Tanner Fletcher Reimagines A Modern Cinderella Story

When the lights came on at Tanner Fletcher's bridal show in the beautiful grand cathedral in Midtown Manhattan on a Wednesday evening, one thing was clear: we were in a fairytale. Then, a voiceover rang through St. Bartholomew's Church, guiding us through the Cinderella-inspired story concept: potential spouses travel far and wide to attend a ball in hopes that they'll catch the eye of a young prince. He notes that none of them leave him with that if you know, you know feeling and that his fairytale might not end like the ones that we all devoured as kids—instead of falling for one of the women dressed in Tanner Fletcher's intricately designed bridal gowns, he falls for a man in a suit in the perfect shade of ballerina pink.

"We love our theatrics and storytelling. I think that's something that we like to bring to fashion that's different than the classic runway," Fletcher Kasell tells me ahead of the show. "We're kind of doing a spinoff of the classic Cinderella story in our own way. Our last show was like a little Broadway show and this time it's like a mini ballet."

Models walked down the runway on their way to greet the prince in vintage-inspired looks fit for the modern bride—a variation of veil lengths, embellished headpieces, opera gloves, and more. "We love the '40s. We always go back to the '40s," Kasell said. "I think it's just very timeless. It's from a time where people were still making their own wedding dresses, so it's handcrafted in a way where every little detail is noticeable, even the puckers at the shoulder or the volume of the sleeve, and the delicate silks that are used." But, at the same time, a case is made for foregoing traditions that would have been interpreted as more controversial in that time period—a bride in a short dress, a bride in a dress that's not white, or a bride not wearing a veil at all.

The collection, overall, feels fit for a garden fairy obsessed with Marie Antoinette in a place like upstate New York or the English countryside with embellished handmade silk florals and elements of vintage wedding cakes—bows and piping, for example. Paired with rosy cheeks, powdery skin, light natural lips, and a little bit of a glimmer beneath the eyes, a regency style was achieved. What really stole the show for me, though, were the floral appliqués. "Tanner did this really amazing technique where he used vintage millinery flowers," Kasell says. "The fabric is silk with lattice all over it. He put on all these flowers and placed them so it looks like a garden trellis." This technique elevated a ball gown, a mini dress, and a suit in ways that felt entirely fantastical. Other standout design elements and styling choices included a suit jacket featuring an exaggerated bow that created a mini train, genderless suiting, a veil attached to a bun hairstyle, and an array of pastels, ruffles, and pussy bows that were on par with the Tanner Fletcher codes we know and love.

For these pieces, Tanner Richie, the other half of the design duo, worked directly with the factory and spent time pinning every detail. "Some of our ready to wear is made here, some of it's made overseas— the focus there is more wearability. We want it to be worn, washable, something people can keep putting on," Kasell says. "Whereas all of our wedding pieces are a keepsake that we want people to pass down from generation to generation." The intimate time spent constructing each garment is only one reason why this collection—Tanner Fletcher's third bridal collection ever—is special: another is that after ten years together, Richie and Kasell got engaged in December, making it an especially meaningful time to create bridal wear. "Since we're working on planning our own wedding, we put a lot of that love into this collection," Kasell said.

The third thing that makes this collection feel extra special is this: an engagement is the perfect excuse to celebrate with friends—who they continuously cast in their runway shows. "We have a really solid group of models that we love bringing back every time. It's kind of a crew of characters and we know their personalities really well," Kasell says. Because of this, they take the time to pair the outfit with the personality so as to not have anyone walking the runway in something that feels uncomfortable or untrue to themselves. This, plus the diversity of the models—in terms of age, gender, size, and sexuality—is part of what makes a Tanner Fletcher show feel so authentic and distinguishable.

The show culminated in our protagonist disconnecting with this love interest, but finding his ballerina pink Tanner Fletcher jacket left behind. Unwilling to lose the one of many people that he greeted that felt like home, he calls all suit-wearers back to the castle—from there, models in embellished, pastel, patterned, and floral suits with shirts complete with ruffs and pussy bows walked down the cathedral runway and the concept of suiting, especially for an event as traditional as a wedding, was reimagined.

In the end, our protagonist reconnected with his ballerina pink donning lover and the two grace us with a choreographed ballet routine—they got their happy ending, we as an audience got our happy ending, and so did Richie and Kasell.