The Top Trends From New York Bridal Fashion Week Fall 2026

Selena! Charli! Taylor! Oh, my!

They may be hard to book to perform at your ceremony, but you can still channel the pop stars through your choice of wedding dress. That seemed to be the prevalent message at New York Luxury Bridal Fashion Week where the fall 2026 collections riffed on notes from three songstresses as celebrity nuptials continue to drive trends.

For starters, the custom Ralph Lauren halter Selena Gomez wore to wed Benny Blanco in September definitely gave heat to the otherwise demure neckline, which is sure to be copied imminently. And just a few weeks earlier, Charli XCX, with her Danielle Frankel slip and Vivienne Westwood corset dress, made the case for uptight brides to let go of their pursuit of perfection and just let loose. Hence, similarly disheveled designs with wrinkles, uneven draping and frayed edges, all signs of a wedding night enjoyed to the fullest, encourages a spirit of reckless fun.  

And while everyone is still eagerly anticipating which designers and dresses Taylor Swift will choose to marry Travis Kelce, a few at NYLBFW threw their hats in the ring, offering up Art Deco and flapper references galore that might just catch the “The Life of a Showgirl” singer’s eye, or at least that of a committed fan.

Turning the pop trio into a quartet is this season’s other star: Marie Antoinette, who was not a musician by trade, though she was known to play the harp. Panniers, poufs and Rococo-style embellishments were all over the spring ready-to-wear runways after the Victoria & Albert Museum’s exhibit charting her legacy throughout fashion history bowed in London and it only seems too easy a task to incorporate those elements into bridal. After all, every girl deserves to feel like a queen on her special day. 

For these and more of the standout trends from NYLBFW fall 2026, see below.

Hanging On by a Halter

Halter tops may carry a whiff of Y2K, but Selena Gomez, in a gown designed by Ralph Lauren, proved they can be timelessly elegant too. Judging by the array of halter styles at NYLBFW from silky and slinky at Alexandra Grecco to more ornate at Francesca Miranda, Gomez ignited a new neckline trend that will certainly be walking down many aisles soon.

Perfectly Imperfect

Why spend all that time and effort to be perfectly turned out just to start coming undone once the vows are exchanged at the altar? This season, the likes of Monique Lhuillier, Ines Di Santo and Sept showed there’s beauty in embracing dress mishaps. Just play them off as if they were intentional. Skirt wrinkled? Forget the steamer in the bridal suite. Straps falling down? Ruching gone awry? Quit fretting and let them — it only allows you get wilder during the reception.

Showgirls

Wedding after parties, look out! Next year’s brides can channel Taylor Swift’s popular “The Life of a Showgirl” aesthetic with ample feathered, fringed, sequined and bejeweled mini dresses. A perfect example? This crystal beaded knockout from the 10th anniversary runway show of Nicole + Felicia, a favorite of Swift.

Rococo Revival

The guillotined queen currently has fashion in a chokehold and the story is no different for bridal. Marie Antoinette might splurge on the $1 million ruby and diamond dress from Galia Lahav’s collaboration with Leibish (seen here) or choose among Honor’s “Let Them Eat Cake” collection, full of 18th-century inspired confectionary delights. But beyond the gowns, plenty of designers shot their look books either inside palatial homes or on the grounds of Versailles-style gardens, furthering the theme of extravagance.

Get Back

Brides love nothing more than to make a grand entrance, but for fall, designers provided them with plenty of ways to match it for their exit. Ranging from an absence of fabric (see Gilles’ seductive cutout ) to heaps of it (Nardos’ mille-feuille bustle), gowns often followed the mullet principle of “business in the front, party in the back.” A standout was this one from Nadia Manjarrez with a bow-like deep-V, which exposes the shoulder blades and extends into a sweeping train.

Nontraditional Lace

While lace continues to prevail as a leading trend in modern wedding dresses, brands like House of Gilles, Markarian, Kyha and more took the classic, romantic look one step further by whipping the fabrication into unexpected silhouettes including bomber jacket and two-piece ensembles to wardrobe their 2026 brides’ entire wedding weekends.

Budding Brides

Next year, brides will not only be carrying their beautiful blooms à la wedding bouquets, but also wearing them. Across the latest New York Luxury Bridal Fashion Week, brands like Viktor & Rolf Mariage, Justin Alexander Signature and Nardos proposed romantic florals as 3D appliqués and laser-cut decorations to add texture, intricacy and dimension into their fall 2026 wedding dresses.