A sombre close to the bridal fashion career of Amsale Aberra
It was a sombre end Friday to the last bridal collection created by the late Amsale Aberra, closing silently with the first gown she ever designed for her namesake line — a sleek satin column look with an illusion neckline from 1990, when so many brides favoured huge ball skirts and pouffy sleeves.
The music was shut off and only the clicks of photographers’ cameras were heard as the model in Aberra’s “A101” dress walked on a terrace of the Gramercy Park Hotel, on the city’s first warm and sunny day of spring. The model was of Ethiopian descent, Aberra’s native country, showing off the gown after a short video played of Aberra talking about her work.
“Every time someone came to say ‘I’m wearing your dress,’ it’s such a privilege to me,” Aberra said on the video. “It’s just a nice feeling.”
The bridal designer died April 1 at age 64 after battling uterine cancer. She worked until the final fitting on the Spring 2019 line two weeks before her passing. Her death was relatively sudden, said her husband and the Amsale company’s president and CEO, Neil Brown.
“The incredible outpouring of love and admiration for her has been such a driving force at this time,” he told The Associated Press. “It’s really been such a powerful energizer for us.”
Brown and the couple’s 30-year-old daughter, Rachel Amsale Brown, were in the audience, greeting friends and admirers before and after the show.
Aberra rose to prominence on the strength of “A101” and similar silhouettes, embracing a singular esthetic of understated elegance that carried her through more than 30 years in fashion. Aberra herself said it best in the video that came near the end of the show:
“The Amsale bride is someone who is classic but modern. Her approach in design is very simple and clean, yet sophisticated. She’s confident. She doesn’t like flashy thing(s) but something which is really good quality, and quality is important to her.”
Quality was of extreme importance to Aberra as well, whether she was serving clients of her couture Amsale line or the lower-priced Nouvelle. She was a self-professed perfectionist who before she launched her company put an advertisement in Brides magazine offering her services as a dress designer.