A fashion designer created illusion wedding gowns for Black women after seeing a lack of options on the market

by Samantha Grindell  via https://www.insider.com/

Gbemi Okunlola didn’t think she would become a wedding dress designer. 

At age 11, Okunlola was a self-taught seamstress with dreams of making it in the fashion industry. Bridal attire wasn’t on her radar.

“I was sewing regular clothes and upcycling anything get my hands on,” Okunlola, now 27, told Insider over Zoom.

But her career pivoted into bridal after two of her clients approached her about designing wedding dresses.

British fashion designer Gbemi Okunlola stumbled into the wedding world in what now seems like a twist of fate

When the clients approached her, Okunlola said she hadn’t positioned herself as a wedding dress designer.

“Based on what they had seen of [my] eveningwear, I could make the wedding dresses for them,” she said of being propositioned by the clients. “Being that I love a challenge, I said, ‘OK, let’s do it.'”

A few months later, Okunlola’s sister got engaged, so she once again…

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