Fashion Designer Monique Lhuillier

By: By Karleen Basch | Photos by Keegan Gibbs | April 21, 2008 | Fashion

If a fashion designer must possess elegance, style and grace, then Monique Lhuillier is truly a master. This beautifully talented young woman first opened her doors in Beverly Hills in 1996 with an exclusive bridal boutique. Lhuillier and her husband, Tom Bugbee, who is also her chief executive officer, broke the bland bride barrier and were received as the purveyor haute couture for brides. Lhuillier advanced her line successfully with the launch of eveningwear and ready-to-wear in 2002. The lines’ quick popularity led to her outgrow her first location and move her store to fashionable Melrose Place in the fall of 2007. Her beautifully decorated boutique is elegant and has a luxurious aura about it. Her staff is impeccably dressed, yet inviting and friendly. Her exquisite designs, which spare no embellishment, are delicately hanging throughout the salon, along with her new line of clutch handbags, sold exclusively at her store. This couturier uniquely differentiates her style from that of other well-known fashion designers. She lives, thrives and manufacturers here on the West Coast, yet keeps current with her New York contemporaries.

Major stars such as Jessica Alba, Sarah Jessica Parker and Sharon Stone have gracefully worn Lhuillier’s designs, just to name a few. In addition, her collaboration with Royal Doulton to create her own line of formal china tableware, crystal and glass stemware and giftware recently debuted in the fall of 2007. When we caught up with Lhuillier, she said she would like to create a complete lifestyle brand that would build off of the tabletop collection and would include home furnishings and accessories. And she had plenty more to say about her thriving business.

Keegan Gibbs

Why did you decide to relocate your store from Beverly Hills to Melrose Place?
We outgrew the space, but we wanted to stay in Beverly Hills because we were doing so well there. After looking for a year, nothing felt right. I was walking down La Cienega and it was the right place. This space was coming up, and I felt it has the perfect visibility. Other people wanted it, so it was quite tough to get. It took a year to build this beautiful store.

Can you tell me about your handbags that are exclusively debuting at your store?
Yes, it’s a capsule collection. They are all clutches — pleated and gathered. It’s a limited edition of eight styles. I used lizard, crocodile and ostrich with satin and beading. It’s my first venture into handbags.

How did you start out designing bridal gowns?
I started 11 years ago. I went to design school right out of high school. I loved fashion and I knew I wanted to be in the fashion business. My final project at design school was, well, a wedding scene. (She laughs.) When I graduated from college, I got engaged to my husband. When I looked for wedding dresses, I felt there was a need to make wedding dresses more fashionable. A year after we got married, we started our collection. After six years, I had to introduce color into my life, so I started to make gowns with color and it elevated our brand as our designs started being worn on the red carpet. I didn’t want to dress my customer just for a special event. I wanted to be able to dress her for a great night out. Even though my pieces are not casual, you can wear them from lunch on.

How do you prepare for what evening gown works on what celebrity?
It usually starts with something I have on the runway. A stylist will call me and say so-and-so needs a gown for this awards show. The stylist will then ask me to make some suggestions. I will get some feedback first, whether she is kind of open to everything or looking for a certain color or look. I submit what I think will work on the celebrity. The stylist will get back to me, telling me it worked well or to try a different style or color. I always start with something I have already. Obviously for the red carpet, it is usually something long and grand. For a premier of a movie, usually it’s cocktail length.

Who was your first celebrity on the red carpet?
It was a good one! It was Angelina Jolie in 2001 at the Golden Globes. I was amazed by the power of celebrity on the red carpet from that moment on. For a company like mine that does not have a major advertising budget, the red carpet is the branding and marketing out there. People look to celebrities for fashion direction.

What celebrities would you like to dress that you haven’t yet?
Keira Knightley and Cate Blanchett — they’re both beautiful women.

What is the inspiration behind your designs?
Any beautiful woman really inspires me, especially a beautifully dressed woman, whether it’s a friend or just someone walking down the street. I love to see a woman put together well. It shows self-confidence and elevates her beauty.

As a West Coast designer, how do you keep up with the fashion trends in Milan and Paris?
I buy my fabric from French and Italian mills. I take a little bit of the trend forecast into consideration and the rest is what feels right to me. The magic happens when I have the fabric and dress form. I drape, and it springs to life. Sketching is preliminary. The magic comes to me when I am draping fabric.

