Always Heard Wedding Bells
By Bill Spring
If Anne Barge were the kind of person to always play it safe, she'd probably be a Georgia schoolteacher making a comfortable living.
But because she's a risk-taker who has always followed her dreams, Barge, in her mid-fifties, is an internationally famous bridal gown designer whose elegant designs can be found in boutiques across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Spain. The climb to the top has been the result of hard work, seized opportunities and an unwavering dedication to a childhood dream.
Even at the age of three, living in the small South Georgia town of Cordele, Barge knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up.
"My mother was a musician who used to play for lots of weddings," Barge said, "and she took me along. I was always drawing brides. The only thing I ever wanted to do in my life was be a wedding gown designer."
But when she entered the University of Georgia in 1966, Barge pursued a degree in education, not fashion design: "My father said, in case I didn't get famous, I should get a degree to teach."
While student teaching as a college senior, Barge saw an opportunity to jump back onto the path toward her dream. After learning that Priscilla Kidder, a respected Boston bridal designer, was coming to Atlanta to do a trunk show, Barge showed up with a sketchbook full of the original dress designs.
When the ushers realized Barge was seeking employment rather than a wedding dress, they started to whisk her out the door. Luckily, "Priscilla of Boston" intervened.
"It was out of a dream," said Barge. "I heard her voice behind me, and she said 'I'm Priscilla, did you want to talk to me?'"
She spent an hour showing her designs to Kidder, who was impressed enough to show them to her chief designer, Jim Hjelm. "They decided that I needed to move to Boston," said Barge.
So instead of teaching, Barge followed her dream. She spent a year and half in Boston as an apprentice to Hjelm, learning the bridal gown business from the ground up.
In the early 1970s, she returned to Atlanta, managing fashion shows for a department store and running four small boutiques. She also designed wedding dresses for friends, and scored a major coup when she designed the entire wedding for the daughter of Georgia's then-governor, George Busbee.
"It gave me a huge amount of publicity," Barge said, "But it was sort of hard to capitalize on it, because I didn't have a store."
By the 1980s, Barge had everything she needed to start her own business, except money. Five supportive friends invested, and she opened a store in Atlanta in 1981. She designed dresses, sent them to be made by friends in New York, and sold them under various labels. With her exquisite taste and style, Barge developed a chic clientele. For more than a decade, business boomed and her reputation grew.
In 1994, New York bridal retailer Kleinfeld's hired her to run its new Saks Fifth Avenue bridal salons. That step led to a bigger one — across the wide Atlantic.
In 1996 Barge met British business mogul Richard Branson, who was partnering with Kleinfeld's to open a London store called Virgin Bride. He asked Barge to come to England to run the business.
"I wound up moving there for two and half years," she said, "and it was a great experience."
Barge helped start a revolution which brought the American and British bridal industries closer together. She introduced the English to the elegance of simple designs, and to U.S. traditions such as using adults, rather than children, as attendants. She designed and helped launch the store's successful private label line of gowns.
But despite her achievements, Barge grew homesick. "I never intended to be over there for such a long time,"she said.
She returned to Atlanta in late 1998 with the resources to fulfill her lifelong dream of creating and launching a line of bridal gown under her own name.
Today she is still reeling from her gown being selected the bridal dress for the 2003 wedding sponsored by NBC's "The Today Show." She's also excited about her new spring 2004 line of gowns.
"We've gone all the way back to the turn of the (last) century," she said.
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