The Craft of Bridal Couture with Kelly of Modern Trousseau

From studying fashion in Australia to establishing her bridal company in the US, Callie shares how she crafted her brand and the evolution of her design process. We also delved into the expansion of the Australian wedding industry, and Callie’s inspiring tenure with Mariana Hardwick that ignited her love for bridal designs.

In the second part of our conversation, we got the scoop on the meticulous manufacturing process behind Modern Trousseau's stunning gowns. We get an in-depth look at how the choice of fabric often shapes her designs and the lengths she and her team go to, ensuring every dress is a finished masterpiece. 

Another fun fact you’ll learn in this episode is how Modern Trousseau got its name! 

Special series season in partnership with Coded Agency
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Launched in 1986, Modern Trousseau is well-established as the preferred design house for brides worldwide. As the hallmark of the Modern Trousseau label, owner Callie Tein’s designs center around luxury laces and fine French and Italian fabrics. Her distinctive designs have been featured in many top print and online publications, including Vogue, Inside Weddings, People Magazine, Brides, Martha Stewart Weddings, The Knot, Style Me Pretty and countless more.

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moderntrousseau/

Places to go - People to see:

Kelly's Site: http://www.kellymcwilliams.com
Kelly's Blog: https://www.kellymcwilliams.com/blog
Instagram: @kellyamcwilliams

About Kelly:
Kelly knows how incredible a well planned wedding can be. Every moment counts and every decision plays a part. Wedding planning should be fun and as easy to do as possible. Besides planning weddings, Kelly travels the globe as an industry speaker. Kelly is a Martha Stewart Top Wedding Planner & this podcast won Brides magazine and WeddingWire's best podcast.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

Hello and welcome to this Versus that making wedding decisions with Kelly McWilliams. This podcast is for you if you're making a wedding decision and want to know what to consider before saying I do to all the things that will make your wedding experience a great one. I'm your host, kelly McWilliams, and I'm so glad to be a part of your wedding planning journey. In each episode, you can count on me and my expert wedding co-hosts to give you everything it takes to make the best decisions for the wedding that you're dreaming of. And we're back, so this one.

Speaker 1: 0:46

I love the beginning of this episode with Kelly from Modern Trousseau. We hit it off instantly and, oh, as a reminder, we're here at Melange de Blanc at New York Bridal Market Fashion Week and it is noisy, guys. You're going to hear it through all of these episodes in this mini series as we interview all of the top designers, and I just want to make sure that you're learning to that, if you haven't listened to the last few episodes that this conversation with Kelly was so cool because we learned about how the name from Modern Trousseau came to be. So I hope you enjoy this one. I definitely did, kelly. Thank you so much for coming in today. I'm so excited. Thank you for having me. This is quite the week here in New York.

Speaker 2: 1:42

Yes, it is, yes, it is.

Speaker 1: 1:44

And I'm so glad you're here, and we were talking when you came in that you're from New Zealand, australia, originally, but you're here in New York now. Yes, and we're here in the United States. That's great. So I'd love for you to tell us how Modern Trousseau came to be. I also want to know about the name, like how you decided on that name? Is there a story behind it?

Speaker 2: 2:10

Well, there is. So I was struggling to come up with a name and I found the word trousseau in the dictionary and I saw that it meant the definition was what the bride wears. I thought, oh, it's perfect, but you can't trademark a word like trousseau. It has to be something.

Speaker 2: 2:30

So I came up with bridal trousseau and different things, and nothing. In Australia, where I registered the name first, you have three options, ok, and so I did two, and I couldn't think of the third one and my sister said, well, what about Modern Trousseau? So I wrote one trousseau on the piece of paper and then a few weeks later it came back and that was the one they selected.

Speaker 1: 2:56

That is, oh, because they tell you yes.

Speaker 2: 2:59

They tell you what it's going to be. Yes, you give three options and then they pick one Are you excited when that one is. I was, and I said to my sister look, I chose your name. What were the other two that you put on? I can't even remember.

