The Czarina first met Caroline DeVillo when she was looking for an evening gown for the Czar’s Major Birthday. Caroline is passionate about what she does and is “committed to helping brides find the perfect dress.” Those of us who have planned a wedding are used to hearing that kind of dreck to market everything from Waterford to Wellies. However, those of us who have actually met Caroline know that, for at least one bridal dressmaker, it’s true.

Caroline’s studio in Bucktown is cozy. All of her dresses are made locally. One of the best things about working with Caroline is that she can mix and match aspects from her designs to suit the bride’s particular taste and body. There is a dressing area, and directly behind that dressing area is Caroline’s work space. She told the Czarina with due pride that she was expanding the salon and she was going to add evening wear to her collection after previously focusing on bridal alone. Caroline and her assistant were working diligently on an evening collection and three new bridal styles to be shown at Chicago’s Red Hot during Fashion Week on October 11th, 2007. Right now, Caroline has the best sort of challenge for an entrepreneur: she is so busy making dresses she had to hire more help and outsource more of the work so that she could effectively run her business.

Follow up:

Prior interviews with Caroline focused on the interesting fact that she was a costume designer before she moved into bridal. Curious, I asked her what motivated her to make that transition. Caroline replied, “I liked the work that goes into bridal…I didn’t like the mass production” that can be affiliated with costumes or big-name bridal.

Caroline has an undergraduate degree in fashion merchandising from the University of Illinois. She feels that she was adequately prepared for the business aspect of fashion because half of her major focused on marketing. When asked if she felt that school provided an advantage over those who were self-taught, she said that she believed that pattern making is a special skill. Caroline felt it is a rare genius who can learn pattern making without formal instruction. When asked what designers she admires, she listed Carolina Herrera and Donna Karan, as well as some smaller independent designers. You can see the similarity of the designers’ styles to Caroline’s – they are classic, not “wedded” to any particular trend, and are timeless.

When starting her business, Caroline chose to begin small. She was careful not to grow too fast, a common business mistake. Due to this attention to detail, her business has doubled every year so far. She smiled and laughed, “I would like to stay at that rate.” While she plans to have her lines even more available across the country (currently they are available in California, Colorado, Texas, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Montana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Kentucky), her salon will remain in Chicago. She self-identifies as a Chicagoan and would like to be “Chicago’s bridal designer.”

Caroline’s bridal line runs from $2000 to $4500. She uses all silks, including silk satin, charmeuse, tulle, and dupioni. The lace she uses is Alencon lace and Chantilly lace. Because every dress is tailor-made for the bride or partygoer, 12-16 weeks of lead time is ideal. A shorter amount of time might incur rush charges, but it is possible to get a dress if you need one sooner.

I asked Caroline what trends she was seeing in bridal. She replied that texture, lace, sashes, and jackets were popular. For a bit of sparkle, a bride might want to consider a vintage-inspired brooch.

Myths abound in the bridal industry, and I offered Caroline an opportunity to refute a few. The first thing she said was: “There is NO such thing as ‘the perfect day’. Something will always go wrong.” She also said that it is definitely a myth that if a bride is overweight, she can’t wear a strapless gown. She said it depends upon that particular person’s body, and a strapless gown might, in reality, fit the best. The only way to know for sure is to try on different styles. While brides do come in with an idea of what they’re looking for, she encourages them to be a little adventurous and try on things they might not otherwise choose.

Finally, Caroline said, “You should wear the dress, the dress shouldn’t wear you.” She said that when heads turn they should see the brideand the dress should complement her. The overall picture should be “Wow, she’s beautiful,” not “Wow, look at that dress.”

CAROLINE DeVILLO BRIDAL
1616 N. Damen Avenue
Ste. #301
Chicago, IL 60647
773-342-0096
info@carolinedevillo.com