Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia are known experimenters. A case in point being the semi-sheer wedding gowns in their very first Oscar de la Renta bridal show last April. Sexy dresses are a departure for the Oscar bride. In fact, any flash of skin usually registers as scandalous in the bridal market as a whole. You’re either a “naked-dress designer” or you’re really, really not. Kim and Garcia listen to their customers, though, and today’s Oscar bride is apparently going straight for those see-through tulle skirts and transparent bustiers. If anything, the dresses are getting sheerer. Some girls will add linings or slips, but Kim and Garcia have a light hand, so the gowns come across as ethereal, not straight-up seductive.
For Spring 2019, nearly every dress had a sheer touch—a transparent sleeve here, a mesh bustier there, or, in one case, a completely unlined V-neck gown with matte floral embroideries. Flowers are quintessentially “Oscar,” and Garcia and Kim’s interpretations range from humble ferns and vines to 3-D blooms, which they arranged over tulle for clever coverage. Tumbling vines concealed a gown’s see-through skirt, for instance, while petal embroideries floated along the sheer bodice of a long-sleeved number with a satin skirt. It was still a bit racy, but it was also precisely what Kim said her bride wants: a gown that’s “effortless, yet grand.”
