End of an era: Joan Pillow to retire and close Highland Village bridal salon
Within certain Houston circles, “Joan Pillow brides” are considered a big deal. And come Jan. 31, they’ll become a rare breed.
For more than a decade, Joan Pillow’s eponymous bridal salon has been a go-to for locals with designer taste. It’s not uncommon for brides-to-be to ring up Pillow immediately after their fiancés propose. Access to her second-floor atelier in Highland Village is by appointment only. And back in its early days, the Joan Pillow Bridal Salon was the only shop in town that carried two of the most coveted names in bridal fashion: Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera.
So on Tuesday, when the silver-haired doyenne announced her retirement via social media, aspiring “Joan Pillow brides” spun into panic mode.
“I will stay until the last bride is dressed,” Pillow told the Houston Chronicle. “I’m getting all these people calling like crazy, but I’m not taking any new orders. All good things must come to an end.”
She’s had a great run.
Pillow, 73, earned her chops at Neiman Marcus, in the Dallasbased department-store chain’s prestigious executive program. That’s where she learned the ins and outs of the retail business, and later worked alongside company scion Lawrence Marcus.
Then in 1989, Pillow opened her premier bridal salon in Atlanta. A second, luxury showroom followed two decades later in Houston.
But at the end of this month, she’s ready to close that chapter — and her bridal salon’s doors — for good.
“I don’t know long people expected me to keep doing this,” Pillow said with a laugh. She also said that the Atlanta location closed two years ago. “I just decided not to renew my lease. All existing appointments will move to the alterations studio.”
For loyalists such as Kathryn Hamilton Swain, founder of Colores Collective, the news came as a shock.
“When (husband) Colby and I got engaged, I knew that I really wanted an Oscar de la Renta dress. At the time, the only two people who carried Oscar de la Renta were Casa de Novia and Joan Pillow,” she said. “Honestly, they made me feel like I was a) one in a million, and b) like I was home.”
The Swains had initially planned to tie the knot in Vail, Colo. But family dynamics changed, and the couple landed on a venue in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Swain’s sales associate, Terry Cohen, handled it all in stride.
“Joan and Terry helped me find a new dress, the absolute dream dress, during a trunk show,” Swain recalled. “I’m almost at a loss for words, it was such a divine experience.”
The then-bride returned to Joan Pillow Bridal Salon to show off her wedding photos post honey moon. “It was like sharing with family. I’ve always referred people to go there for that very reason.”
Swain was so moved that she was inspired to launch Wed to White, a defunct e-tailer for wedding-related outfits leading up to the big day.
Margot Trevino Rosson ,an attorney, was an atypical bride. She’s not the type to bring in inspiration photos or Pinterest boards to her bridal appointment. All she knew was that she didn’t want a “big cupcake dress.”
“It was when everyone was doing lace, so that’s what I thought I wanted,” Rosson said. Her mother, Ileana Trevino, knew of Pillow through longtime friend Leisa Holland Nelson. “The dress I actually tried on was pink
— well, more of a blush. I’m kind of still kicking myself for not getting it.”
Instead, she opted for an ivory version of the strapless, silk Monique Lhuillier gown that took her breath away. Pillow ordered it from her salon’s Atlanta outpost.
“It had tulle gathered on one side and a trumpet silhouette,” Rosson said. She and husband Charles Rosson exchanged vows at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church and held their reception at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. “I put it on and just felt beautiful. I loved that it was a softer, less structured look.”
Nelson’s daughter, Laura Max
Rose, had a special request when she and Ben Rose said “I do.”
“Joan has been a friend of my family for a really long time,” Rose explained. “When I met my husband, Joan was always very outwardly excited about it. So two days after I got engaged, I went to her store — which sounds crazy, but I kept telling everyone, ‘I’m just going to look. I’m not going to get anything.’ ”
That all went out the window once Rose slipped into one of Romona Keveza’s designs. “Joan told me that was the right dress for me, and I took it as the word of God.”
And on her big day, Rose asked Pillow to dress her personally. “How you put on a dress can make all the difference. She has this understanding of what it means to be a bride that is a lost art.”
Area brides-to-be have only a few weeks left to shop Pillow’s curated collection and take advantage of her honed eye.
Nelson, who got engaged over the holidays, will be there to kick off her friend’s retirement in style.
“I’ve dressed so many debutantes who have become my brides. And I’ve made so many friends, like Leisa, who’ve become my brides,” Pillow said, her voice brimming with excitement. “She called me after the proposal and said, ‘Can you believe it? I’m going to be a Joan Pillow bride!’ ”