BY: Sasha Charnin Morrison

I knew it was THE dress when I first laid eyes on it. That Disney
Princess moment. I favoured safety pin bustiers from Moschino and cow print denim mini's from Fiorucci but for my wedding gown it needed to be traditional but with a chic twist. After a disastrous appointment at Kleinfelds (BayRidge)-partially my fault as I wore black tights-my mother steered me to Chanel and Norma Kamali. Chanel because-well, it was Chanel and Kamali because so much of my rah-rah grey sweatshirt wardrobe was from there as well as Norma, quite frankly is one of the most extraordinary designers of all time who is also a BRILLIANT tailor. Fit is key, right?

What did I see? A lookbook of several beautiful gowns. One I was
particularly taken with was a silk bias cut slip gown in white with a leather motorcycle jacket over it. How badass was that almost 24 yearS ago! Seed planted. I needed to find something to keep my shoulders covered for the Jewish ceremony so it needed to be something like THAT. I kept thumbing thru and saw this glorious silk taffeta dress which was layered with a shawl jacket. Enter Jade Hobson, my Vogue editor Stepmother who suggested asking Norma if the motorcycle jacket could be made in silk taffeta to wear over the voluminous gown.

Well, is the pope catholic? she not only made the jacket but she gifteD it to me! I. was. floored. Our first fitting was fantastic. Our third to last fitting Jade my stepmother and Norma circled me and realised that the jacket wasn't working. The shape was perfect but it was too puffy. Like mr. Stay puft man volume. Even at around 110lbs at the time, I still looked like a duvet (though, norma always so directional, was probably thinking of duvet outerwear as a progression from the sleeping bag coats). So they removed all the padding and the jacket fit like a second skin. One more fitting the day before the wedding did the trick and this was the breathtaking-if I may say so myself-result. This image was taken outside of the Royalton. Roxanne Lowitt did the honors. I am blessed. 23 years strong and better than ever and STILL
wearing Kamali!