Our Story

For two decades, Amy Kuschel was a San Francisco design studio — first for wedding gowns, and later for a ready-to-wear line. This site is kept as an archive of that work, for the brides who wore our designs and for anyone curious about where Amy's path began.

Today Amy teaches mindfulness and meditation. You can find her at amykuschel.com.

Our Design Principles

We designed clothes for inspiring women who appreciated good design: minimal, mindfully made, and iconic, with mid-century charm. We believed in style that highlights your personality and helps you live with grace and confidence, and in a simplicity that frees you to do the things you love.

The First Collection

Amy started the company in 1999 with a collection of simple, elegant wedding gowns. At the time it was hard to find elevated style that was affordable. Over the next twenty years — with plenty of hands-on dressmaking and thousands of wonderful brides — the goal stayed the same: elegant, attainable dresses, cut to flatter, with clean, iconic lines. You can browse the complete gown collection.

Ready to Wear

In 2016 we launched the first Amy Kuschel ready-to-wear line: minimalist designs, flattering lines and high-quality fabrics, made to be mixed and matched from work to weekend — from denim and lace pencil skirts to studio shirts and 60s-inspired shift dresses. In 2019 we closed the custom bridal collection to focus on it; the San Francisco Chronicle told that story.

Mindfully Made

We made our clothes in San Francisco with quality American craftsmanship. Designing, pattern-making, cutting, sewing and draping all happened in our own studio and in neighborhood workshops. We worked like a family, building every piece for wearability and sustainability, so it could be loved and worn for years.

Giving

For many years we supported Edgewood Center for Children and Families, which began as an orphanage during the California Gold Rush and grew into an extraordinary organization helping the most vulnerable children in our communities. Our Gowns that Give campaign donated 1% of our apparel sales to Edgewood's mission of hope.

Founders

Amy Kuschel, Designer

Amy grew up in western New York listening to 70s soul, rock-n-roll, and David Bowie. A graduate of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, she got her start on 7th Avenue as a ready-to-wear designer and spent the next ten years leading design for companies in New York and California. Her own search for the perfect wedding gown inspired her and her new husband, Bill, to launch the Amy Kuschel collection. Her love of minimalist design, vintage French style and an optimistic view of life ran through all of her work.

Today Amy teaches mindfulness and meditation — visit amykuschel.com.

Bill Brugger, Director

Bill is a southern California native: think skateboards, Elvis, English Beat, and runner's legs. He studied film at UC Berkeley and worked in New York as a television director, where he met Amy and wooed her with clever mixtapes and old movies. Back in California he worked as a web developer until the dot-com crash, which conveniently coincided with the launch of the Amy Kuschel collection. Bill was the visionary behind the brand, the go-to for HR, the builder of its complicated operating system and its one-stop web developer — most likely in jeans and a black tee.