What Morilee is known for
Movement. The current collection is called Poetry of Motion and the name is literal: it was built on ballet, and the gowns are cut to travel with a light, almost weightless drift. That thinking runs through the house — soft chiffon and tulle, A-line and ball gown skirts that carry when you turn, and lace and hand-set crystal placed to catch light as you walk rather than only when you stand still. A Morilee gown is meant to be seen moving, which is the one thing a photograph cannot show you.
The house behind the gowns
Morilee was founded in New York’s garment district in 1953 by Evlynn Udell and her brother Morvin Leibowitz — the name is a knot of their own — at a time when a woman running a fashion house was rare. Madeline Gardner then designed for it for 39 years, long enough that a generation of brides simply called the label Morilee by Madeline Gardner. In 2024 Jiyup Kim became chief design officer after more than a decade as senior design director at Vera Wang, and Poetry of Motion is her first collection here. Seventy-plus years on, a house a woman started is being drawn by another.
What our team knows about Morilee
Our founder, Dimitra Mandalas, has 40+ years in fashion design and bridal, and she selects the collection by touch at market rather than from a catalog. Morilee has been on our floor for more than 25 years — through Madeline Gardner’s era and now into Jiyup Kim’s — which is long enough to know how these gowns behave rather than how they photograph: which skirts travel and which settle, where a chiffon wants its hem, how a crystal-set bodice sits after an hour of wear. Our senior bridal consultants have spent 20+ years at Dimitra Designs.
Designer options versus in-house alterations
Two different things get called personalization, and they happen at different moments. Designer-ordered options are chosen when you purchase your gown — we request them from Morilee when we place your order on your behalf — and this house lets you move more than most brides expect. A neckline can be changed and the waist reshaped to a basque or back to a regular one. Sleeves can be added or taken off. A slit can be added, or taken out of a gown that has one. Pockets can be added. A zipper can become a corset back, or the reverse. A train can be lengthened or shortened by a foot, with buttons run down it or removed. Glitter tulle can be added to a bodice, a skirt, or both — or taken off entirely. A bodice can be lined or unlined for more coverage or less, and the lining and illusion shades changed. None of it is offered on every gown, so your consultant checks your style with the designer when you purchase.
In-house alterations are ours, once the gown is here: the fit, the hem, and the work of returning a gown to the line you fell for in the mirror. Our master seamstresses bring 40+ years of alterations expertise, in-house, and a gown built to move has to be hemmed to the way you actually walk — in the shoes you will wear, since the bustle is set to your height and your heel. Either way, the gown is ordered in a standard size from Morilee’s own size chart and fitted to you in-house, never made to your exact measurements.
One house, more of your party
Morilee does not stop at the bride, and neither do we. The same house makes MGNY mother-of-the-bride gowns, Morilee bridesmaid dresses, and Julietta, its plus-size bridal line — and all three are here with the gowns. That is unusual, and useful: your mother, your bridesmaids, and you can be dressed by one design house, with the fabrics held beside each other before anything is ordered rather than matched across three stores. The men can be fitted here too, in a gray tuxedo or whatever the day asks for.
What brides ask about Morilee
Are Morilee gowns made to my measurements?
No. We measure your bust, waist, and hip, order the size that best fits your largest measurement from Morilee’s own size chart, and our master seamstresses complete the fit in-house. A gown drawn and built from scratch is a separate service, and one we also offer.
Is Morilee still the same house it was?
Yes and no, and that is the interesting part. The design chair changed in 2024 for the first time in almost four decades, so the newest gowns do not look like the ones an older sister may have tried on. What did not change is the construction standard and the size range. If you saw Morilee years ago and moved on, it is worth another look.
Does Morilee come in plus sizes?
Yes, through Julietta, the house’s own plus-size bridal line, drafted for the figure rather than graded up to it. It sits on our floor beside the main collection, so both can be tried in one appointment. It runs the other way too: if you fall for a Julietta design and you are not a plus size, it can be ordered in a regular size. The line the house drew in 1953 — gowns for all women — still runs through the order form.
What are your payment options?
We offer payment terms with no finance fees. A gown taken from our floor can go on our Layaway Plan; a gown that has to be special ordered has our Special Order Payment Plan instead. If you need more time, say so at your appointment and a consultant will walk you through it.
See a Morilee gown move
For 30+ years, Dimitra Designs has dressed three generations of families across the Carolinas, and Morilee has been here for most of them. A gown built to move is one you have to see moving, on you, in a mirror you can turn in. Book a bridal appointment in Greenville, SC, or browse all wedding gowns.