THE RETURN OF HAYLEY PAIGE

Wedding dress designer, Hayley Paige with Lovella Bridal owner, Nayri Kalayjian and her team. 

It’s a Sunday afternoon and LA’s version of a fall day, with its milder rays of sun falling down over Glendale. I’m here to visit the stunning Bridal store, Lovella Bridal to interview wedding dress designer, Hayley Paige and preview her new collection. However this isn’t just a regular preview of a designer’s collection. This is the welcoming back of THE Hayley Paige. You may well know her as one of the most prolific designers on popular show, Say Yes To the Dress. Creating dream dresses for brides on the hit TV show for a number of years.

Stacy Fan previewing the new Hayley Paige collection 

However despite all her success, Paige has had a battle on her hands for the last few years. If you aren’t familiar with Paige’s story, Paige is the Taylor Swift of the wedding world. She is a designer who has spent the last few years fighting to get her own name back, win the right to design wedding dresses again and in fact, was fighting just to identify herself as Hayley Paige in a public setting. 
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The rainbow wedding dress that has become synonymous with Hayley Paige

It all started in 2011, when Paige, eager to start her career, landed her dream job. She was offered a seemingly incredible opportunity by JLM Couture to design wedding dresses for them at the age of 25. However Paige signed a contract that gave her former employer the right to trademark her name. After a complex legal dispute over intellectual property rights, she was legally enforced to hand over her personal social media accounts and forbidden from using her birth name in any business or commerce.

She was told she could not say in public, that she was designer, Hayley Paige. She lost the right to her designs, and all the sketches. Not only that, she was placed under an unpaid non-compete clause that stopped her designing wedding dresses, even under a different name. The Hayley Paige brand still existed, with dresses being designed by another designer, however she no longer had any affiliation with the brand nor gained any commission from the dresses, even those previously designed by herself. 
 
Despite all this, Paige didn’t walk away from designing, instead pivoted and began creating shoes, under the brand name, “She is Cheval.” Cheval, French for horse, choosing this word as it represented fortitude and strength. Something Paige has shown she has in spades. Her brides showed up in force, sticking by her, purchasing her shoes and flooding JLM’s social media with unicorn emojis representing Paige and her beautiful designs. 
 

Fast forward to May 2024, a settlement was reached and Paige paid $263,000 to regain ownership of her name. So here we are today, this day reflecting not just a new collection, but a moment of triumph. A moment of recognition for Paige’s tenacity to keep going and for her fans who stood by her when her world came crashing down, to meet her, to celebrate her.
 
As I step into the store there is a flurry of excitement, Paige’s fans, new brides as well as her OG brides sit waiting for her to arrive. 
 

Fans of Hayley Paige wearing the shoes she designed with brand She is Cheval

The store, already beautiful, is even more sparkly today, decked out with small tables holding champagne, and three mannequins at the end of the store are dressed in Paige’s dresses. One, the rainbow ‘unicorn dress’ that has become so synonymous with the designer. The other a pale blue that is ethereal, airy, dreamlike and the third, a stunning tiered white dress with flowers that almost look like butterflies have landed on the dress. The dresses look alive, an individual fairytale, their stories waiting to be told.

​Behind is a rail containing the rest of her collection, all unique stand out individual dresses, all telling their own story. When you look at them you are lost for a moment. Stepping into the beautiful world of design that is Hayley Paige. 
 

Behind is a table with two large ornate wedding cakes, created by talented cake designer, Kimberly of The Butterend, with plates of cookies and mini wedding cakes. Cakes that have been made in the same color scheme as Paige’s famous unicorn rainbow dress. And the cookies? Images of Paige’s gorgeous dog. Exquisite flowers by Avant Garden are thoughtfully placed, and represent the same colour palette of Paige's rainbow dress. 