Speaker 1: 3:12

You don't even remember, I don't even remember, but I'm so glad that it was option three. Yeah, that was my third choice.

Speaker 2: 3:18

Oh, that was a third choice. That was a third choice. I put my sisters down as the third choice and that was the one that was selected. So, montreuseau, that's how the name came about. And when was that? Oh gosh, too long ago, too long. Well, I mean no, before 2000. I think it was sometime in the 90s. I ran a business in Australia doing bridal gowns. Oh, okay, yeah, and I had that business for a while and then my husband got a job in the states and you know how, about, if you come over here and we, you know, set up a new business over here and I Saw it. Wow, that sounds great.

Speaker 2: 3:58

You were looking forward to it I was actually because I came over to America and I realized that it's just, it's really well run over here at the wedding industry in Australia at that time. I don't know exactly what's like in Australia now, but it was much smaller.

Speaker 1: 4:12

We didn't have a bridal market.

Speaker 2: 4:14

Oh yeah, there was no bridal market. So I remember when I wanted to start selling my gowns to the stores. I really should go through telephone book, which I don't know if anyone has. A telephone book is anymore.

Speaker 1: 4:25

But I can't have these books.

Speaker 2: 4:29

And the first one I found was Abby bridal and I called them up and they said I'll take a look. And so I started wholesaling to Abby bridal, which is actually, I think it's part of the Maggie Cetero Lion yeah, but that's was cool in Australia. So I started selling versus wholesale there and and I was, oh, this selling is great. And so when I came to America I thought, oh, you know, this is such a wonderful market, is such a great opportunity for me to set up my business, and started, and I Started in the basement of my house and I started my first collection myself, did you?

Speaker 1: 5:03

really did?

Speaker 2: 5:04

I did all the patterns, I did all the draping, all the cutting, all the soul. Did you go to fashion school?

Speaker 2: 5:09

Yes, Okay, I went to fashion school in Australia. I went to RMIT, okay, and I had three years of just having fun and being crazy with fashion and I got out into the real world and what am I gonna do? But my mother said, you know, I think she was terrified that I wasn't going to be able to find a job. So she found a job in a newspaper and again, I'm not sure people notice that jobs used to be advertised in newspapers.

Speaker 1: 5:33

Yes.

Speaker 2: 5:34

And I went for the job with a company called Mariana Hardwick and the company is still going in Australia and I got the job and I just fell in love with bridal. It wasn't something that I thought.

Speaker 1: 5:47

Did you design anywhere? I was Okay.

Speaker 2: 5:49

Yeah, I was designer, for we didn't have destination weddings, we called them informal weddings. Oh, so I was the informal weddings designer. Got it? Yeah, so the gowns were kind of simpler, easier, and I loved it. I just fell in love with it and I've enjoyed it ever since. Okay, so it was all my mother, all my mother, your mom, yeah, my mom. Thanks mom, thanks mom.

Speaker 1: 6:14

So your husband said we're going to move to the US and you came here and then that's when you were introduced to bridal markets. Like what would?

Speaker 2: 6:21

you know, yes, yes, so like your, bridal market was happening.

Speaker 2: 6:25

Yes, I got a job in a bridal store because I wanted to see how it worked, and they said they were going off to bridal market. What's that? And they told me all about it, and sometime later I got the opportunity to go to bridal market and see what it was all about. I thought this is fantastic and so I started. I had two small children in the meantime, so I waited until they'd rent me the garden. I had some time and then I started playing. I've been playing some face masks and I was very lucky. I was able to grow it and Out of your basement.

Speaker 1: 7:02

Out of my basement.

Speaker 2: 7:04

And then I found stores, okay, and I did trunk shows and I started selling one or two here or there and then it just started to grow.

Speaker 1: 7:13

And yeah, it was fantastic. I love that and so, and now. So, from a place where you are just like going like direct people, to being in a place like this, melange de Blanc, where they have bring all the designers and you can do the shows and it's game changer.

