There is a certain electricity that fills a room when a bride walks out in a dress that was made for her, not just in size, but in spirit. At Elissar Bridal‘s exclusive presentation at New York Bridal Fashion Week, that electricity was palpable. Three collections, three distinct design voices, and one powerful vision of what it means to dress a bride.

We were lucky enough to cover this evening in partnership with the lovely wedding photographer Heather Pauline and planner Deborah of Casa Officiale! The event showcased new work from the label’s three exclusive designers (Monte Durham, Jenna, and Amy Kalinowski), each presenting a collection as individual as a fingerprint, yet unified by the brand’s founding principles. The name Elissar itself sets the tone. As creative director Jenna explained, the brand’s identity runs deeper than aesthetics: “Elissar Bridal stands for a strong Phoenician woman. It’s a Phoenician time, actually. And when I saw the word, I felt immediately empowered.”

That empowerment was on full display across all three collections.

Monte Durham for Elissar

Monte Durham (television personality, seasoned bridal authority, and now designer) presented a collection steeped in history and refined femininity. For Monte, designing a wedding gown begins with a single, grounding philosophy: “Do you feel and look like a bride? So own that when you’re trying them on, and remember you’re shopping for a wedding dress. Its one mission is to get you married!”

His collection moved through decades with intention. The gown Felicity (a clean, unadorned sheath) drew from the elegance of the 1960s. “I’m thinking 60s, right – very Jackie,” Monte says, noting it was styled with a French twist, clip earrings, and white gloves.

Belle, another standout piece, was inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt’s wedding gown when she married Franklin: a Victorian high neck with dramatic puffed sleeves and a fitted waist, reimagined for the modern bride. And in a nod to enduring chic, the collection closed with a reference to Coco Chanel’s little black dress.

Weaving through all of it, quite literally, is something deeply personal. Monte’s late mother and grandmother (women of formidable character who built impeccable style from very little) are ever-present in his work. His mother left him her jewelry collection, much of it costume pieces passed down from his grandmother. “Every time I see that, I see a touch,” he says. “Once the dress is actually completed, from the sketch process on down to fabric selection and fit, I look, and I go, ‘What can I bring to this? What can I do to almost humanize it a little bit, or bring that vintage feel in?’ And I do it through my mother’s and grandmother’s costume jewelry.”

For Monte, the legacy of a gown is not a sentimental afterthought; it is the point. “This dress will have a legacy long after I’m gone,” he reflects. “The dress will probably be in a beautiful preservation box. My work is going to grace magazine covers. It’s going to be in photo albums that are left to generations behind me, and that gown may surface in a few decades. What an honor.”

On trends, Monte is seeing a return to simplicity, less embellishment, cleaner silhouettes, and a growing interest in coverage through sleeves, capes, and higher necklines. He’s also enthusiastic about gowns with “two lives,” transitioning from ceremony to reception. His advice for that transformation is now the stuff of bridal legend: add a smoky eye pencil, a red lipstick, and chandelier earrings to your purse. “You get to the reception, the bouquet goes down, the train is bustled up, slip into those chandelier earrings, roll your bottom lip with red… Three simple things, you’ve got a totally different look.”

Femmora Collection by Jenna

Jenna, Elissar Bridal’s creative director, presented Femmora, a collection she described as being “for the everyday girl.” For Jenna, the collection is about accessibility without compromise: gowns that flatter every body type, blending clean classics with modern detailing, lightness, and one of her signature flourishes, the detachable skirt.

Her inspiration process is as layered as her designs. Jenna has long been fascinated by clocks, a passion rooted in watching her grandfather work as a young girl. “People don’t think about it, but there’s a lot of detail in clocks as in dresses,” Jenna says. It is an analogy that, once heard, makes perfect sense: both are intricate structures where every piece serves a purpose, and where craftsmanship only reveals itself if you look closely enough.

That reverence for heritage runs through her design approach, too. “I always like to honor the people who raised you,” she says. “Confidence, beauty – it’s beautiful.”

As for where Femmora belongs, Jenna resists the urge to assign her dresses to one kind of day. “For me personally,” Jenna says, “I like my dresses to be almost where you can relate to it as a bride. You can picture yourself on your day, walking towards the love of your life on a beach in Punta Cana.” Whether the venue is an Italian villa draped in florals or a barefoot beach ceremony, she designs with that bride (the dreamer, the hopeless romantic) in mind.

On trends, Jenna says she’s liking the shift towards more lace and drop waists. (Us too, Jenna!)

Amyléa Collection by Amy Kalinowski

Amy Kalinowski’s collection, Amyléa (a playful spin on her own name, spelled with a y per Elissar Bridal’s signature naming style), is a love letter to the fashion-forward bride. “It’s really meant for the very fashion-forward bride who’s not afraid to stand out and be a little bit different,” Amy says. “It’s not going to be the dress that everyone’s wearing. It’s going to have a little bit of some extra romance, even if it’s classic. It’s got a very vintage romance that sometimes feels like it’s from another time.”

 

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Photo by VVS Weddings by Devena Smith

The collection’s breakout piece is Rosalie, an all-over French lace ballgown that Amy set apart with a detail entirely her own: draped pearls cascading down the train in a tiered style. “It just came to me sketching,” she says. “It’s very cool to see that actually come to life, and being able to see the pearls strung that way.” The detail turned heads throughout Fashion Week, a quietly daring choice that felt both bridal and entirely fresh.

Amy brings a new perspective to the Elissar design table: she got married this past year, giving her an intimate understanding of the emotional weight of a wedding dress. “I think that you’ll know when you’re in your dress, because you do just get this feeling where you feel at peace in it,” she assures. “You don’t feel like you’re wondering in your head what you want to change about it. And when you feel that sense of peace, you know that will carry you into all the exciting emotions of the day.” She herself wore not one but two ball gowns on her wedding day, changing from one to another, a personal reminder that the right choice is simply the one that feels like you.

Looking ahead, Amy predicts a silhouette shift on the horizon. “I think the next trend is going to be the gowns that have no waist.” Right now, she’s watching brides gravitate toward classic gowns with a touch of lace, clean dresses with lace sleeves, timeless but still textured.

A Brand Built on Meaning

What makes Elissar Bridal’s NYBFW presentation so memorable is not any single gown, but the conversation between all three collections. Monte’s old-world depth, Jenna’s romantic accessibility, and Amy’s fashion-forward femininity don’t compete; they complete each other. 

Jenna perhaps put it best when describing the spirit that runs through every design in the Elissar portfolio: “I like to design, and I like to hear the feedback (good and bad), because that makes you a better designer. You’re listening to the feedback of your clients, the brides, and that’s what speaks.”