“I love seeing love,” says Stephanie Brown, owner and designer of House of Maganda Bridal Boutique in downtown Charleston. Love is evident in everything she does. From the hand-painted walls of her studio to her hand-sewn gowns, Brown lives and breathes love every single day.
“Maganda means beauty or beautiful in Tagalog,” says Brown. It’s a nod to her Filipino heritage but, she says, “when I chose the name, I didn’t know how all-encompassing it would become.” All she knew was that she wanted a name that would allow her to create beauty, a direct foil to her prior career in the Army.
“I bought my home sewing machine when I got out of the Army, around 2008,” says Brown. She wasn’t sewing bridal gowns yet, though. Instead, she was learning, sewing bags for friends and sweaters for her husband. “Can I measure you?” was a lovingly dreaded question among her friends and family. “They all came out horrible, but I was excited to be creating something.”
Brown’s husband, still on Army active duty, was stationed in Hawaii, where she interned with Project Runway finalist Kini Zamora. When the family moved to El Paso, Texas, Brown won a prestigious fellowship with Andrea Pittercampbell, focused on bridal work. “This was where I started to ask Andrea, Do I have talent? Should I keep going?” says Brown. “When I was dipping my toe, she gave me the confidence to move forward.”
Then tragedy struck, and it all could have fallen apart. “My husband passed away in 2021, toward the end of that mentorship,” says Brown, emotion filling her voice even after more than three years. Left alone with a young daughter, she could have walked away, gone back to the stability of a career with the Department of Veterans Affairs. “But she told me not to take my foot off the gas,” Brown adds. “If she hadn’t believed in me, I might have stopped sewing.”
But Brown’s husband remains part of everything she does. “He was there from the beginning, supporting me. Nourishing my talent. He was my beginning of everything.”
Everything, in this case, is a bridal boutique. Brides start their journey with a consultation in which two paths are laid out: create a gown completely from scratch or choose from Brown’s bespoke collection. The custom path still excites Brown. “They tell me their vision. They talk about their venue, their husband. I’ll draw a sketch right then and we’ll come up with a silhouette that suits them. They can include pieces of their mother’s gown, their grandmother’s veil,” she says, pausing before adding, “Or a piece of their father. I’ll do that for my daughter someday. I want to create for every bride a gown full of meaning that can be passed down to the next generation.”
After the consultation, Brown sources fabrics and finalizes details. She makes a mockup in muslin to ensure the proper silhouette and fit, and then has final fittings before the big day. Brown wants all brides to feel beautiful on their wedding day and even offers delivery and styling services.
Brown loves the time she spends with her brides. “By the time I deliver the gown it’s like I’m part of the family,” she says. “I love that.” Prices for fully bespoke dresses start at less than $3,000, and Brown wants brides to know they’re worth it. With Brown, her family and the enduring love of her husband in your corner, there’s no way you’ll feel anything other than beautiful. Maganda.
Shop and learn more at HouseofMaganda.com
By Leah Moore