Vintage Wedding Expert | Nikolina at Andrea’s Vintage Bridal
Apr 4, 2014 | by Becky Oeltjenbruns
Image from Andrea’s Vintage Bridal
Finding the perfect vintage wedding dress makes your day all the more special. While we’ve got some great advice for fitting your body type, nothing beats firsthand help from a vintage wedding expert. Andrea’s Vintage Bridal has been a Minneapolis institution for years, helping brides find stunning gowns that complement their natural beauty. We sat down with shop manager, Nikolina, to learn her best vintage wedding expert tips and tricks.
Nikolina with Andrea’s Vintage Bridal
Andrea’s Vintage Bridal
723 West 26th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55408
Shop: 612.716.8006
Appointments: 773.255.2467
Gowns are shown by appointment only and are typically booked a couple weeks in advance. Please allow an hour and a half for your session and arrive makeup, lotion, and fragrance free. Nikolina recommends bringing a camera along and one to three close friends.
Regular store hours are Thursdays: 2:00pm-8:00pm and Fridays/Saturdays: 11:00am-5:00pm. Find more inspiration and information on their Facebook and Pinterest pages.
What brides experience at Andrea’s Vintage Bridal
The team at Andrea’s Vintage Bridal prides themselves on helping each bride complete her unique look. From Victorian dresses to dramatic 1980s gowns, any vintage bride can find the perfect match. Every personal session begins with a consultation focused on wedding size, feel, season, and venue. (The timing is very critical as fewer opportunities to meet with a seamstress means a more streamlined silhouette should be selected.) Each bride’s individual tastes are considered as Nikolina peruses her inventory. The shop typically houses over four hundred dresses at any time, so her keen eye keeps the appointment focused – helping brides find their ideal dress more quickly.
Image from Andrea’s Vintage Bridal
With the appointment underway, the team will make design suggestions for each gown. These considerations may include adjusting the straps, neckline, or skirt. By discussing tailoring, the bride can easily picture what the final product will look like. As more dresses are tried on and more feedback is given, the quantity of gowns pre-selected may change, dialing in to what each bride finds herself more inspired by. As Nikolina reminds us “be honest – be mean to the dresses, they don’t have feelings!” Carefully critique each dress and take note of how you feel in the different gowns.
While this may sound like a time-consuming process, most brides are surprised at how easy and painless the final decision is. Andrea’s Vintage Bridal is dedicated to making each bride feel excited about her dress and the team’s attention to detail makes this an easy goal to achieve!
Tips for buying a vintage wedding dress
When you are considering any wedding dress, the top three considerations usually are style, fit, and cost. While style is a individual matter of taste, fit is something that can be addressed and planned for. Nikolina advises that most eras are easy for a seamstress to alter; in fact vintage construction is far more forgiving than their modern counterparts. With this being said, bias-cut satin gowns from the 1930s do present unique challenges to even the most experienced tailor. While straps or necklines can be adjusted, the gown mostly needs to fit properly from the onset. In contrast, the more structured, princess cut looks naturally lend themselves to alterations.
Vintage lace and older silks do have special considerations. Chinese silk dating from the Victorian era through the early 1930s is often too fragile to wear. While mid-century lace will stand up to wear, it cannot handle multiple cleanings or excessive tailoring. For this reason, if you desire a lace gown it is best to look for one dating from at least the 1960s.
Sheer beauty, the Duchess of Westminster
The wedding budget is an important document for any bride and going vintage is a stylish way to keep cost in check. (For example, gowns at Andrea’s Vintage Bridal typically range from $700-$3,000.) Details typically make the most impact on a gown’s price. The level of lace or bead work applied directly correlates to the final cost, but there are behind-the-scenes expenses as well. If a dress has required extensive restoration, naturally the price will increase. Material quality is a secondary factor in cost with natural fabrics like silk, dupioni, satin, organdy, cotton eyelet, and silk chiffon being more of an expenditure.
