Local Fans Say “Yes” to Wedding Dress/Fashion Icon Randy Fenoli

As star of the TLC reality television show ‘Say Yes to the Dress,’ wedding dress specialist Randy Fenoli helps brides navigate the complicated terrain of finding the "perfect dress." In his new book, It’s All About the Dress, Fenoli tells the story of how he came to do what he does so well. With his trademark greeting, "Hello Beautiful!” Fenoli shared his story with a group of over sixty avid fans at Books and Greetings in Northvale, New Jersey on Thursday, December 8th.
Surprisingly, he grew up in neither fashion nor luxury."Believe it or not, my love for fashion began on a farm. When I was a kid, I’d get up at 5 am to take care of our cows. Yes, cows. We lived on a farm in southern Illinois with 163 acres and a hundred head of cattle.Sexy Evening Dresses Need Not To Be Expensive.Today I still get up at 5 am. But now I do it because I need enough time to choose the right suit, pocket square, necktie, socks, and coordinating cuff links for my day at work. I can’t really talk to brides all day about style if I’m not dressed my very best, too! I say, "If you’re going to sell luxury, you’d better look luxury!”
Fenoli’s mom grew up during the Great Depression and worked her way up to the rank of second lieutenant army nurse. "She ran our household like an army barracks. Dad was a lieutenant colonel in the air force: a career military man with a fierce, fiery temper. There were seven kids in my family: my older sister, my five older brothers, and me. Although I was the smallest of the six boys, I was still expected to carry my weight and be just as tough as my brothers were. I lugged sledgehammers that weighed more than I did! In the winter, we’d break up the ice on one of our seven ponds so the cows could drink.
I tried to fit in even though my father would make fun of me. He teased me mercilessly because I was so skinny. Truth was: I would have given anything for a gust of wind to blow me off that farm. In my fantasy, it would have been the tornado from The Wizard of Oz. Only for me, there was no place but away from home! Deep down I knew I didn’t fit into this life.
With seven kids to dress, Mom bought everything in bulk and one size up so it would last longer. Sure, I got new outfits, but a lot of the clothes I wore were hand-me-downs. (To this day, I get a little anxious when I walk into a vintage shop.) No matter where I got my clothes, however, I took great care of them.”One day when he was seven-years-old, Randy’s mother went out to work and he took out her off-limits sewing tools, patterns and fabric and made a dress for her. When she returned, she asked where it came from. Instead of punishing him for touching her stuff, she let him sew her dresses from that moment on. The rest is history.

タグ：Wedding Dress