Now she has opened up her own custom bridal and evening dress service.
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Nicole Kahlani in her gown, designed by Nicole Zisman (Photo: Omri Rosengart)[Missing Credit]
“My family was the first of our extended family to leave Venezuela in the 1990s, so when we returned it was usually for family weddings,” she tells the JC. “So that’s really how I experienced Caracas, through these simchas and ateliers.”
Zisman’s first commission was the dress she created for Kahlani’s wedding. She recalls: “One of the first things Nicole said to me was that she wanted her dress and veil to be dip-dyed, and my immediate thought was: I’m the only one crazy enough to say yes to this!
“It’s actually an unbelievably technical and risky process. To dip-dye a garment, the item has to be completely stitched – and once you dunk it in the dye, if it messes up, it’s done.
“The other challenge was, in order to dip-dye you have to wet the fabric, and silk dupion [which the dress was made of] stains when it comes into contact with water. So a lot of the testing was working out how to wet the fabric so that it wouldn’t leave a water line.”
Using the dip-dye process to achieve the exact shade of kiddush wine took careful handling, Zisman explains.
“Initially, the idea had been to replicate the purple from the invitation, as it’s one of Nicole’s favourite colours. I ended up experimenting with kiddush wine because I really wanted to use natural dye, so it was really a happy accident that we ended up knocking the colour into the kiddush wine territory.”
Another key influence for the gown came from The Ten Commandments, which the bride would watch with her father as a child. Kahlani was particularly drawn to the dress worn by Moses’s Midianite wife, Zipporah. Zisman explains: “This dress was really full of a ton of different references – from the film, from my brand. What Nicole really liked about Zipporah’s dress was that it had such a rawness to it, but still such a softness, which I think really comes across in the gown we created for her.”
The bride and groom, Nicole Kahlani and Joe Dancey (Photo: Roxy Lee)[Missing Credit]
Zisman finds the process of collaborating with clients on their bespoke orders to be a wonderful challenge. After an initial free consultation, she presents between five and ten draft sketches that they can refine before she draws up the final design. Further meetings focus on fabric samples and other finishing details.
She says: “The exciting thing for me is that it’s not just about my taste or vision, it’s about: how do I fit into the client’s world? What can I bring? How can I interact with their dreams and desires?”
As for her dream commission, Zisman tells the JC: “I’m really hoping to work with a Jewish bride with modesty needs, because that’s something that I have myself – all my family simchas, I’m having to work out how to take an existing dress that isn’t tzniut and make it tzniut. That feels like a very exciting challenge, especially as it’s something I’ll have to deal with myself when the time comes, God willing.”
