Shades of Love Bridal Fashion Editorial

A bridal fashion editorial celebrating our various shades, shapes and styles. Black is beautiful.

A recurring theme in the wedding industry from the time we launched has been the lack of diversity in bridal designer campaigns. Often times, bridal campaigns and runway presentations display the latest wedding gowns on thin, caucasian models leaving out a huge percentage of the population when it comes to size and ethnicity.

As a result of the global protests and calls for diversity and inclusivity after the George Floyd killing, major brands and designers alike have been making efforts to include more diversity. We have seen more black girls on bridal campaigns this year alone than we’ve seen in the past decade, and many of the top fashion magazines have had their first black woman on their covers. While this is promising, it doesn’t change the fact that there is still much to do when it comes to being truly inclusive and diverse. And it’s one of the main reasons we are always anxious to create our own imagery via editorial shoots and showcase the work of vendors in the industry looking to contribute their own bridal fashion editorials.

The shoot we’re sharing today was produced by a team of vendors looking to highlight the beauty of our various shades and shapes. They included 7 models, all with different hair textures and styles, ultimately providing inspiration for any type of bride, no matter the style you are looking to achieve on your wedding day. Scroll through to see how it all turned out.

This shoot was a collaborative effort entitled Shades of Love. This shoot has a simple purpose. To highlight the beauty of the black bride in our wedding industry. Often times, we are misrepresented or not represented at all, and this shoot was to highlight out different shades of us; Short, tall, thin, curvy, in all brown skin shades, and more. Our beauty and strength and essence was the central focus of this shoot and is intended to inspire those who have never seen us portrayed in this way.
Avonne Stalling