more like a bride’s dream wedding closet than a storefront boutique.
“We get calls and emails at two in the morning saying, ‘What do you think about this nail polish? Will it go with my dress?’ or ‘Is this wedding invitation right?’ While we don’t supply those areas of business, we’re very involved with the bride and helping her make that wedding process as fun of an experience as it can possibly be for her,” said Kelly. “I’m not as concerned just with if it’s a dress that you like. It’s much more about is this the right dress for you.”
Not only will Kelly and her consultants find the right dress for you from their on-site collections, they are also able to make major adjustments to create that perfect dress, even if you don’t see it at the time of your fitting.
“Even if you try on a dress and it’s not the right neck line, you can always change that. It might not be the right skirt or fabric, but you can always change those things because our team is in-house,” Kelly said.
Andrea Zislis, a past client and low-key, self-proclaimed not girly-girl, came to Kelly after her grandmother refused to make her dress.
“I didn’t care if I spent $200,” said Zislis. “I didn’t think the dress was that important to me.”
Zislis looked and looked, but was unable to find the dress she was looking for, until she met Kelly.
“I wanted something simple, plain and elegant – but everything had beads and lace and I just wasn’t into it,” Zislis said. “I described what kind of dress I liked and she just whipped something up in like two seconds that was perfect for me. I decided then and there that it was exactly what I wanted.”
Finding her dress, contrary to what she originally thought, was her favorite part of the wedding process. Now she advises all of her friends not to skimp on the dress.
“Her love of what she just does just [transfers] to her clients; the whole process as just so fun and relaxing,” said Zislis. The drama of popular reality television shows like Say Yes to the Dress, which Kelly’s designs have been featured on multiple times, doesn’t faze her or her brides.
“I tend to think about getting married and being a bride not as a high drama experience,” said Kelly. “I think of it more as a personal experience and making sure you have everything you need from a personal standpoint. I think that those shows have brought people a better understanding of the bridal world, but at the same time they have done the industry a disservice because they show brides in a negative light. In my 15 years of doing bridal gowns, I can count on one hand the negative brides I’ve had.”
“I felt so lucky to get my wedding dress from Kirstie,” said recent bride Catherine Rodzinek. “It just made my day that much more special. The dress and the whole experience with her was just flawless. She makes true couture wedding dresses.”
In recent months Kelly has seen a change in the wedding industry.
“I’ve noticed how the brides are back in a place where they are thoroughly enjoying the wedding process and having their friends involved,” said Kelly. “They went through a period where it was really low key and didn’t have a lot of bridesmaids; during a period when the economy was suffering more. And you can tell now that these brides are coming out of that sense of worry. We have bridal parties where they have eight to 11 bridesmaids, and even one with 26 attendants. It’s so fun.”
The evolution of the bridal planner has also been an interesting change for Kelly. Brides are ditching the eight-inch thick binder and are instead planning their wedding on a phone or iPad, often pulling the device out to show inspirations and ideas from the web. Another change has been the use of Pinterest.com where brides are able to make a virtual inspiration board to share ideas with friends and family.
Other sites she recommends are greenweddingshoes.com, kissthegroom.com and, for destination weddings, jetfeteblog.com.
Although many aspects of the wedding have gone online, Kelly sticks with pencil and paper when designing her beautiful dresses. She can often be found sketching her next collection in her backyard or perched three or four rows from the back of a movie theatre (recently watching My Week with Marilyn), an environment she has often found creatively productive.
Wedding dress design truly is a way of life for Kelly. And in many ways, it’s about far more than the dresses themselves. Kelly treasures having a hand in some of the biggest days in the lives of the women she works with.
“I really enjoy getting to know my individual clients, helping dress them for whatever occasion it is,” Kelly said. “Whether it’s a wedding dress or something else, it’s very special for me to be a part of somebody’s daily life, or their big day. That people put their trust in me as a designer and I can give them my very best is probably my biggest achievement.”
Visit www.kirstiekelly.com to see her designs or schedule an appointment at her showroom at 1730 E. Holly Ave in El Segundo.