It's a piece of Hayley's world, and a celebration of what she's created. A few moments later, Paige walks through the door. Dressed in the cutest black skirt suit, with the words, “All the feels” sewn on the shoulders, with a pair of western boots, and wearing bright lipstick. All the brides and fans go to hug Paige. Warm embraces and even tears shed. It’s a home coming. A moment of pure triumph and we’re all here for it. All the feels, indeed.
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Cookies and cakes by The Butterend 

​As Paige meets with her friends, fans and supporters, I chat to Nayri, the beautiful owner of Lovella Bridal. She expresses just what a joy it is to have Paige back, how happy she is to have her collection in her store and just how much this means. Paige has set president for new cases going forward. It really is a moment for not just the wedding industry but designers as a whole.

The impact this has had is certainly not lost on Paige and in response to what happened to her, Paige has created a non-profit named, A Girl You Might Know Foundation, it’s mission to help young female creatives protect themselves when signing contracts, when starting out with their own business or joining another, helping with legal resources and advocacy. Not only is Paige speaking about this to raise awareness so others don't find themselves in the same position, but also putting things in place to help other artists to not have the same experience by providing support though the foundation. 

Nayri walks me over and introduces me officially to Paige. Paige welcomes me warmly, “Thank you so much for waiting. You’re so sweet, I really appreciate it. It’s so nice to meet you” Big smile, her energy is infectious. Not even a glimmer of jadedness of what was taken from the designer for the past few years. It really is impressive just how Paige has kept her sparkle and refused to let this be the end of her story. 
 

 Lovella Bridal store owner, Nayri Kalayjian and bridal content creator Liz Nguyen (@Aisleaccess) 

Hayley Paige and Stacy Fan

Paige’s story is certainly a fascinating, not just because of her case, but her career. Her innate love of design that started when she was just seven years old, when Paige received her first sewing machine. A Singer handed down to her by her grandmother who was also the one who taught her to sew. 
It’s always fascinating to me a designers first memory of wanting to design, especially when they were so young when they discovered the love. Behind the headlines, I want to know Paige's original story and all that came before. 

EV: Hayley, what was your first memory of design?

PAIGE: My grandmother used to sew and knit blankets for the children’s hospital. My dad was a general surgeon growing up, so she taught me to knit and crochet blankets. And so, one of my earliest memories is gifting of the blankets to the children and the faces that would light up. I think very early on I learned that you make things for people and they get this visceral happiness and joy for that. 

EV: Do you know who taught your grandmother to sew?

PAIGE: I’m not sure. She was just a very crafty person. I think that generation valued making of things. My grandfather was in World War II, and she was a real homebody—she was a very good baker as well. 

EV: I see you’ve always loved wedding dress design. Even when you designed your own prom dress, it was very wedding dress inspired! What is it about wedding dresses that is such a draw to you?  Is it the dress itself? Is it the fairytale of the wedding day?

PAIGE: I love the companionship and commitment that come with marriage in general, this idea that you find a soul that just answers to your soul. When you make it official, you get to wear this dress that represents the love of it. There’s this carry-forward of something beyond the dress that’s really meaningful. Fashion can be fun and meaningful as well but this is that one dress that represents so much, so it’s got the meaning and sentiment too. 

EV: And you’re engaged now?!

PAIGE: Yes! Six years. 

EV: Are you going to get married soon? 

PAIGE: Heck yes! (laughs)

EV: And of course, you’re designing your own wedding dress? Have you started?

PAIGE: So…Yes and no. I feel so lucky because I’ll probably have multiple dresses, and so I’m taking some liberties in that, like oh I like some of these details that I’m going to incorporate and put them together. But one thing I will say, since we create our fabrics from scratch and I love storytelling through them, I definitely think I’ll design a print or a lace from scratch that tells a story of our relationship.
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EV: That sounds incredible. And your fiancé has been with you through this whole period of time?

PAIGE: Yea! Hell and back, hell and back! 

EV: Your story reminded me of Taylor Swift fighting to own her masters, you really set a precedent by fighting for your name. How did you get through that time when your own name—your identity—was stripped away? It’s not just a design name, it’s who you are. Your literal identity. 

PAIGE: It was very helpful having a support system. I think, that now I’m on the other side of it, that’s also why I started the non-profit—I felt so lucky to have a support system and this real rally. I have these amazing brides that didn’t feel tarnished by what was happening. They still valued the connection, they still valued the reputation that we built and all these dresses, and even though something darker was happening, it wasn’t all bad. It gave me good accountability to get me through it.
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An emotional moment for fans of Hayley Paige

PAIGE: I would also say that because so much was happening, I lost my name, I lost my Instagram, I couldn’t design—it was almost like, “When it rains, it pours.” I almost took some humour in it, that this was almost so ridiculous. And I told myself, “It can’t last forever—and if it does, I’ll find a way to make something funny out of it.” So, I think a lot of humour kind of helped me be a little joyful even in those times. 
 
EV: So, there was never moment where you thought, I’m done. I won’t design wedding dresses again?

PAIGE: No. I think there was a real defiance, defiance, like yea, this is my story. I have to figure this out. Also, because so much had been taken, I was like well,  

You can’t take my story, that’s mine to own

So that’s where some of the ownership and governance was coming back to me. And I could still create other things, which kept my creativity alive.

EV: You went into shoe design—did you explore other types of fashion during that time?

PAIGE: I was nervous to go into any kind of apparel or dresswear because of how strict the legal restrictions were, so I stayed away from that stuff, but I did think of other things to do like painting, or sculpture, home design. Shoes were actually the most transgenically closest to dresses because you have the pattern, and brides buy dresses and then the shoes next. In hindsight, I might have gone into a non-sized accessory, because I learned so much about business. With shoes, you have to guess size runs, house inventory—it was a really hard lesson, especially in e-commerce. But I’m so grateful; it kept us connected with our girls and gave us a home and identity during that time.

EV: Your brides really showed up for you! And the same brides from before were buying your shoes?

PAIGE: Oh, they were incredible. They were like: “Give me the shoes! We’re supporting you!” 

EV: And they flooded JLM’s IG with comments?

PAIGE: Yes, totally with unicorn emojis everywhere—it felt like our own Taylor Swift-style movement with the snakes. I have saved screengrabs of unicorns all over the page.
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EV: They probably had to shut off the comments?

PAIGE: Yes at one point, comments were shut off on that page. 

EV: I also love your sizing system. Was that created because brides felt self-conscious about sizing, or did you just want to eliminate the traditional system altogether?

PAIGE: It is just kind of a buzz kill. It really is. First of all, bridal sizing is very antiquated—because a lot of the stuff we go off measurements is a very antiquated sizing chart. You based on outdated couture sizing.
 
EV: And you studied couture?

PAIGE: Yes, I studied couture and I studied fibre science. So, what’s really interesting about how they do production categorization, that’s where sizing came from. It was a way that they could take measurements and confine them into a categorization for when their cutting ticket comes so it’s not saying three different sizes, it’s just saying one size. And that’s what they go off of for production. But in wedding dress world, you still have to go off the measurements anyway and it’s altered to fit you anyway. It’s like this isn’t the moment you need to be thinking about a size and discomfort.

Maybe there are other parts of life that you are going to be uncomfortable but this is not one of them, “Not today!” So anyway, what we created was a new sizing chart and it’s all based off of flowers and it doesn’t go in increasing orders, it doesn’t have to. You could actually totally rearrange the numbers on a size chart as long as it’s the same cutting ticket. It was one of those things where it was like we’ve been doing it like this for a really long time and is this the best way to do it? And it’s not, so just, get the measurements and call it a day. Here’s a flower, go live your life! ​

EV: What inspired this collection? The first collection since reclaiming your name!
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PAIGE: Yes! When I left the company, we had nearly 200 SKU’s. Like over ten years we had a number of dresses in the collection. Even after 6 years. When we got the IP back, I didn’t actually get the physical dresses, so everything had to be remade from scratch, all the patterns, all the fabrics, all the sourcing, everything. I still felt I wanted the signature DNA of Hayley Paige to be alive, but I also want it to feel like it’s grown a little bit. And it still has this fun energy where it’s like, we aren’t afraid to put a rainbow dress or glow-in-the-dark dress, like let’s get silly with it.

EV: That unicorn magic! 