Speaker 2: 7:31

Oh, absolutely Absolutely, Because you know, when you're in a show like this, you get a lot of international buyers. I've had buyers from Brazil and Japan, all over coming to see us, even Australia. Some of them are Australians too, and it's funny because we actually don't sell our gowns in Australia at the moment.

Speaker 1: 7:48

Oh really Well, maybe now that could change.

Speaker 2: 7:52

So it's just wonderful to have that exposure.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Well, so in those instances where you don't have the gowns, like in salons, like somewhere like Australia, someone can still get your dresses right. Yes, so would they be ordering online or they have to contact a store that's in Govair? They would have to contact a store, or?

Speaker 2: 8:13

contact me directly because we did have a dress. We did a short dress many, many, many years ago, before anyone was doing short-way dresses, and it was really just for fun and it just took off and we used to get calls from like people in Poland and Ireland oh my gosh, can you send me this dress? Can you send me this dress? Okay, give it to your measurements. Yeah, we'll send you the dress, but usually if somebody wants something to say, they can call us directly and we'll figure it out and figure out a way that is so cool.

Speaker 1: 8:44

That is so cool. Okay. So tell me about like your current life, like what we're going to see, like I'm so excited. I can tell you're excited. That's one thing about podcasts that are so bad. Is that the second I say that to people, to the designers that come in and sit in here like they glow and they smile. Immediately your excitement is there.

Speaker 2: 9:06

Because you put your heart and soul into every collection or at least I do and I'm so lucky because I have a wonderful team of seamstresses and people that I work with who can interpret my sketches and my way of thinking and my aesthetic, and we all work together to make these gowns and I think the collection is amazing. I think everyone did a great job and they really pulled it together. There's always some last minute dresses and fabric that arrives late that you're tearing your hair out, but everything came and everything looks great and wonderful and I'm just really happy that it turned out so well.

Speaker 1: 9:46

Tell me, what your process is for like your, I mean, because you've been doing this for a long time, yes, and you know, I'm sure there's times and seasons where it comes really easily to you. But, like for this season, was it that you were inspired by fabrics that you came across or things that you saw out in art, or what it's really thought?

Speaker 2: 10:07

because, I just recently moved to Washington DC so I've been going to a lot of museums and things like that.

Speaker 2: 10:14

So one of our dresses, willow, is very architectural Willow and it's like sculpture. So it's actually a really classic, simple, strapless gown and then it has these beautiful flowers that we made, giant leaves, that kind of cascade down the side and it just it looks like sculpture, like when you're making this. So basically, I was in the workroom and I just wrapped a whole lot of leftover fabric and I went in and I said, alright, I'm going to sculpt this piece that I want Because you can do a sketch, but it doesn't really mean a lot. You have to really put it together and see how the fabric works, because you can't fight with your fabric. You have to work with it, because the fabric always wins, so it doesn't matter. You just have to choose the right fabric and work with it and see, as you're molding it and you're making things, how it turns out.

Speaker 1: 11:08

So what do you do when you are sketching your designs? Do you have fabrics in mind for it already, or does it go the other way around? It goes both ways.

Speaker 2: 11:19

So sometimes the fabric literally talks to me and directs me and I feel like I'm not even there. I'm just doing what the fabric wants me to do with it. And that's a wonderful experience because you're really in the zone and that just flows. And sometimes those designs just come really easy. And sometimes you do a sketch and you think, oh, this is going to be great. And then you start trying to put it together and you realize oh, that's great.

Speaker 2: 11:45

There are complications here and this fabric just doesn't want to do this. So then again, I listen to the fabric and I let it do its own thing, because you want the fabric to sit beautifully and fold beautifully, so you just have to go with it, and sometimes that also is a way to create a really beautiful gown and maybe something really original that you didn't originally come up with. But here it is unfolding in front of you.

Speaker 1: 12:10

And that's also a great experience.

Speaker 2: 12:11

So designing is it's challenging, but it's wonderful.

