Here comes the bride and she’s dressed to impress

WHEN someone as put-together as Randy Fenoli gives you advice – you take it. And he has an encyclopaedic knowledge when it comes to fashion.

Viewers have grown to love him as Kleinfeld Bridal’s fashion director in the reality series, Say Yes to the Dress, on TLC.

In a chat with Fenoli, he was the epitome of charm. He has a quirky sense of humour and a genuineness about him. He’s also unexpectedly candid about his abusive childhood – and not bitter about it in the least.

He says: “I was born and raised on a farm in southern Illinois. I was the youngest of seven children, with one sister and five brothers. My sister was 14 years older. We had a 100 head of cattle. Now look at me, do I look like I belong on a farm? What were my parents thinking?”

Reflecting on his childhood, he said he took every opportunity to avoid chores that involved muddy labour on a farm: “I would do anything to get away from those cows.”

And then, when he was 9, his mother bought a sewing machine that, in many ways, cemented his passion.

He notes: “She decided she was going to sew for all the kids. My mother, unfortunately, could not put a hem in a terry cloth towel to save her life. So she put it in my room and said: ‘Do not touch my sewing machine. Do not touch my good fabric. And do not touch my good scissors – because every mother has one of those.”

Of course, the temptation proved too strong. One day when his mother was at work he broke all her rules.

“We had this long table, which is great for making dresses. I laid down a pattern, pinned it down, sewed it up, ironed it and put it on a hanger and hung it on the door frame,” he says.

Suitably impressed when the dress fit like a glove, his mother came home the next day with a pattern for a skirt she wanted. “Honey, I was in heaven,” he laughs. His dad was a lieutenant-colonel in the military as well as a professional boxer.

“I was generally his punching bag,” he says. “He abused me quite a lot on that farm. And I’m not telling you this to feel sorry for me. I thank him every day because he got me out of there and gave me the strength to be better than him.”

After running away from home five times, his older brother took him in. Fenoli completed his schooling and then studied to become a hairstylist and makeup artist.

But he had bigger plans in mind – he wanted to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.

“I saved all my money because that was what I really, really wanted to do. All I wanted to do was evening wear.”

He admits that his passion made him quite the overachiever at school. And in his third semester, he got to enter a contest only meant for fourth to eight semester graduates.

His submission caught the attention of the heads at Vivian Dessy Diamond, of the Vivian Diamond Company. Straight after graduation, he started working for them. Four months later, he had 32 dresses on two runways.

He was the No 1 bridal designer in the world for two years in the row before 9/11.

His fresh start in New Orleans went bellyup when Hurricane Katrina struck.

His return to New York after that is when he ended up on Say Yes to the Dress.

Oddly, he was never keen on doing a reality show. But when the producer pointed him towards a bride in a sweetheart pink and green mermaid, full bottom gown… he couldn’t resist the urge to “help”. Why do people watch? “We have an audience from 8 to 80. You have a little girl wanting to see those pretty dresses and the mother dreaming about the day when she is going to get married. You have teachers thinking about prom. Grandmothers thinking about their grand-daughters… and guys watch it too.”

Fenoli says everything is in fashion when it comes to bridal wear. He says choosing something that complements your figure and the theme of the wedding is important.

“I don’t have bridezillas,” he maintains. “I just have a bride on a pedestal whowants to look beautiful on her wedding day… and just wants everything to be perfect.”

And he has become Dr Phil-seasoned at dealing with meddlesome mums and family.

December 6, TLC.