Best Gay Friend: Chelsea Montgomery-Duban (wearing custom NIKOLAKI) and designer Nick VerreosLast year, I had the amazing grace to meet the Montgomery-Duban family. I was at an event and the most beautiful young girl, by the name of Chelsea, approached me--well, it was actually the fabulous Ugly Betty actress Judith Light, who came up to me, and introduced us. She was the daughter of Kevin Montgomery and Dennis Duban--yes: TWO DADS!!! (how 2009!!!) and they professed their love of my designs and Project Runway. They also confessed that they were getting married and wanted me to create their daughter's gown. Soon after, the emails and phone calls came in, and before I knew it, I was sketching designs and having fittings with the beautiful Chelsea. It's not the norm for me to "come out" with who my private clients are however this is something that I was proud to have been commissioned to do. It also became one of the best design experiences of my life.
Custom Illustration: Original Nick Verreos illustration of Chelsea's custom NIKOLAKI gownMy NIKOLAKI design partner, David Paul and I, designed a one of a kind raspberry silk duchesse satin fitted strapless gown with hand-encrusted Swarovski crystals for Chelsea and she looked STUNNING. The Montgomery-Duban Wedding was INCREDIBLE. Not just because of our gown but because of the fact that her fathers had been together for over a quarter of a century and it was amazing to finally celebrate their union!
Here is a newly-surfaced video of our new "niece" at her dad's wedding that I think you need to see--it has gotten hundreds of hits on Facebook and other sites, and still brings tears to our eyes. And she just happens to look FABULOUSLY CHIC, in our custom NIKOLAKI gown!
Click BELOW for the Video: