Exclusive: Zac Posen launches new David's Bridal line

Olivia Barker | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption This type of wedding dress makes Zac Posen cringe Zac Posen, designer of David's Bridal wedding dress collection, 'Truly Zac Posen,' tells USA Today what type of wedding dress makes him cringe, and what gift he typically gives marrying couples.

The six-gown collection goes on sale online and in 50 stores February 2014

Prices will range from %24850 to %241%2C350%2C sizes from 0 to 26

His goal%3A To push %22technique and construction to the ultimate accessible price point%22

NEW YORK — Zac Posen is peeling back the layers of a bridal gown like a groom on his wedding night.

One, two, three, four... a dozen or so layers enrobe a blond pixie of a model. "I love the different tulle textures," Posen gushes. "I love the corded boning." He fingers the rhinestone beading — at least 100 crystals-strong — along the bustline and straps. "Beautiful," yet sufficiently subtle. "Sometimes it gets a little too My Little Pony."

It's a mid-May afternoon and Posen is getting his hands on, and into, a baker's dozen contenders for his new bridal line, which features several of the designer's sartorial signatures, including figure-flattering corsetry and pintucked, herringbone-like seaming.

Only this collection doesn't cost half of what an average bride might pay for her entire wedding. The line, Truly Zac Posen, is from David's Bridal. Launching February 2014, the six ivory styles will range from $850 to $1,350. Five social occasion dresses, in neutrals and one lavender-threaded silvery jacquard print, will go for $195 to $225.

And the cap-sleeved, sleeveless, ball-skirted and fishtailed wedding gowns won't just fit the Gwyneth Paltrows and Portia de Rossis of the world (both have been Posen clients, Paltrow at the 2007 Oscars, de Rossi at her 2008 nuptials). Truly Zac Posen is truly democratic, available in sizes 0 to 14 off the rack, 16 to 26 by special order.

"I have such a wide fan base and audience base and diverse base," says Posen, 32, wearing a Posen-made navy blue vested suit and sitting in his airy Tribeca studio (distressed wood floors, flaking columns, stark white walls, generous windows). Pale pink peonies softly perfume the third floor loft. "I wanted to find a place where I could actually address them and dress them."

But even within the bridal market in general, "I've always felt there was a void when brides come to me and want to commission a wedding dress, because that means they can't find what's out there." Designed and stitched a bouquet toss away, the handful-per-year custom creations, for princesses and queens, cost "a fortune" but "it's worth it."

"A great deal of care and love goes in there," Posen says. "I wanted to try that on something that was going to have a lot of reach."

Amid the frothy offerings at David's Bridal, including those of Posen's "very personal close friend" Vera Wang, as he describes their relationship, "what was missing was this aesthetic that speaks to a more red carpet, dramatic bride," says Catalina Maddox-Wagers, the company's executive vice president for merchandising. Although her team didn't talk to any other designers, "we looked at so many potential options."

The two-year-old White by Vera Wang line is "more whimsical, more flowy," Maddox-Wagers says. David's Bridal, and Posen, aren't worried about the two fashion fixtures stepping on each other's trains.

"She gave her blessing," Posen says.

Posen is huddled over a dark green marble slab-topped table, giving his blessing — or not — to options for logos, labels and hang tags. He's toying with a tomato-esque pin cushion that adorns his right wrist.

Brian Beitler, David's Bridal's chief marketing officer, is talking about who the Truly Zac Posen "girl might be. She's unafraid to take risks."

Posen isn't so sure. "I don't necessarily feel the dresses are risky. There's a romantic classicism to them with a va-va-va-voom quality." To wit: "Smashing from the side, stunning from the front and elegant from the back."

Earlier, he'd ogled over sweet grosgrain trim, sophisticated lace edging ("that makes me crazy"), an interior "bungee cord to give you that waist you've always wanted" and a trail of buttons lining one back. "It's got to look good on so many bums. That's important." And a bride's got to be able to sit, "so she can feel beautiful and eat her cake, too."

Posen is crinoline-crisp in his other critiques. One font option? "A little corporate. I feel like I'm in a law firm, and nobody wants to think of law firms when they're getting married."

"So we kill the corporate," Beitler says, just as decisively.

A potential gray and brown hang tag color scheme? "It looks like a shoebox. It looks a little masculine, like leather goods." A terra cotta hue? "A little '70s." Gold? "A little bling-y." Black and gold? "A little disco." Ahem. "Very disco." He ultimately says "I do" to an off-white and cool gray combination. "It reminds me of the inside of an ivory tulip."

Posen origamis the possible hang tag into a tidy rectangle and holds it against a ruffled strapless gown. He approves. "It reads like a personal note from me to all my best girlfriends across America."

Posen is hoping his confections will appeal to brides planning country, suburban or city weddings. As if to prove that last point, he and his model, Betina Holte (also one of his designers), head outside into the unseasonably hot air. The scent of lilac from a nearby park mingles with the fumes of the Holland Tunnel. Posen fluffs up Holte's ball skirt as she flits past cigarette butts and a subway entrance and into a cobblestone alley. He adds tawny, oversized Wayfarers to the look.

"It's our urban bride moment," he says.

When Posen cheek kisses Holte in front of a company-hired photographer, someone shouts "Congratulations!" from his car.

Indeed.