Luar’s Raul Lopez Made a Wedding Dress Designed to Make You Feel Like You’re on Love ’Shrooms

Brooke Bobb
Updated

Luar’s Raul Lopez Made a Wedding Dress Designed to Make You Feel Like You’re on Love ’Shrooms

<cite class="credit">Photo: Courtesy of Raul Lopez</cite>
Photo: Courtesy of Raul Lopez
<cite class="credit">Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias</cite>
Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias
<cite class="credit">Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias</cite>
Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias
<cite class="credit">Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias</cite>
Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias
<cite class="credit">Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias</cite>
Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias
<cite class="credit">Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias</cite>
Photo: Courtesy of Dorian Ulises Lopez Masias

According to Cynthia Cervantes, the making of her custom wedding dress was like an episode of Project Runway, minus the crying in the aisles of Mood Fabrics and the monotone voice of Tim Gunn urging everyone to “make it work!” Over the weekend, the fashion producer married her longtime partner Travis Gumbs in Michoacán, Mexico, wearing a custom dress and veil created by her best friend Raul Lopez. The wunderkind designer behind the gender-fluid, provocative, made-in–New York label Luar worked closely with Cervantes on the purposefully anti-traditional bridal look loosely inspired by Aztec goddesses, Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth, and Artemisia I of Caria. As Lopez explains, “The dress is a reflection of her: strong and sassy because of the corset, soft and feminine like the ruffles, precious like the Swarovski crystals, and endearing like the pleats.” He adds, “Cynthia is a boss bitch, and she needed a look to reflect that.”

As a little girl, Cervantes never spent an iota of her time dreaming about what her wedding dress might be one day. But when the time came and after her dear BFF of 10 years had already designed a dress and headpiece for her save the date, she went to work. She first created a mood board and explained that she wanted something like a Mexican resplendor headpiece. The pair went over and over the detailing, the way the draping was pinned, and the fit of the bustier. “I literally became his intern,” Cervantes says. “I learned how certain pleating falls on the body, what fabrics can and can’t be used to reach a desired effect. We would be in the studio and suddenly, he would have a genius idea for the draping, and it was honestly so inspiring and magical at times.”

Lopez notes that while the pair worked on the concept for months, the dress itself took around three weeks to construct. He worked with musician and creative director Neon on the headpiece. It was the first wedding dress he has ever designed, save for, as he remembers, “The ones I made as a kid and wore around the house when no one was home.” Their overall vision, Cervantes says, was ultimately about “exploring the idea of what it means to create your own traditions, while also paying homage to the foundations of culture and family. What does it mean for a woman to marry in today’s climate?”

In Lopez’s view, it’s also about “taking what the bride wants and giving it ’shrooms so everyone goes into a hallucinogenic state. You want to get that euphoric feeling, like you’re riding on a wave of beauty.”