Bridal Gown Designer Takes Another Path to Success

Bridal gown designer and owner of Dress as Ritual, Stacia Adams.

By: BROOKE NIEMEYER

Aspiring dress designer Stacia Adams, a tall woman with simple style, both in her appearance with unpainted fingernails and only a touch of makeup, and in her fashion designs, sat at a desk working on her latest design.

Her long, dark fingers held a Pentel pencil, used to sketch in one of the many design books she keeps on her desk. She switched to a Prismacolor marker, and the bright color brought the design to life.

Adams is one of many people who are trying to break into the fashion industry as a gown designer, but at the age of 29, she hasn’t made it yet, and statistics show it won’t be getting easier for her anytime soon.

According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2008 there were approximately 22,700 employed designers in the country, and the employment of fashion designers is projected to grow by only 1 percent between 2008 and 2018, making this a very competitive industry.

Despite the odds, Adams is still going after, what she calls, her passion in life.

A study done by the USBLS shows the majority of fashion designers start out by working for another designer in order to gain experience and an understanding of the industry before they open their own business, which is the path Adams followed.

After obtaining her associate’s degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology and her bachelor’s degree from New School University, both schools in New York, Adams went to work for designer Carolina Polokova, attending fashion events and cutting garments. 
Because Adams feels so strongly about having creative freedom, she decided to open her own business instead of working for someone else again. She now owns and runs her own bridal business, Dress as Ritual.

“The clothing label was created to liberate women from restrictive clothing and offer dresses that symbolize spiritual practice,” Adams said. “Dresses actually empower women and are a symbol of our identity.”

According to Dorothy Silver, the director of sales and merchandising at Kleinfeld’s in New York City, launching a clothing business right now in a recession is challenging, but she believes the bridal business has a better promise for success than other clothing industries.

“There will always be brides getting married every year, so the future in bridal will always be strong,” Silver said.

Dress as Ritual hasn’t drawn in the buyers Adams is desperately seeking and she feels she’s trying everything she can. She’s hoping getting her masters degree at New York University might be the answer.

“At NYU I am learning how to be a relationship builder and make connections with influential people,” Adams said. “These people can help me send a message (about my business) to those who matter.”

The USBLS says those who want to run their own business often combine an undergraduate degree in fashion design with an advanced degree in business, marketing or fashion merchandising, but this is where Adams differs from her peers. She is going for a degree in a field that studies are finding is dwindling due to the state of the economy—public relations and corporate communication.

"My leap from fashion to PR was a combination of hard work and passion," Adams said. "I believed in my unrealized potential as both a professional communicator and a fashion designer."

Adams did not disclose the amount of debt she has, but between the cost of materials needed for her business and paying for school, money is tight. She relies on student loans to cover her tuition at NYU, which as of spring 2010 was around $14,000 per semester. She runs an alteration service from home to help her finance her business.

While Adams says she does plenty of alterations, she prefers to focus on the promotion of her original designs for her company. Silver said self-promotion of dresses is important and even though there are major showcases for newcomer dresses to be seen, it is a tough industry.

“Every bridal market I go to has a section at the shows where they showcase new talent,” Silver said. “Some make it, and some do not.”

Adams likes to design when she has a specific goal in mind and tries to find inspiration to work on her designs as often as possible.

“Nature inspires me, and I think healing is a huge inspiration,” Adams said. “I rely on esoteric teaching as well as fashion pioneers (for inspiration)."

For Adams, these fashion pioneers include Iyanla Vanzant, Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta. She says the vision behind her dresses makes her unique and will help her achieve her long-term goal of having a storefront in SoHo alongside designers she feels her style is similar to, such as Vera Wang, Yoshiko and Ana Sui.

“I like to keep things fresh and in the moment,” Adams said. “Fashion is really about what is happening now.”

Silver says that no matter the economic situation, many designers don’t make it because of their lack of originality.

“You have to realize that most (women) have no idea or don’t care about the designers name,” Silver said. “All she cares about is how she looks in the dress. It’s the collection that has to stand out.