Nikolina stresses that everyone should educate themselves about the seamstresses who create bridal gowns. Most vintage wedding dresses were hand-made by a family member, but some were made by companies. Seek out pieces bearing the IGLWU label. This union was dissolved in the mid-90s and as a result modern, commercial wedding gowns are not held to industry standards when it comes to sourcing employment. Beware of dresses made overseas. There are grave human rights situations in the wedding gown industry, so be sure to find a bridal shop that sources items from fair labor practices. Andrea’s Vintage Bridal prides itself on being one of the select, few brick and mortar commercial wedding gown boutiques with a complete fair-trade inventory.
Image from Andrea’s Vintage Bridal
Lastly, it is important for brides to learn more about what vintage style truly means. There is a lot of misinformation floating around out there, so it’s critical to understand the nuances of retro style. Sorting through look books to find the real vintage in vintage inspiration is something Nikolina experiences on a daily basis. For example, while vintage dresses showcase a range of silhouettes, they never outlined the hips or bum. Glamorous discretion was the key and it’s easy to find contemporary “vintage-inspired” gowns abandoning that sense of mystery for more body-conscious and revealing looks. Granted, jazz age evening gowns did celebrate the female form in an exposed manner – but wedding dresses have always been a more conservative affair.
This deception expands to headpieces as well and the birdcage veil is a great example. These are not vintage, but rather vintage-inspired. While they remain a popular trend, truly vintage veils were typically kept behind the head (worn at the nape of the neck or anchored to an updo), were symmetrical, and able to move with the bride. Retro veils were long and flowing or stopped short at the shoulder or fingertips. As a bride looks for her ideal headpiece, its best to consider how easy it is to see and eat with the veil on. A fun tip: wearing the veil in a more vintage position means that whatever angle is used in photography, there will always be a hint of decoration present.
How is a vintage dress different from modern dresses
Contemporary gowns and vintage dresses have distinct methods of construction. Modern frocks have layers of built-in bras, linings, corsets, and crinolines. Vintage gowns by nature do not have these additions. Because women wore more undergarments than we do in present times (slips, girdles, bullet bras, crinolines, and pantyhose) the dresses themselves were relatively simple and light. Retro gowns were designed to sit atop the bride’s already supported frame.
Image from Andrea’s Vintage Bridal
Nikolina recommends each bride finds a great slip and very supportive bra to ensure the dress fits properly. Be sure to get a professional fitting as the structure of your outline affects the final look. If you are in the Minnesota area, she personally recommends La Bratique in Edina with Macy’s being a great resource for brides nationwide.
How to let out a dress that is too small
It’s no secret that vintage dresses do run small and are especially petite in their composition. In fact, most gowns are best suited for a lady who is 5′-4″ or shorter. However, longer frocks do exist and Nikolina works to ensure that taller brides can feel right at home in her shop. Having a great seamstress goes a long way in helping this cause as well. By taking excess sleeve or train fabric, he or she can reconstruct the bodice. Using this technique results in substantial size differences: going from a size 4 to a 12 or a size 10 to a 16.
Custom pieces can also help enhance the gown’s shape. By fashioning new straps or cap sleeves with reused lace, vintage dresses can accommodate our broader, modern shoulders. Some of Nikolina’s brides also choose to incorporate legacy pieces (like their grandmother’s costume jewelry) in the redesign.
How to preserve a vintage wedding dress
The gowns displayed at Andrea’s Vintage Bridal are never dry cleaned, but are carefully brought back to life by an archival and restoration specialist. The team at Wedding Gown Care Specialist works on each piece once initial repairs have been completed. After a dress has been purchased, Nikolina suggests that it stays with the seamstress for storage prior to the big day. During the last alteration appointment the tailor will hand the dress over, steamed, pressed, and ready for its special moment.
Image from Andrea’s Vintage Bridal
In the days following the wedding, brides will want to take care of any additional cleaning that may be needed and purchase archival boxes and acid-free tissue. It is recommended that every bride takes these additional steps if they wish to pass their gown down to the next generation.
Retro wedding gowns can be just as stunning today as they were when they made their first trip down the aisle. We hope this vintage wedding expert advice helps on the journey of incorporating vintage style into your special day!
Cause a Frockus would like to thank their tremendous resource: Nikolina at Andrea’s Vintage Bridal.
For our readers: do you have any questions to ask our vintage wedding expert? Reach out in the comments below!