New York Bridal Fashion Week wrapped last week, and this season didn’t sort itself into a tidy trend report. No single silhouette swept the runways. What the week had instead was a handful of designers with a point of view so complete that a trend would only get in the way.
And we saw a lot of it. We had eyes on the ground in New York capturing the shows for us, and back home we watched show after show live on Instagram and read through every press release that landed. More than 50 designers were on the official schedule alone, about seven of them showing there for the first time, and that’s before counting the off-schedule debuts.
So we’re doing something different this time. Below are the three collections we’d send a friend to first: Alon Livné, Wang Feng Couture, and Berta. After that, the individual moments we keep coming back to, from Galia Lahav’s viral polka dots to a hat veil from Caroline Castigliano that has no business being this good. Let’s get into it!
Alon Livné
Alon Livné‘s show was the one everyone was texting about, and it’s easy to see why. He took his Fall/Winter 2027 collection, Garlands, to the bottom of the ocean. Wild pearls, shells, and conches are hand-embroidered into the gowns alongside antique jewelry, stones, and old metals, as if someone pulled a sunken ship’s treasure up from the seafloor and sewed it straight into couture. Nothing else on the runway this season looked remotely like it.
The collection moves between two women. One is a sea nymph, all light and romance. The other belongs to the deep: darker, stranger, a little bit sorceress.
The Ocean gown (above) is the sea nymph at her most regal. Silver crystals spill from a sculpted strapless neckline like a necklace that never ends, and the pleated chiffon and satin skirt flows into a train that moves like water.
This one is pure treasure, and one of a handful of showpieces from the collection. Every pearl, crystal, and Mediterranean seashell is placed by hand at the Alon Livné atelier. The showpieces aren’t part of the regular collection, but each one can be special ordered.
More of the showpieces, together. They look like a treasure chest pulled up from the seafloor.
Wang Feng Couture
If you learn one new name from this season, make it Wang Feng Couture. The Shanghai couture house debuted at New York Bridal Fashion Week this fall. Designer Wang Feng is known for architectural shapes and unexpected color combinations, and he has shown bridal in Barcelona before.
The collection backs it up. Hand-painted botanicals climb the skirt of an ivory satin ballgown, then trail down a slim column on the next look. A blush sleeve blooms off one shoulder of a mermaid gown like a single oversized petal. One skirt is built entirely from ivory rosettes; another look pairs a mini with a cathedral-length lace cape. Each gown feels like one very specific idea, carried all the way through. This is couture for the bride who wants a dress nobody has pinned yet.
The florals on the dress above are all hand-painted.
Berta
Berta did what Berta does best, and somehow found a new gear. The collection is built on corsetry: sheer boned bodices, lace that looks like it was drawn directly on skin, and necklines cut low and off the shoulder. Then come the details that make it this season instead of last: lace hoods worn like veils, opera gloves in matching lace, a back that dissolves into feathers, and a crystal-studded mini shaped like a little jewel box.
The closing ballgown is the one that stayed with us: duchess satin, a thigh-high slit, and lace boots peeking out underneath. It’s for the bride who wants to feel undeniably sexy and still completely like a bride. Berta has always believed you can be both, and this collection makes the case better than ever.
Feathers, fringe, lace chokers, beading. Berta didn’t leave a single detail on the table.
The Moments We Can’t Stop Thinking About
A show doesn’t have to win us over start to finish to give us one look we can’t shake. These are the single pieces from the week that we’re still talking about.
Galia Lahav: The Polka Dots
photo: Stephanie Lynn Studios
We were in the room for Galia Lahav‘s runway show, and this is the gown we couldn’t stop talking about afterward. It comes from ONE OF ONE, the house’s couture line inspired by 1960s screen icons like Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, and Brigitte Bardot. We shared it on Instagram, it took off, and by the end of the week it was one of the most talked-about gowns of NYBFW.
Lihi Hod: The Jacket and Skirt
photo: Stephanie Lynn Studios
Lihi Hod has been quietly building the strongest case in bridal for separates. In the spring, she sent a lace crop top and cathedral train down the runway over cargo pants. This season’s answer is a look called Rise and Shine: an embellished, long-sleeve open jacket, cinched with a wide belt, over a skirt of tiered tulle that moves with every step. Swap the jacket for a different top and the skirt becomes a whole second look for the reception. A wedding outfit you can rewear and actually move in is the kind of practical we can get behind.
Caroline Castigliano: The Hat Veil
c/o Caroline Castigliano
Caroline Castigliano marked 35 years this season, and the look we keep returning to wasn’t a gown at all. A sheer tulle hat veil with a wide brim, worn over an off-the-shoulder satin gown with lace trim, lace gloves, and layered pearls. It has all the drama of a cathedral veil with a lot more attitude, the kind of piece you only wear when you know exactly who you are.