PAIGE: Yes, that Unicorn magic! But I also felt like each one is so unique, that really the inspiration is individually focused on each dress. Like when I talk about the collection, it’s so eclectic. Just like the brides themselves. It’s not very a cohesive and that’s not normal. But why should it be? This girl is way different than that girl. I kind of embrace that a little bit which I would say is not as common in high fashion, where it’s often like, “What are you trying to say here?” But for me it’s like I can say something with each individual dress. But not so much as a collection. This piece (points to the rainbow-coloured dress) was actually meant to be just a show piece. But the stores were like, “No we want to sell that!” And we’ve sold it at every single trunk show we’ve had! It’s so good. One bride with rainbow came in and said, “This is my dress.”

EV: I saw it online and then I saw it in here and, honestly you can’t help but smile when you see it!

PAIGE: I know!!!

EV: During the period when someone else was designing under your name, how did that feel? 

PAIGE: It felt like a misrepresentation. I guess there was like a tiny bit of shame with it just because it didn’t feel like the voice was connecting right. And really with all the things that have happened, the relationships with brides have always been the most important. Staying in touch with the brides and feeling like you have this connection. It’s a love language. This is the only way I feel real confidence. I know two things, one is dress design, the other we’re still figuring it out! That is literally it. And so, when I couldn’t do it, I couldn’t say what I wanted to say, but it was harder to not victimise myself. Because I didn’t want to be like, “Oh poor me.” Because I signed the contract. And this happened, and it is what it is. So, there was a part of it that was like we have to manage a day at a time. What is the best step forward and not get too bogged down in the weeds of it. And it’s like, “Ok well this is happening, someone else is designing for it, and can’t use my name, can’t get my Instagram, so start a new Instagram, start making shoes, and get out there!”

EV: Will you bring back any of your older, iconic dresses?

PAIGE: We might! What I love now, is that the collection feels nostalgic—almost like these amazing luxury brands that have heritage behind them. They’ve been around for a hundred years. And I’m a newer brand. You know the last twenty years. And with that kind-of-stuff you do want to think about legacy and longevity a little bit and when I bought the collection back, I felt all of a sudden like this homecoming, like we have vintages now!

EV: You have the OG’s!

PAIGE: Exactly!!! Some brides come to events and say, “I got married in 2011, or 2012,” and I’m like oh you’re like a ride or die. That’s over ten years ago now and so it’s so special. It made the brand have a lot more story behind it. It’s them that really care. 

EV: Were you still sketching during the time you couldn’t design publicly?

PAIGE: All the time. I was also a little afraid of losing it. You know what I mean? I really believe, like gymnastics I did growing up, if you don’t practice and you’re not thinking and doing. It’s out of sight out of mind. And maybe the industry moves on without you. I was nervous. I knew at some point I was going to design dresses again. I don’t know if I’ll be able to get my name back but I’ll be able to design, so let’s keep it top of the line at least. Even if you can’t do it performatively. 

EV: And you did! And you listened to the Beach Boys song, “Make it Big” when you got your name back?

PAIGE: Oh my God you’re so good, you’ve done your research, (laughs) 

EV: Of course! “See your name spelled right”! (Lyrics from Make it Big)

PAIGE: Yes! Oh my Gosh, so good. That’s from, Troop Beverly Hills, That original song. So, in the very beginning of the movie there’s an artist, Robert Graham, and he does the animation for Troop Beverly Hills in the beginning, and it’s to the Beach Boys song, “Make it Big” And as a kid I was like that’s my theme song! So that’s actually THE song I played when I got my name back, I was like.. boop...Play!

And play Paige is, making it big…with her name spelled right. And we couldn’t be more thrilled for her. 
 

​With thanks to Lovella Bride store  @lovellabridal
Location: 224 S Brand Blvd, Glendale, CA 9120
PR: In Good Company (Carly Long) 
Photo credit: @weddingbysylvie
Florals: @avantgarden
Sweets, cakes and cookies: @thebutterend
Hayley Paige Website. 
Hayley Paige IG
A Girl You Might Know Foundation