By Mia Serrano-Salow
The dress had already been worn down the aisle once. Years later, it would return in an entirely different form, this time on the daughter of the woman who first wore it. What began as an idea to repurpose her mother’s wedding gown became something far more personal: a way of preserving the past without being confined by it.
When Abbey first brought the gown to designer Paloma, she imagined a relatively simple transformation. Perhaps the voluminous ball gown could become a mini dress with a few alterations to the bodice. But Paloma saw possibilities in the original lace, exaggerated sleeves, and intricate construction that Abbey hadn’t considered.
“Something that I loved so much about her was how much respect and love she had for my mom’s original dress,” Abbey recalls. “She admired the lace, the sleeves, the puffiness–everything that made my mom’s dress unique.”
Together, they reimagined the gown as a two-piece ensemble featuring a structured corset and an ankle-length column skirt. The separate pieces offered the possibility of being worn again, while the original lace was arranged along the skirt to create the illusion of a slit.
The redesign required a certain degree of trust. During one fitting, Abbey struggled to envision how the lace might work with the new silhouette. “My mind went blank and that was when I knew to trust Paloma completely in executing a design that I would love.”
Perhaps the most sentimental detail came from the original puff sleeves, which Paloma transformed into matching purses for Abbey and her mother. Both carried them during the wedding celebrations.
“This gave us something that we can keep and wear for the rest of our lives and know that we share it with each other,” Abbey explains.
For Abbey, the gown offered an opportunity to imagine her mother at the same stage of life, preparing to make the same commitment.
“It gave me space to remember a time where my mother was getting married, when she was taking the leap of faith, and when she decided to say yes. And now that is me, a similar young woman who is making the commitment to marriage, wearing the same gown just in a different way.”
That same attention to sentiment extended beyond the dress. Shortly after their engagement, Abbey and Logan went fragrance shopping, selecting scents they would wear throughout their wedding preparations. From venue tours and fittings to evenings spent on DIY projects, Strawberry Letter by Phlur and Never Ending Summer by Maison Margiela became associated with the experience. The couple even gifted guests samples of both fragrances as wedding favors.
“Now when I smell his fragrance or mine, I’m instantly taken back to our wedding day and the entire magical experience,” Abbey shares.
The ceremony was equally personal. Rather than follow a traditional structure, Abbey and Logan wrote it themselves and chose to hear each other’s vows for the first time in front of their guests.
“The vows were my favorite part of the entire day,” she recalls. To her surprise, guests repeatedly expressed the same sentiment, including her father, who found the ceremony especially meaningful knowing the couple had written it themselves.
Looking back, it was the thoughtfulness behind each decision that made the celebration distinctly theirs. From the fragrances and vows to the redesigned gown, every detail carried a story.
“As time continues and new dress trends come and go, nothing will be able to be as perfect as what I wore on my wedding day because it was so simply me and represented everything and everyone that I love.”
Ultimately, the gown’s beauty lay not simply in its transformation, but in the two women who wore it. Years apart, mother and daughter began different chapters of their lives in the same fabric, each making it entirely her own.
