Lauren, An Original Wedding Gown (Angelo Lambrou Bridal, New York City)

Angelo Lambrou Bridal, New York City http://angelolambrou.com
Angelo designs an original wedding gown for Lauren.

Angelo Lambrou is an artist in the old world skills of haute couture. As a designer of wedding gowns and eveningwear, originality is the key word in Lambrou's design vocabulary. Entering the inviting, theatrical environs of his East Village atelier is like crossing over into a Parisian gem of a store on Rue de Grenelle. Lambrou has had his shop there since 2000, where the window displays cause a sensation on the block.

The gowns convey a modern sophistication that appears naturally to be designed by someone from Paris, Milan or London. They are foreign from where Lambrou grew up on the Savannah bush of Botswana, which was a developing country with no television or electricity in the 1970s.

The story of Angelo Lambrou begins in South Africa, where his parents had emigrated in the 1960s from the island of Cyprus. In 1974, the family settled in Botswana, seven hours from the metropolitan city of Johannesburg. Lambrou describes it then as a rural environment, with a backdrop of natural beauty.

While Lambrou was educated in boarding school in Johannesburg, the country's instability caused his parents to send him and his sister back to Cyprus, where he went to high school. Travelling between diverse European and African cultures, Lambrou became what he calls a "citizen of the world" and a cosmopolitan elegance pervades his designs. With no previous experience, except for a talent in drawing and painting, Lambrou decided to study fashion.

His education began at Leggats Academy of Design in Johannesburg, when he was 20, where he found a mentor in the school's owner, Archie Leggats. Much like Project Runway, Leggats whittled away a class of 100 into 40 graduates. Designer Marc Bouwer studied there, as well. It was where Lambrou learned to sew, as well as draping and patternmaking. Lambrou then went to Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design in London, which some renowned designers attended, and which he credits for freeing the imagination in all aspects of creativity.

After two years in London, Lambrou had to return to Botswana. He began training local women how to sew to start a business in couture evening wear. His gowns were sold in Johannesburg boutiques, and over five years, Lambrou opened three boutiques of his own. He also dressed some of the prominent women in Botswana. Now run as a family business with a showroom, people come from all over the country for wedding gowns and evening attire.

As his name grew, he was invited to work with the Miss Botswana beauty pageant, and designed gowns for the 1999 winner, Mpule Kwelagobe, now a prominent AIDS activist. As a contestant for Miss Universe 1999, she won wearing an Angelo Lambrou gown, and became the first black African to win the crown.

Lambrou was then asked by the Miss Universe organization to design the clothes for the opening number of Miss Universe 2000. Coincidentally, the event was held on the island of Cyprus, and the spectacular opening to the 2000 Miss Universe pageant can be seen on YouTube, with a bevy of sylphs looking like chic, modern Aphrodites, in prophetic white dresses by Angelo Lambrou. That opened the door for Lambrou's entry to the United States, and an easily made decision to move to New York.

With a goal to move forward with concepts for the 21st Century, Lambrou is inspired by Valentino, the icon of couture design so wonderfully memorialized in the film, "Valentino: The Last Emperor." He says, "Valentino is one of those designers who really leave a mark behind. He just understands how to flatter a woman. He's been doing it for so long."

Song: Ave Maria by Paul Schwartz

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Entertainment

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• angelo lambrou
• bridal shop
• boutique
• haute couture designer
• new york city
• bride
• wedding
• east village
• groom
• getting married
• dresses
• gowns
• maid of honor
• original
• custom designed
• tailored
• nyc
• fashion
• events
• ceremony
• weddings
• style

[cartoongirl1992]

Please look at this wedding dress I am trying to sell there is a video of it on my chanel!