Speaker 1: 12:15

Oh my gosh, I can't imagine what it's like when you actually I know you go from like you're just piecing it together, like you said the flower that you did for this dress, when you're, when you like, the first dress of the line, like you starting a new season. Do you find? Do you already have like all the like you've sketched out for all 12? Do you find that, like, once you start one that you decide you're going to change another one a little bit, or does that?

Speaker 2: 12:45

ever happen. Well, the sketches that we start with and all the sketches we end up with, I had a.

Speaker 1: 12:51

That's what I think. That's kind of where it's going.

Speaker 2: 12:53

It's a very fluid process, because again, sometimes something on paper looks really good and then you make it and it's like oh, actually that's not great.

Speaker 1: 13:01

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 13:02

Like, I'm not in love with that. So we're very fussy and we will pull things apart and restart them.

Speaker 1: 13:11

That's part of the course, I guess. And do those end up being like your, like your final moments, usually on the runway?

Speaker 2: 13:18

Yes, yes, they do, I think, because that's when the magic happens, that's when everything just comes together.

Speaker 1: 13:27

So when it comes to monitors, so do you guys just have one line or do you have like multiple? Just one, okay. And when someone like goes to or they find your brand and they love it, is it just that what is available online for just one season, or can they go back and get?

Speaker 2: 13:49

other ones. Okay, we have some dresses that are classics, if I can get the fabric.

Speaker 1: 13:57

I'm gonna make it. Okay, got it and I, from someone else, came in here earlier and they were like all that fabrics on it was like their favorite one, and they found it in the back of a room from like 30 years ago or something. It's like, oh, it was you and I was like that's sad.

Speaker 2: 14:16

I know, I know, sometimes fabrics get discontinued and then you just have to move on.

Speaker 1: 14:21

Oh gosh. So um, do you go to like normally they have like fabric markets or something like that, like, what is that where you start? Usually no, or you start with the sketches.

Speaker 2: 14:34

Well, a lot of fabric. People send me things. Oh, okay, but I do. I come into New York and I scow fabrics and people come with fabrics and yeah, that starts the process.

Speaker 1: 14:47

You know what? That just reminded me that you said, because you told me that you actually manufacture here in the States, which some of our audience. That's important to them, you know, and I think that's lovely that you do and that's right here in Connecticut In.

Speaker 2: 15:03

Connecticut. Yes, that's amazing. It is amazing. Like I said, I have an amazing team of seamstresses and the way we work is kind of old-fashioned dressmaking. So we will often make a twile, which is the dress in a cotton fabric.

Speaker 1: 15:18

Not it to get the fit. To get the fit. Yeah, you can see them piecing it Okay.

Speaker 2: 15:22

And that allows us to get the fit right. Oh and then. So the girls will come in and try on the twiles and the stores and then we send them back to Connecticut and they take that apart and they use that as the pattern for the dress.

Speaker 1: 15:36

Oh, so that's how it happens, yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:38

Not for every single girl, something who don't need a twile. They might fit perfectly into the sample, but for others I think it's really essential.

Speaker 1: 15:49

That is amazing. Yeah, so it goes from that very simple state Uh-huh, how long does that process?

Speaker 2: 15:57

Well, I get asked that all the time. It depends.

Speaker 1: 16:00

Okay, um, what's the shortest time frame you've had?

Speaker 2: 16:04

Oh, my goodness, I think, uh, four weeks, get out of town and a girl who wanted an Audrey Hepburn inspired dress and it was beautiful and she couldn't find it anywhere. So she came in and her wedding was getting closer and closer. I said, look, if you make the decision today, I can do it. So she said, okay, let's do it. So, um, they made the pattern in Connecticut. They sent the twile or muslin down to me, I did the fittings into photos, sent it back, just came back. I needed just a couple of small twigs and it was good to go and she looked amazing and she was just so happy and thankful that she could wear the dress she wanted.

Speaker 1: 16:39

Yeah, yeah, how often is it that the girls, because you have so is it that sometimes they come in and they're getting like more of a culture where it's you know, one-on-one, like you're building it specifically for them?