Keegan Gibbs

What are your favorite fabrics?
Silk chiffons, silk satins and silk charmeuses are my favorites.

Who are your favorite designers?
Karl Lagerfeld is brilliant in everything he does. I love John Galliano. He makes everything look like a dream and a fantasy.

Whom did you admire in the fashion world while growing up?
Growing up, I had a very fashionable mother, so she introduced me to fashion early on. Her favorite designers are Valentino and Christian Dior. I was inspired by the way she dressed.

What was it like taking your idea and producing your first collection?
When I was engaged, I got the wedding bug like any bride. I planned everything. After my wedding, about 10 months later, I put some bridal fabric samples together and went to an exposition in Las Vegas. We went with what we thought was right. No one knew who we were. I had not worked for a fashion company before, so we learned from scratch and from our mistakes. Only in the last three years, we look back and feel we have really done something, and have seen the growth. The key to it is being passionate and at the same time, bringing on people who are talented enough that you don’t have help them or micromanage them.

What were your biggest frustrations when you first started as a designer?
I would say never getting the product out there fast enough. By the time I envisioned it, made the samples and it hit the store, it took a whole seven or eight months. I was already on to the next two collections. Now, the biggest joy is to see people wearing my products, whether here in or Europe. I always make it a point to go up and say hi, and they are so surprised.

What are your challenges as a designer?
I am still viewed as the designer from California, and I miss out on some opportunities being on the West Coast. If I were based in New York, I would be in the mix of New York designers and the exposure, but Los Angeles is home for me. I have lived here for 18 years.

Where do you manufacturer?
I manufacturer here in Los Angeles, which is to our advantage, because we do everything in house. We can control the quality and we don’t contract out, which us usually unheard of. We have 150 employees who are citizens. Many designers contract out and have a sample. The only thing is our beading is done in India because it’s the best. It cannot be replicated.

How did you start creating your own line of dishware and crystal?
Royal Doulton came to me and wanted to incorporate my designs. The first five designs have already been launched, and in April, the color pattern comes out.

How is the dynamic working with your husband?
It is wonderful. He is the CEO, really the brains of the business. I love to be creative and that is what I want to do. Making this into a successful company, making a profit and having growth are completely another side. Tom is the business side of the company. We keep it separate, but you really can’t have one without the other. We have the same vision and same goals. It wasn’t always that way, though, in the beginning (she laughs), but after 13 years of being married, I think we have got it down.

What are your future plans for the company?
We are currently working on a lifestyle brand. We would one day like to build a home collection with furnishings and accessories, as well as a fragrance. We would really like to create a luxury brand in all aspects. We would like to open more stores and build our international distribution. That is the goal of our company.

How did you come to The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM) in Los Angeles?
My brothers went to Pepperdine and I wanted to be in fashion, so I made a deal with my parents that would I live in Malibu and go to fashion school at FIDM. I went there four years and lived in Malibu.

Where do you see fashion going in the next few years?
That’s hard to say because I don’t know what will be right in the next few years. I do know what I want to do in the next six months and in the next year. It’s a very good time in American fashion because there is so much interest in what we do. There is a lot of great talent coming out of this country now. I always design what feels right to me. I take a little bit of the trend forecast, but it doesn’t designate or drive my designs. Being a woman designer and designing for women really helps me. I know what my customers look for when they come shopping in my store. My aesthetic is really cool, classic and elegant. Season after season, things change, but the aesthetic stays true throughout the collection.

What is your advice to the aspiring designer?
I am actually a mentor at Parsons School of Design. I give the students direction with their design and sketches. When I graduated, I thought I knew everything and I realized I didn’t know a thing. I thought, I am going into the glamorous world of fashion and truthfully, it is really not that glamorous. The work is all behind the scenes. I would say to any aspiring designer, be true to what you love to do, and create some structure and a quality that will give you a lasting presence. People are more educated in fashion nowadays and they can see what a good product looks like.

Monique Lhuillier is available at 140 stores around the world, including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. She also has a flagship salon in Minneapolis. Monique’s Los Angeles store is located at 8485 Melrose Place, Los Angeles.

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