Here comes the bride, all dressed in… a nude Iris van Herpen couture confection with a 3.5m tulle. If tying the knot in an ethereal design by the Dutch couturiere doesn’t scream major fashion moment, then consider wearing it as a transformative moment for Elyn Yinyin Wong, the founder/designer of fashion label Stolen, who wed Dr Paul Tseng in October 2020.
While van Herpen is best known for her sculptural avant-garde designs that look like art installations, the Amsterdam-based designer does create more wearable designs for a lucky few. According to a New York Times article in 2019, van Herpen produces about 100 designs a year for her private clientele.
The bride and groom.
Besides the dress, Wong’s big day was also replete with various elements that would appeal to both romantics, art, design, and style fiends. Cue the 500-year-old antique Hetian jade emblem that one of her bridesmaids carried down the aisle (the gem signifies great fortune and health of the union) and the heirloom ruby ring from the ’40s which she paired with her dress – objets d’art full of symbolism that would also thrill any jewellery and vintage fiend.
Or how about the verdant arrangements by floral design company This Humid House, which decorated the interiors of her home? The architectural floral installations evoked a wondrous garden of botanical delights, unlike the usual arrangements you would get at a wedding.
Here, we get Wong to give us an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how she turned her big day into a stylish (and memorable) affair.
Have you always wanted an Iris van Herpen creation for your wedding dress?
I was never one to fantasize about wedding dresses. So I did not think about it until about six months before my wedding. But when the time came to planning for it, I thought it would be a great idea to get it from one of my most respected and favourite designers – Iris van Herpen. I am very clear in my head that I didn’t want a typical wedding gown anyway so a design by her became a natural choice.
We don’t have a Iris van Herpen stockist here. How did you get in touch with the brand?
I e-mailed them directly and got in touch to discuss fixing a first atelier appointment to take my measurements and for me to touch and feel some fabrics from the brand. We decided that the best thing to do was to meet half-way (the atelier is based in Amsterdam) during Paris Fashion Week in February.
How was Iris van Herpen like in person?
I didn’t get to meet her in person during Paris Fashion Week as she was very sick then, so we chatted over Zoom. She was very cool and chill and soft-spoken.
I bet the pandemic threw a spanner in the works for the design process.
Luckily, we got to meet the design team in person in Paris. It was during the early stages of the pandemic and we were not at all aware of how bad the situation was going to turn out. I was already very clear on which fabrics I was keen on so they brought along some of those fabric samples for me to see and feel. They were able to take all my measurements in detail during that meeting too.
Thereafter, the whole Covid-19 situation blew up in proportion and we were all on lockdown. The designer, the production team, the coordination team and I were all separated and isolated in our own homes. Now, this was where it got exciting because we had to do all fittings and meetings via Zoom!
They had to ship the toiles across the world to me and I had to try and discuss all details with them via Zoom. At some point, I had to be next to bare-bodied to allow them to make precise tweaks based on my body contours. It was really bizarre but I thought it was really cool to have such an experience.
Iris van Herpen’s creations are works of couture. How did it feel to wear couture for your big day?
Unreal – it was my first time wearing couture. We are doing another piece for my proper wedding celebrations next year and the brand and I promise each other that it will be a full couture experience for that, where I will fly over to their atelier in Amsterdam (for a proper fitting).
How long did it take to complete the dress?
From the confirmation of the design to the final production, it took four months.
As a fashion designer yourself, many would have expected you to wear your own design for your big day.
I was getting married in a Catholic church so I wanted to be dressed more respectfully. Since the backless feature is my brand’s signature style, I didn’t think a dress from Stolen would be appropriate. That circumstance allowed me to be “greedy” and wear something from my idol. So that worked out very well.
But honestly, it is a lot less stressful to leave the gown-making to someone else when it comes to your own big day. I’ve always thought it might be a tad too tacky to make my wedding be too much about Stolen. Having said that, I want to make a series of new Stolen designs for my bridesmaids and probably a second gown for myself next year for our first wedding anniversary celebration. That’ll be a big celebration for everyone.
