VUE

BY WENDY LARIMER P N I N A T O R N A I F O R K L E I N F E L D Bringing Fairytal to Life Finding a wedding gown that captures who the bride is or even who she wants to be can be a daunting experience for many. It takes some self-reflection of how you want to feel and be seen on your big day and for years well into the future when your photos will become family treasures. Internationally renowned designer Pnina Tornai, understands that a wedding gown is much more than just a dress and has worked for decades to create gowns that fulfill the dreams of many brides. T ornai is an Israeli fashion and wedding dress designer, as well as a reality and daytime TV personality, perhaps recognized by many through her role on TLC's Say Yes To The Dress. Her career is a perfect match for a woman who wanted to be an actress, but turned to fashion as a higher calling. Tornai explains that during the most-challenging time in her personal life she moved from Paris back to Israel and despite knowing nothing about design, opened a boutique selling ready-to-wear items. One night she says she had a very vivid dream where she was lying on a lawn and amazing ball gowns dropped from the sky. "I could see every detail like the golden embroidery and beads. I woke up that morning and knew it was a message and not just a dream. I made a drastic change to turn to making wedding gowns." Her new venture turned to instant success where she quickly became the leading designer in Israel. Tornai next turned to the U.S. with an eye towards breaking into the Kleinfeld Bridal empire. "I heard about Kleinfeld, that it was the biggest and best but you couldn't reach them. You needed to be someone known to be there," she says. Luck was with her when the father of a bride she was working with was unable to pay for the dresses his daughter V U E N J .C O M 36

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