Thirty-five years in, a brand could be forgiven for a victory lap. Instead, Caroline used the anniversary to open four new chapters at once, including a new bridal hat collaboration with Jane Taylor London, and says she truly believes “the best is yet to come.” This look makes her case.
Hayley Paige: This Pink Wedding Dress
photo: Stephanie Lynn Studios
Pink wedding dresses usually whisper. This one from Hayley Paige doesn’t. It’s rose from the corseted bodice to the last inch of the train, with a matching lace veil and lace covering a skirt big enough to fill the room. It’s a near twin of the pink lace gown Hayley wore for her own wedding. If you’ve been quietly wondering whether you can skip white entirely, consider this your answer.
Jaclyn Whyte: The One of One
c/o Jaclyn WHYTE
Jaclyn Whyte‘s new collection, The Exhibition, is eight couture gowns, and only eight. Each one is one of a kind, and the moment a bride chooses hers, it’s marked “acquired” and retired for good. Because none will ever be made again, Jaclyn put no limits on the handwork, and you can see it in the lace: a high collar fastened with a jeweled clasp, puffed shoulders, sheer sleeves to the wrist, and sparkle worked right into the lace so it catches the light without ever reading as sequins. Every gown carries a hand-embroidered tag with her signature and its number.
The collection is touring by private appointment, starting at Bergdorf Goodman in New York, then The Wedding Shoppe in Philadelphia, NWLA in Los Angeles, and Stanley Korshak in Dallas, with gowns starting at $15k. If you’ve ever wanted to be certain no one else will walk down the aisle in your dress, this is how.
Nicole + Felicia: The Feather Dress
photo: Stephanie Lynn Studios
Nicole + Felicia sent this one out with a sequined corset up top, and below it, a high-low skirt built from layer after layer of feathers that fades from champagne at the waist to white at the hem. The front is cropped to show off the shoes; the back keeps going. This is the dress for the bride who wants her reception entrance to be the moment.
KYHA: The Gold Ballgown
c/o KYHA
KYHA‘s new collection, Josephine, takes its cues from 1970s Spain, and most of its 26 looks stay true ivory. This is the one that didn’t. A slim, sequined bodice drops into a ball gown skirt that’s gold from top to hem, like the last dance at a party in the Balearics that nobody wanted to end. Founder Kyha Scott describes the collection as a shift toward a more individual approach to bridal style, and this is that idea at full volume. Something gold might be the new something blue.
Kristie Romanos: The Lace Collar
photo: Stephanie Lynn Studios
If the rest of this list is about taking risks, this one is the reminder that classic still wins. Kristie Romanos built this collection around gowns with immediate bridal impact and couture-level detail up close, and the hand-worked lace pieces are where that lands hardest. This is Aiden, styled with a sheer lace topper: lace climbs all the way up the neck and down to the wrists, sheer enough to show the sweetheart bodice underneath, then the skirt opens into a full ball gown scattered with more of it. It will look as right in thirty years as it does today.
Francesca Miranda: The Mantilla
photo: Patricia Silverio
Francesca Miranda called her Fall 2027 collection Floresta, and she brought the garden with her. Artisans from Colombia’s Atlántico region crocheted the giant flowers you see behind this bride, and the same blooms show up on the gowns themselves. This is the look we can’t let go of: a lace mantilla over a strapless sweetheart bodice, vines of lace and tiny pearls running the length of the gown, lace sleeves past the wrist, and a full mermaid skirt. Every piece is made by hand in Barranquilla, where the house has its atelier, and you can feel it in the lace.
Marrow Bridal: The Cat Dress
c/o Marrow Bridal
Yes, there’s a cat on it. A white corset with a scalloped hem and an embroidered kitten in a pink bow, over a full tulle skirt dotted with tiny flecks of color, styled with braids tied in ribbon. This season marked Marrow’s 10th anniversary and its New York Bridal Fashion Week debut, with a collection built around Jung’s idea of the “Puella Aeterna,” the eternal girl. Not a refusal to grow up, but a way back to the imagination you had before anyone told you to be practical. It’s sweet without tipping into costume, and proof that a wedding dress can have a sense of humor and still look like a wedding dress.
So no, there’s no tidy trend report this season, and that’s the best news a bride could get. When the runways can’t agree on a silhouette, there’s no wrong answer. Polka dots, a kitten, a hat where the veil should be, a jacket you trade out before the reception: the only thing these looks have in common is a woman wearing exactly what she wants.
If one of them stopped your scroll, save it, send it to the friend who’ll get it, and bring it to your first appointment. That’s the whole trend.
