Happy Isles

Happy Isles Salon is a bicoastal vintage bridal shop featured in countless publications such as Vogue, The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, and others. I work as the oncall repairs/alterations specialist for their New York location in SoHo under the direction of owner Lily Kaizer. Mending work includes a large variety of vintage dresses dated as early as 1930 and labels such as Hanae Mori, Bob Mackie, Dior, Halston, Versace, Christian Lacroix, Nina Ricci, Ralph Lauren Purple Label, Oscar De La Renta, Bill Blass, Valentino, Naeem Khan, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, and Bill Whitten. Repairs are done almost entirely by hand stitching, working mostly with 100% silk chiffon, organza, satin, and wool. Previous repairs and alterations include replacing zippers, re-beading embellishments, seamlessly closing rips and tears, restitching hemlines, and more. These Happy Isles pieces have been purchased and worn by the likes of Millie Bobby Brown, Blake Lively, and a myriad of brides all over the world.

A small collection of dresses are displayed below and include a short description of the specific mending process.