Tell us more about the design of your dress.
I knew time wasn’t on my side, so we had to pick an existing design and modify it by changing the details and materials to something I’d prefer. The dress was based on a design from Iris van Herpen’s Aeriform collection (left) for its Fall/Winter 2017 haute couture show. I changed it to another material and asked for it in nude instead of its original white. And rather than having it as a dress, I had it turned it into a top and a skirt.
I adore all of the brand’s highly conceptual pieces but I had to be realistic about the design being worn a non-model pint-sized Asian woman like myself. So I opted for a less dramatic piece that I could carry off with my body shape.
Can you tell us more about the design’s distinctive embroidery?
They were laser cut strips of pearlescent polyurethane that ran through the entire body. The soft silhouette mimicked the lightness of air and the strips created an optical illusion of movement, like the fluidity of water. This was the concept of the Aeriform collection; it explored the different qualities of water and air and their relationships with our bodies.
What other interesting facts can you share about the design?
I had lost a lot of weight between the first fitting and the final wedding day. If we’re talking about normal dresses, it would have been an easy-peasy thing to just take in the waist – even more so since I’m a fashion designer myself. But because Iris van Herpen’s designs are made so meticulously, it was almost impossible to do such an adjustment with a normal seamstress due to the design’s fabrication and construction. Another interesting trivia is that although the outfit looked very light and airy, it was actually really heavy – things that we ladies are willing to put up with for the sake of beauty.
Why didn’t you go for a white bridal ensemble?
I went for a nude shade as I always think that gowns in that colour have a more otherworldly quality than those in white. I completed the getup with a simple tulle of about 3.5 metres long which was gifted to me by my dear drafter. I love the overall ethereal aesthetic of my look which reflects how I feel inside about this union.
When did the wedding preparations began?
If I can be very honest, I did not have much time to plan for the wedding at all. I wanted it to be a big party but the Covid “surprise” threw everything out of the window. Then it became a “let’s just do it alone (me and the groom) quietly in a church where no one will see or hear about it”.
But life threw me another curveball when my mum’s health deteriorated drastically just a month before the initial wedding date. So I decided to do a more “proper” wedding and to document the event as much as I can with mum; essentially it was a small ceremony in church and then back to our home.
What was the theme of the wedding?
The wedding was centred around things that represent me and my partner. So it’s an eclectic mash-up of different styles instead of one fixed theme. For the wedding dress, I wanted to fuse the progressive, avant-garde design of Iris van Herpen with something ancient and symbolic of Chinese tradition to reflect my own culture.
How did you fuse those elements of traditions and symbolism into your wedding while keeping it modern?
I picked jade to be the main stone of my entire ensemble, from the accessories to the ornaments. Jade has always been regarded as the most precious stone in ancient China and is a symbol of status and preciousness. Jade is also the embodiment of the Confucian virtues of wisdom, modesty, and compassion.
I even had one of my bridesmaids carry a 500-year-old antique Hetian jade emblem down the aisle. That emblem signifies great fortune and the health of the union. The juxtaposition of East and West, the modern and the ancient, was a clear reflection of my personal taste.
Let’s talk about the bridesmaids’ dresses. We notice that everyone was wearing a different look.
I feel like I have let them down. I had great plans to design original Stolen pieces for each of them based on their own individual personalities so that everyone will look different but the vibe will be kept cohesive with one similar hue. That had always been the plan in my head as I hate it when every bridesmaid at a wedding is dressed in the exact same outfit.
But when Covid hit, and plans kept changing, we ended up not having the time to customise the bridesmaids’ outfits, so I had them wearing their own outfits, but kept the look confined to nude or off-white tones. Of course, all of them looked fabulous.
What shoes and jewellery did you wear to complete your bridal outfit?
