Cue the music—for Bench Fashion Week Holiday 2024, Antonina’s bride and groom are taking their first steps down the aisle. There’s a scene in Nina Amoncio ’s childhood that plays out like the opening sequence of a romantic comedy. We see her at seven years old running around wedding expos with her sisters, the unruly assistants of their parents who owned a bridal car service.
They were present in nearly every single if not all the bridal fairs and bazaars, which, at the time, took place almost weekly. Recalling that period with her sisters, the designer says, “I remember we were given tasks, small, menial tasks like giving flyers or guarding the booth.” Yet despite growing up surrounded by weddings, “the irony of it,” Nina reveals, “is that I never pictured myself wearing a gown.
” A lifetime of nuptials and her desire for none of it is what Nina contends with in “I Don’t,” her new collection set to launch at Bench Fashion Week Holiday 2024 . At 27 looks, it’s her biggest and most sentimental one yet. Each ensemble represents a year of Nina’s life, and that of her parents in the wedding industry.
She also realizes, mid-conversation, that number inadvertently references 27 Dresses , one of the most recognizable wedding rom-coms of the late aughts. Stepping into uncharted territory, Nina treats the presentation like a mood board of what a hypothetical wedding of hers would look like. What would her bridesmaids wear? What kind of suit would her groom choose? And, most importantly, what would she wear if she were walking down the aisle? These inquiries produced an entourage of atypical styles made with typical wedding gown materials like tulles and power meshes.
Nina fashioned new designs and recreated existing ones from previous collections, an endless self-referentialism. “Imagine a piece of sheer fabric over an opaque wall,” she invites, before moving on to describing a full-length backless coat with long, cylindrical beads all over to mimic Japanese boro stitching highlighted in the “Anino” collection . There are corsets, denims, velvets, and “cloud-like” pieces, too.
For the first time, Nina is making gowns, draping them in layers to create large volumes around the body. Her suits are also undergoing their own set of experiments with more slashes and holes to accentuate form and add interest. “Very sexy cut-outs for the boys,” the designer teases.
Apart from these custom pieces, the runway will also integrate ready-to-wear items to reinforce the collection’s wearability; after the show, these clothes will be available to purchase at the Purveyr Fair. Antonina’s brides are externally tough but tender at the core—a reflection of its namesake mullet-sporting designer who you’ll often find dressed in jet-black from head to toe. If the collection feels like a family affair, that’s because it is: her younger sister Patch is in charge of creative direction while her older sister Nona is in charge of socials.
“We really had time to build everything up,” Nina shares. “And I guess I’m really happy that this time around, the people that I really wanted to be in the collection are here. All of those people, especially my sisters, my family, and also collaborators who really took time for us right now and contributed.
.. sobrang happy everything really fell into place perfectly for us.
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