sustainable luxury for the modern muse.
Our story
A collaboration between award-winning bridal brands Mignonette Bridal and Ette the Wedding Tailor, Bricolage is the result of two decades of deep love and passion for the international traditions of bridal fashion. Bricolage is a truly eco-friendly bridal brand, with all pieces created from reworked archival designs, upcycled vintage fabrics, and deadstock trims. The Bricolage brand is Black, Woman, and LGBTQ+ -owned and all pieces are designed and created in our Chicago atelier by our artisan seamstresses. Bricolage, a term coined by philosopher Claude Henri-Levy, means “to make something new from the materials at hand”, and what started as a zero-waste project to utilize unused materials from the workroom has grown into a celebration of vibrant design for the woman who wants an unforgettable look for her wedding day. As artists, we are creating treasures that can be cherished and reworn for generations of future brides. Utilizing couture-level craft techniques, and always with an eye towards wearability, we hope the designs are as unexpected as they are delightful.
Made with Love in Chicago
Mignonette’s atelier, Ette the Wedding Tailor, is a sea of color and texture, both in terms of fabric and in the life stories of the artisans who create the gowns. Our joy is to create pieces that surprise and delight – the entire team, lead by Creative Director Kpoene’ Kofi-Bruce, collaborates on each gown, and our master artisans carefully create each piece by hand in our Chicago atelier to ensure each piece is beautiful inside and out. Mignonette Bridal and its sister company, Ette the Wedding Tailor, have been celebrated widely in the press as a destination for any woman looking for a welcoming, personalized bridal experience, and in addition to appearing in publications as diverse as the New York Times and Munaluchi Bride, have been honored with six Knot Best of Weddings Awards as well as being named one of Brides Magazine’s 38 Best Bridal Salons In America.
About the team
Our workroom, Ette the Wedding Tailor, is home to a vibrant and creative team of seamstresses, fitters, and handworkers with a combined 300(!) years of sewing experience. With past and current lives as designers, production managers, actors, fine artists and entrepreneurs, the Ette Tailor staff are in constant conversation, exploring ways to improve a product or teaching one another sewing tricks. Our monthly “Ette Academy” skillshare workshops give each employee the chance to show off their particular talents, and our “Ask the Ettesperts” series on Instagram Live lets brides-to-be chat with a team member behind the scenes.
About the designer
Kpoene’ Kofi-Bruce, Mignonette Bridal’s Creative Director, is an award-winning designer with 20 years of experience in bridal and ready-to-wear. A dedicated lover of vintage fashion and an amateur clothing historian, Kpoene’s designs draw primarily on the shapes and textures of the Art Nouveau and Edwardian eras, with the occasional PreRaphaelite influence thrown in for good measure. In a nod to her Togalese heritage, Kofi-Bruce’s designs often incorporate subtle graphic elements and are shaped to celebrate rather than conceal the wearer’s natural form. The Founder of the Ladies Independent Design League and Craft Bar with Etsy Labs, as well as a former retail and museum buyer, Kpoene’ is passionate about craft and the art of the handmade in all its forms.
Kpoene’s designs have been seen in Munaluchi, Magnolia Rouge, NY Times, Fashionista, The Knot, Brides Magazine, Sisters In Law, Style Me Pretty, Green Wedding Shoes, Crains Business, Love Inc, Pact Magazine, Newsweek, Ruffled, Un Beau Jour, and many others, and she has written advice columns for Jezebel, XO Jane, and Catalyst Wed Co. She is a graduate of Middlebury College, The Fashion Institute of Technology NYC, and Goldman Sachs.
Bricolage, Mignonette, and Ette Tailor are proudly Black, LGBTQ+, and Woman-owned.
As seen in Love Inc, Pact Magazine, Fashionista, and Closely Crafted