Meet Natalie

Our first custom bride was in 2006. In January of 2014, we moved into Silver Street Studios in the Houston Arts District. Over the last 15 years, Renegade has grown into the nation's go-to brand for offbeat bridal and eveningwear, both for dramatic and subtle infusions of personality through details. Today, you can shop our collections, visit our studio to create the perfect gown for you, or order dyeing services for your gown. 

I believe the gown you wear on your wedding day should be exactly the kind of expression your spouse would expect from you.

Back in design school, I once took a personality evaluation to apply at Golden Corral (yes, the buffet restaurant). It said I had "issues with following the status quo."  I was shocked — and I did not get that job. 

I suppose I've been on a path to this career my whole life. It all started with gluing Barbie clothes before Mom started teaching me to sew in third grade for 4H projects while growing up on a farm in rural Indiana. 

Fast forward a couple decades. 

I've made coloring outside the lines my career, by putting prints on wedding gowns, embroidering skulls into lace, and encouraging renegade brides to forego tradition for the sake of  itself in favor of hyper-personalizing. I wish every bride could have the fun "Easter eggs" we hide in our brides' gowns.

The Renegade brand was my evolution to serve cool, fun, out of the box brides. Observing from my experiences in bridal manufacturing and retail, I launched with a long list of what not to do:

  • Don't make gowns run crazy small
  • Certainly don't charge plus size fees and punish certain body types
  • Never exploit laborers to get the cheapest product
  • Never get boring

Plenty of brands have offerings for "elegant" or "traditional" brides. Nobody was listening to the craving for something fresh. Bold. Fun. So I did. And promptly received crazy looks from mothers-of-the-bride and mild-mannered store owners. 

But the Houston brides started to come, and they've continued coming, fueling my mission all these years. 

I have wild notions about how life and art intermingle and believe the gown you wear on your wedding day should be exactly the kind of expression your spouse would expect from you. Fashion should serve to convey your personality. Maybe that means bridal dress sleeves with Muertos skull appliques blended into lace, maybe that's a sunset ombre dyed wedding dress.

My community and family energize me to live this dream.

Ironically, on my days off, you'll find me to be a supreme suburban cliché. Every morning I trip over Legos and teethers as I stumble to the kitchen for my caffeine fix after late nights when my brain is a whirlwind of ideas. My family is also a bunch of Game of Thrones nerds, roadtrippers, and Boilermakers. In 2016, we spontaneously went to Hong Kong (with kids). We're experience maniacs.  

Maybe that's why I cherish weddings so gosh darn much — those experiential memories. Let's chat about yours and bringing authenticity to your wedding day look and experience.

 

Natalie