Speaker 2: 16:53

Yes, yes, and you're like a part of a collection too, is that right? Yes, so people usually start off with the collection and most people just make small tweaks to dresses but there are some girls who just want something very specific.

Speaker 1: 17:06

So we're trying to cater for them as well. Okay, and do any of those ever end up being part of a line?

Speaker 2: 17:15

Sometimes, yes, we. Once I was in the store and I had a dress and the girl said I love the top, but I just I love big skirt.

Speaker 2: 17:26

And you know, we went through the whole collection and then finally her father said can you just put a big skirt on this dress? And I looked at him. I said yes, we can. So we took the original top that she liked and we put on this big skirt and it was so beautiful that I ended up putting it in the collection and it became like a number one best-selling dress. Oh my gosh, yes.

Speaker 1: 17:47

Was she like over the moon about that? I think she was, and her dad was great. That's what I say. Her dad was probably like and he was just.

Speaker 2: 17:54

He was not a design person or anything Like. He basically just came there to hand over a credit card to pay for the dress and then got pulled into this whole conversation and ended up. He was the one who said well, just put a full on this top.

Speaker 1: 18:07

Well, he was like here, like an equation. Yes, this is the problem, this is the facts.

Speaker 2: 18:12

Yes, I need to solve this for these girls. Yes, it was funny because, yeah, I mean, and you know, we went through a ton of different dresses and then we she kept coming back to the first one, and then we just decided to put the full skirt on, and then I looked at the dress and I thought you know what this particular dress is going to work?

Speaker 1: 18:31

Not on every dress can that happen, but on this dress it could work and it just.

Speaker 2: 18:35

It was beautiful.

Speaker 1: 18:37

What is that dress called Meadow Meadow, okay, so now I have to go look at this.

Speaker 2: 18:41

Yes, the meadow dress, because the story is the story anywhere, but like I don't think so, no, I don't think so but it was just great.

Speaker 1: 18:48

Is this the first time people are hearing this story?

Speaker 2: 18:50

I think so yes, it's such a good story, such a good story, and it was just yeah. Then everybody started gravitating towards Mr S, I think, because it had a sheer lace back and that was very new back then oh, okay, okay, really exciting it was great, so it's fun. I like working one-on-one with people, with brides, and being in the stores and you get a ton of ideas and feedback. That's great. It's important to stay in touch with your customer.

Speaker 1: 19:19

Oh, 100% agree with you on that. 100% agree with you on that, Callie. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Speaker 2: 19:25

You're so welcome.

Speaker 1: 19:27

See, it's just so fun to talk about wedding dresses.

Speaker 2: 19:29

I know, I know and to get these stories that I totally forgot about that story.

Speaker 1: 19:34

I'm glad it came up, I was excited about it, like that's cool to me. So I hope you have some more of those.

Speaker 2: 19:41

Oh, I'd like to write a book?

Speaker 1: 19:42

Oh, I'm sure no, but I mean like dresses that come out of like like a problem needed to be solved and to being best sellers.

Speaker 2: 19:49

That's amazing, so thank you so much. It's crazy good.

Speaker 1: 19:53

Okay, thank you so much. Thank you so much. I'm so glad to be able to share my wedding experiences and expertise with you, and that my co-hosts are so giving of theirs. We truly do want you to have the best time at your wedding, and our hope is that this podcast is helping you to make your engagement time while planning your wedding that much easier. May I ask a favor of you?

Speaker 1: 20:16

If this is the case, would you just take a moment to leave a review of this podcast on your listening platform? It helps people just like you to find the podcast and to also find out their answer so they can make decisions. I would also absolutely love for you to give this versus that podcast a shout out on your social media. You can find us at this versus that wedding podcast on Instagram, and if you would like me to help you with a specific question, a wedding decision, please by all means ask, send me a DM. I would love to hear from you and maybe, just maybe even have you as a wedding cast on a future episode. How fun. Here's to another great wedding.