Batsheva’s designs have often been synonymous with bold color and prints. But remove the color from those ruffled, vintage-inspired looks, and you’re left with an incredible bridal collection. “I’ve actually had a sneaky bridal business since the beginning,” Batsheva Hay tells Vogue. “A lot of women come to me asking to remake or modify my existing designs for their weddings—say, in ivory taffeta. I’ve even had women send me pictures of a dress of mine they ordered ready-to-wear from my website in lace or PVC—not always even in white—that they wore at their wedding.”
The designer admits she’s been pondering what a Batsheva bridal outfit might look like since before she even launched her brand. “When I got married in 2012, four years before I started Batsheva, I remember shopping for my own wedding dress and hating everything I saw. Nothing felt like it had any personality and nothing felt like me,” she explains. The then-lawyer ended up wearing her mother’s vintage Mexican lace wedding dress for her ceremony, complete with a V-shaped ruffle that was later woven into her own collections. “Once I started making clothes, I loved how much I could celebrate being myself—being feminine and creative and doing things a bit differently,” she says. “I circled back to the feeling of shopping for wedding dresses, and thought, ‘It’s time to bring this energy to bridal.’”
Courtesy of Batsheva
Courtesy of Batsheva
At this spring’s New York Bridal Fashion Week, Batsheva officially entered its bridal era with a dedicated collection of wedding-ready looks. Dresses are constructed in elevated fabrics like silk duchess satin, moiré, and sourced silk jacquard to create unique heirloom ensembles to wear down the aisle. Hay collaborated with Michelle Copelman to construct these styles with inspiration from her previous collections. “We worked together for a few months, just translating shapes and thinking of a few gaps to fill in,” says Hay.
“The aesthetic is broad—I used references from the ’20s to the ’80s—but it’s playful and relatable, with a touch of high drama,” she explains. The designer notes that the process of paring things back was a welcome challenge. “There was something so calm about a clean palette of fabrics and colors,” Hay notes. “It forces me to really think about silhouette, shape, movement, and texture. I’ve thought a lot more about finishes, and also about boning and built-in petticoats.”
Courtesy of Batsheva