Sunny Leone’s bridal shopping show to air in UAE

Move over #RichKids: There’s another side of Beverly Hills coming to TV screens today, with the white-dress antics of the ladies in the reality show Brides of Beverly Hills. But just because this hit (one of several new shows thanks to the launch of the TLC channel) features blushing brides, it’s no less risque.

For example: Indian-Canadian adult film actress Sunny Leone (accompanied by her brother) is one of the brides audiences will see shopping for a dress at Renee Strauss Brides, the go-to store for brides and Hollywood productions in the tony Los Angeles neighbourhood.

Strauss has been dressing Beverly Hills brides since she bought her first store there in 1982, providing dresses to the likes of Paula Abdul and Heather Locklear, as well as dressing the brides of movies such as Runaway Bride, My Best Friend’s Wedding and Father of the Bride. Strauss even designed the wedding dress worn by Stephanie Seymour in Guns’n Roses’ November Rain video. She started capitalising on that renown with a TV show after execs from TLC started seeing her dresses at weddings they attended.

“I had a premiere luxury bridal salon in Beverly Hills for 30 years and already had an international reputation because I was one of the first bridal salons to bring European collections to the United States. Being in Beverly Hills and having a large headquarters of TLC in Los Angeles, many of the department heads had also had family members purchase wedding gowns from me,” says Strauss, over the phone from Beverly Hills. “Between knowing me and my business and my personality, looking for something that was unique and long the lines of a bridal show in Beverly Hills, I was the perfect choice.”

While a glance at the customers featured on the show includes at least two adult film stars (Leone brings her brother along to show for a dress in the second episode), an 80-year-old Hollywood actress and a woman described as a 40-year-old Barbie, Strauss is keen to stress the show is warm and not that dramatic. “We are a feel-good show. We are very light-hearted and whimsical. We have a heart. Ours it the kind of show that even men watch, because it’s humorous.”

As in any good reality show, it’s about the permanent characters as much as the customers. Brides of Beverly Hills includes Strauss’ longtime colleague Clara — the tough saleswoman who’s there to close the sale. “Clara is what we call a real old-time pro in the sales industry,” she says. “She certainly listens to what the customer is looking for but she is there is make a sale. In that way she’s just really funny. Everyone else has a little heart.”

While her store has always been busy she says, the impact of the show, now in its second season in the US but starting with the first at 10pm on TLC tonight — means “people come in and want to take photographs and they want to meet me.” Life has “changed very dramatically”.

“I love it because I’ve always been a people lover so it’s refreshing and very complimentary.”

Quickfire with Renee Strauss

What have been the funniest moments filming?

Season one opens with an adult film star, and she’s hysterical. Of all the months where we shot the show, the only time my husband came and stayed was when we had the adult film star. We also had a Hollywood legend movie actress, from the old black and white movies: Mamie Van Doren. She was phenomenal. There are so few people that are octogenarians — they don’t live that long in Hollywood.

Tell us what’s selling these days?

It’s always individual but there are trends as well, romantic-looking dresses and tulle and organza — it’s more driven by fabric than style. Now fabric is very ethereal and light. The style of the dress I designed for November Rain is very much coming back now. We call it a high-low hemline — shorter in the front and longer in the back. That’s a trend that’s popular in bridal now.

You’ve also done a lot of celebrity weddings...

I’ve been in Hollywood for so many years and a lot of my clientele have been rock‘n’rollers. A lot of the girls that marry rock‘n’roll guys are usually out in California without their mums around, so they are drawn to me because I have that motherly way about me.

What kind of advice do you give?

Some brides come in with an idea that they have in mind, but most of the time they come in and I make them feel very welcome, like they are coming to my home, and I give them a brief tour and get a sense of their style. For me it’s call the sixth sense of bridal. What I like to do is get a good assessment of a person’s personality. No matter what they are wearing, if they have make-up on or not, I can take from a persons walk and the way they express themselves. Then I can tell if they are going to be the kind of person that has this inner bride that is aching to come out, or a fairy tale princess inside or a chic city gal inside. Then I can direct traffic and let them know what I think is right for them.

What’s changed in the industry since you started?

When I first started, there was a limited amount of merchandise available to the public, and a bride would come in with sheets from a magazine or a fairy tale image in her mind, and we would walk them around and their eyes would be big and we would sell them a gown. But today with the internet saturation and the tremendous amount of stores and merchandise to choose from, it’s a much more confusing time for many brides. It can create what we call snow blindness for the customer — meaning they have seen so much they can’t remember the distinctive features of one gown from another, or they just get exhausted.