I had two pairs of shoes: a nude mesh Bottega Veneta heels with gold chain from its latest collection and a simple pair of Melissa nude platforms when I needed the height, stability and comfort for walking around. To complement the entire vintage vibe, I also wore a vintage ruby ring from the ’40s, and not forgetting the 500-year-old antique Hetian jade emblem that my bridesmaid was holding down the aisle.
What was that jade piece you carried with your bouquet?
As for the jewellery, besides my diamond engagement ring, I stuck to mostly vintage jade pieces to complete my specially-designed bridal bouquet which was attached to a jade sceptre. That was the beautiful result of a discussion with botanical design studio This Humid House which did the flowers for the wedding.
They thought that a bouquet of flowers was not me at all and suggested that I carry an object instead. I fell madly in love with that idea and knew instantly that that object would either have to be something vintage or a jade piece that’s meaningful. A jade sceptre in Chinese culture has always been a symbol of power and good fortune and its Chinese name ruyi loosely translates to “whatever your heart desires”.
Since we’re on the topic of flowers, the arrangements that dotted your home were simply sublime.
Due to Covid, nothing was firmed up for the wedding except for my gown and my house as the venue. So I pretty much had to work everything else around my gown and my home. I was also very clear that I did not want my wedding to look like any other wedding. I decided that an explosion of colours would work very well to frame my nude gown.
There are a lot of old wooden features and a dominant brown colour palette in my house. The vibrancy of colours would add a lot of character to my vintage furniture. Pretty and light-coloured flowers are usually the choice for most weddings, so my partner and I instinctively chose a completely different direction – something that was more dramatic with a more expressive form and one that’s super colourful.
Walk us through the different floral installations you had.
The staircase was the main feature of the house but I had a lot of pockets of spaces too. This Humid House settled on different themes for each corner. We dressed up the grand entrance with giant Travellers Palm leaves from our garden. This was followed by the elegant spread of greens and bananas and orchids in the lobby area, while the staircase was decorated with an explosion of colours. The Cigar Room and the second floor were decorated with huge Bismarckia Palm leaves from our garden.
Walk us through the different floral installations you had.
The staircase was the main feature of the house but I had a lot of pockets of spaces too. This Humid House settled on different themes for each corner. We dressed up the grand entrance with giant Travellers Palm leaves from our garden. This was followed by the elegant spread of greens and bananas and orchids in the lobby area, while the staircase was decorated with an explosion of colours. The Cigar Room and the second floor were decorated with huge Bismarckia Palm leaves from our garden.
Walk us through the different floral installations you had.
The staircase was the main feature of the house but I had a lot of pockets of spaces too. This Humid House settled on different themes for each corner. We dressed up the grand entrance with giant Travellers Palm leaves from our garden. This was followed by the elegant spread of greens and bananas and orchids in the lobby area, while the staircase was decorated with an explosion of colours. The Cigar Room and the second floor were decorated with huge Bismarckia Palm leaves from our garden.
Walk us through the different floral installations you had.
The staircase was the main feature of the house but I had a lot of pockets of spaces too. This Humid House settled on different themes for each corner. We dressed up the grand entrance with giant Travellers Palm leaves from our garden. This was followed by the elegant spread of greens and bananas and orchids in the lobby area, while the staircase was decorated with an explosion of colours. The Cigar Room and the second floor were decorated with huge Bismarckia Palm leaves from our garden.
Which was your favourite floral installation?
My personal favourite would be the room with the Cabinet of Curiosities which featured a full wall of antique glassware and family treasures that was littered with an assortment of elegant orchids. These items are priceless collections that were either inherited by our family from many generations ago; pieces that we picked up from our travels around the world; or simply items given by our loved ones that hold a special story for us. So nothing in that room is replaceable really – and This Humid House had very respectfully decorated that precious space into a gem for us.
Photos Jovian Lim, BlocMemoire Photography & This Humid House
This article was first published in October 2020