Man who makes women say Yes
Here comes the dress with David Emanuel in tow. The fashion designer to Hollywood’s elite takes on the mammoth task of finding anxious brides the perfect wedding gown in ‘Say Yes to the Dress UK’, writes Debashine Thangevelo
ADAPPER dresser – not that I would expect anything less – David Emanuel is also a delightful personality. But don’t cross him, especially when you meddle with the Say Yes To The Dress process for already anxious brides. That charm and patience is quickly replaced with snarky comebacks.
Tonight caught up with Emanuel shortly after his made his grand entry on stage, bopping along to Beyonce’s Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It).
Ensconced in a room away from where the party was happening, with the DJ getting the guests on the dance floor, Emanuel expresses his sheer excitement to be in the country and, of course, to be hosting the UK version of Say Yes to the Dress.
But before we talk about that, we touch on his career highlights.
After all, he is the man behind Princess Diana’s wedding dress, which wowed the world in 1981.
After that defining moment in the career of the Welsh fashion designer, he has been kept pretty busy by Hollywood’s A-listers. He has dressed the likes of Dame Shirley Bassey, Joan Collins, Faye Dunaway, Catherine ZetaJones, Patsy Kensit, Jane Seymour, Ivana Trump and more.
He animatedly adds, “Oh, there are so many career highlights. Obviously Diana’s wedding gown. Dressing celebrities for the Oscars. Working with Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna and so many. Everyone’s personality is different. That’s what makes it so interesting.”
When it comes to TV work, he is also in familiar territory having presented and consulted on a host of shows: Summer, Scene, Swank; Shop the World; The David Emanuel Fashion Show; The Make-Over Show and The David Emanuel Ultimate Make-Over Show.
However, when it comes to make-over projects, it’s not his favourite.
He says, “Eight years ago, I did Shop the World. I went around the world shopping, looking for stylish clothes at affordable prices. Aside from being in Thailand, I’ve been to India and Paris. And I’ve really travelled the world in four seasons. Been to Rio de Janeiro, Mexico...you name it, we did it. I really loved that. It was stunning. I wanted to prove to women that, with a little bit of creativity, you can get together a look.”
“But don’t ask me to do a makeover show (again). To take a woman, cut her hair, dye it blonde. I’ve turned down a lot of offers until this came along,” he shares.
What made it even more special is that he is a fan of the US version with Randy Fenoli.
Emanuel recalls, “It screened in England. And I’m a huge fan. Suddenly, out of the blue, I got a call from my agent to say they were looking for a host. Now I’ve done television before, so I went along. When they offered it to me, I said, ‘Sure let’s do it!’ It’s as simple as that.”
While he has finished the first season, which South Africans are currently watching on the small screen, he reveals they have already jumped onto the next instalment.
Okay, so bridezillas are par for the course with wedding plans.
But that’s not his biggest problem. More often, it’s their “entourage” that are difficult to please and meddlesome.
And some of their backstories are true tearjerkers.
He says, “I’m a pretty good judge of personality. I’ve been doing it for many years. I look at the colour, silhouette and so on. I often say, ‘You have got to trust me’. Particularly if she has shopped in four stores and tried about forty dresses already. There are also some that come through that have never shopped. They feel completely overwhelmed. Others are conscious about their bodies.”
Validation from the mother is also a big deal for some brides.
Emanuel nods, “She might want a ballgown but the girl goes, ‘I don’t want a ballgown’. Or she might go, ‘I hope my mother likes it’.”
Playing that buffer in an emotionallycharged room isn’t easy but Emanuel takes it in his stride and taps into his years of experience dressing women.
He isn’t impervious to those heart melting stories either.
He confesses, “Yeah, I get emotional. There was this bride who came in and she had a whole ton of weight. She didn’t feel confident about her body. I made her realise she had a great shape and told her that this is her moment.
“She cried and went, ‘I didn’t think I would ever look like this’. There was another girl with cancer and she had had a mastectomy. We helped her.”
The poignant stories abound amid the celebrations.
And for those that prove to be rather prickly in the dressing room, he knows just how to handle them too.
He recalls, “There was this girl, who was a size 10. And her aunt was really bitchy to her. When she put a gown on and came out, the aunt went, ‘Oh my god, you have got such big hips’. And I could see the girl and the emotion. I said to the aunt, ‘What is your problem?’ She went, ‘I should know’. So I go, ‘What do you know that I don’t?’ She says, ‘I’ve been engaged four times’. I went, ‘Never married?’ She goes, ‘No!’ I go, ‘What a surprise!… she was nicer eventually.”
Constructive with his comments and charming with his clients - that’s why he gets a, “Yes!”
Say Yes to the Dress UK airs on TLC Entertainment (DStv channel 172) on Sundays at 7.05pm.