10 Questions with Giselle Ghofrani of Belle Atelier NYC and Chicago

Giselle Ghofrani

1) Tell us about your background before you opened Belle AtelieR?

I was in design for about 7.5 years working for high end bridal designers, my first job being at Vera Wang.  There I learned so much about bridal and where I met my mentor Julie Sabatino of The Stylish Bride. She has always been in my corner from the day I met her as a design associate in a fitting for one of her VIP clients. After Vera I went to Marchesa where I learned the art of draping. After that I had roles in several smaller brands and finally found my place as Fabric Buyer Research and Development for J.Mendel during their couture collection they were launching at Paris Fashion week.  This was my favorite job!

2) What inspired you to and what year(s) did you open?

Chicago as a pop-up shop opened in 2017 and in its full form in 2020, NYC May 31st 2025! I noticed a gap in the Chicago market for more unique and curated bridal pieces so I decided to open up a small pop up shop in my moms alterations studio The Dress Doctor, and it kept growing from there to a point where we needed more space so in 2020 during the pandemic we moved to a large space! My heart is in NYC and I had made it a goal to one day open up a store there and when the opportunity came I took it!

3) Where are they located?

Chicago is located in a first floor loft space in Bucktown Wickerpark (which used to be a gym!) and NYC is located at 37th and 8th ave in the heart of the garment district in a lovely garmento building owned by Mr. Martin Myer a proud supporter of the garment district.

4) What is the overall concept?

I really love the unique and bold side of fashion. I also love taking risks personally in what I wear, so in my mind I thought, there has to be brides who are also like this who want to wear pieces of art, who want to customize their gowns, who want to style their pieces in a way that no one else would dare to do.  And the beautiful thing is that we have so many brides who are so fashion forward and creative and that are people who we adore and now they get to actually wear this for their wedding day! The staff we have in our showroom are all people who have either studied fashion or worked in some sort of alterations setting and know how to sew. This gives the stylist even more of an outlet to be creative and help make our brides gown and styling much more individualized.

5) What is the criteria for designers you carry and their price points?

Our criteria is honestly how unique their designs are and if the quality of the garments are alterable and have consistent fit.  I do also love to support young, up and coming designers and very high fashion designers who aren’t traditionally bridal. This is really all based on my personal taste.  My stores are really just my dream closets that I get to shop for all day and find pieces that make me happy or excited. I know this answer is not as clear as it should be, but I do think my success is in how much I follow my gut and my heart and my eye. I don’t really buy thinking “oh this will be a best seller” necessarily, but more of how much I appreciate the piece, like an art piece! I will say our head of sales Lauren Herndon does a great job of bringing me back to planet earth!

6) Describe the various appointments?

We have a variety of appointment options to choose from because our brides have different needs. Our standard appointment is 1 hour long but you still have access to all of our pieces in the showroom, we like to have everything out for you to sort through and usually can get through 8-10 styles during this time.  We also offer 2 hour appointments if you find that you are looking through our designers and are seeing more than 10 styles that you are interested in. We also offer tandem appointments for couples that wish to shop together, this offering has been so much fun and really special for our clients. Civil ceremony and accessories also have their own appointments, this helps brides focus on these things later so that you aren’t so overwhelmed at your gown appointment.

7) What is the workroom about?

We offer in house alterations and custom design and it is called The Workroom at Belle. This was a non-negotiable service for me.  I knew that if we had creative stylists creating amazing looks for brides, we couldn’t just say “oh in alterations they can do that” without having the proper support to actually follow through.  My amazing mother runs this side of the business and I really couldn’t do it without her!

8) How does the something white styling service work?

Something White Styling is run by Kate Blackwell, an old bridal friend who I really wanted to be in our circle.  Her business is based on a sustainable model of renting out bridal looks that she sources and also that brides submit after their big day.  Her pieces are in our space for brides to look at during specified appointments and her appointments offer a full look at her stock.

9) What is selling today in your stores?

Our top selling designers in Chicago are Vivienne Westwood, Danielle Frankel and Varca Studio.  Silhouettes vary but the dropped waist and exaggerated corset waist are both very hot!

10) Has the customer changed since you started in the bridal industry?

The customer has 100% changed.  The market is very oversaturated, not in a bad way, just that the consumer has way more to sort through, more stores to go to and more to look at online.  I do think that this can cause a bit of confusion and buyer's paralysis, but at the end of the day, when you walk into our studio you know if you are a Belle Bride or not.  We do take pride in our low pressure approach and are also super happy to recommend other stores that we think will better suit the client.  What I do love about this customer is that they will educate themselves and dream about the dress and research and come in with a fully styled look book and mood board. It always blows my mind at how creative our brides are and how invested they are in this.  It is their time to wear art!