Middlebury Magazine

  • Recent Stories
  • Menu
    • Features
    • Pursuits
    • Q&A
    • Review
    • Old Chapel
    • Road Taken
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • How Did You Get Here Series
    • About
    • Advertising
    • Contact
    • Support
    • Writers’ Guidelines
  • Search

Winter 2018 Pursuits

Maker of Magic

Kpoene’ Kofi-Nicklin ’02 is the owner and creative genius behind a custom bridal boutique that is commanding the attention of the booming wedding industry.

By Lena Singer
Photography by Alyssa Schukar
January 29, 2018
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • Email icon

Kpoene’ Kofi-Nicklin ’02 is in a loft on Chicago’s West Side, steaming the wrinkles out of a long tulle veil. A photographer bustles by, preparing to take pictures of a model wearing bespoke wedding gowns designed and sewn by Kofi-Nicklin. The pictures will eventually be posted to social media. The dresses hang together on a rack like a shimmering cloud. Kofi-Nicklin’s wife, Anne Nicklin, appears and asks if she needs anything before the shoot begins. The designer absentmindedly declines. Unexpectedly, she brings up Iceland.

Last July, Kofi-Nicklin traveled from Chicago, where she owns and operates the high-end custom bridal boutique Mignonette Bridal, to southern Iceland on a “black girl magic trip.” Frustrated with the dearth of women of color in bridal fashion and media, Kofi-Nicklin convened with like-minded stylists and photographers—themselves all women of color—to take cinematic, art-directed images of a black model wearing Mignonette gowns. As they photographed the model in front of lush Scandinavian hillsides, icy rivers, and crashing waterfalls, passing tourists were intrigued and excited by the scene. “Nobody was looking at the beautiful natural wonder we’d all come to see,” says Kofi-Nicklin. “Everyone was looking at [her].”

In a wedding industry now dominated by social media—according to 2016 surveys by wedding resource the Knot, 62 percent of brides use their mobile phones to browse for dresses, and 70 percent find wedding inspiration on social media—Kofi-Nicklin has positioned herself not only as a designer and shopkeeper, but also as a self-starting fashion editor, digital marketer, and online entrepreneur. In 2017 alone, she organized additional trips to Amsterdam, Paris, and Toronto for photoshoots of her gowns, and lent dresses to photographers around the world for their own editorial photography. The meticulously styled, aspirational images from these excursions filter through Instagram and Pinterest, where tags lead brides right back to Mignonette’s own Instagram page and Etsy shop.

Fashion and the Internet converged organically for Kofi-Nicklin, who moved to New York in 2002 after graduating from Middlebury, where she studied English literature and women’s studies. As a student, she picked up sewing in the Theatre Department’s costume shop, repairing and designing costumes for dance productions and plays. She had learned fashion illustration and design theory in a costuming course at Midd, and in New York decided to enroll in design classes at Fashion Institute of Technology. She lived in Brooklyn and fell into a collective of designers who were building the momentum for a soon-to-be-global handmade movement and the kind of DIY online retail that launched Etsy in 2005.

Kofi-Nicklin and Nicklin, an architect, met in New York and lived briefly in San Francisco. They were married in 2009 in Montréal, and photos of their romantic ceremony can still be found on wedding blogs. Kofi-Nicklin designed and made her own gauzy dress: “My gown lives here in the store, and every time we finish a custom gown I put a little bit of my dress in the hem. That’s their ‘something old,’” she says.

The couple settled in Chicago in 2011. Nicklin, an expert in sustainable building practices, designed the Mignonette boutique, an elegant atelier that’s “like a little jewel box,” says Kofi-Nicklin. In early 2018, Kofi-Nicklin will move Mignonette’s showroom to downtown Chicago and the existing space will become a spin-off business, Ette, dedicated to wedding gown alterations, including the restoration and restyling of vintage dresses. She also recently launched a line of ready-to-wear bridal skirts, based on a pattern of hers called the Gris. “When I first started the label, I had no idea how I was going to reach people,” says Kofi-Nicklin. “Now all I have to do is pick up my phone.”

 

Parallels

A Thread to the Past

As she planned to open Mignonette, Kofi-Nicklin frequented estate sales around Chicago, collecting antiques for the shop. An advertisement for a sale in Palatine boasted that it was a “dream” for sewing enthusiasts. Skeptical, Kofi-Nicklin decided to check it out on the last day. She met the daughter of Italian immigrants who had been local tailors. The daughter was selling her parents’ vintage European fabrics, studio furniture, and 1900s-era sewing machines, including the Singer model pictured here. “I bought everything,” says Kofi-Nicklin. “I even have their wedding photo.” Over time, the Italian tailors have become like patron saints to the designer and seamstress. “They set up the sewing business, and they started from pretty much nothing,” she says. With their machine in the store, she feels as though she has “someone watching over me.”

New family Heirloom

Soon after Kofi-Nicklin graduated from Middlebury, her mother gave her her first pair of professional-quality sewing shears as a token of encouragement. “Even though we use them every day, they take pride of place in the studio,” she says. “They hang on the wall. Everything I cut with [them] turns out to be the most perfect thing.”

Certain Stories

Kofi-Nicklin’s mother also passed along her love for Edith Wharton. “I read The Buccaneers when I was probably in junior high,” she says. She often quotes Wharton in the captions of bridal photos that appear on Mignonette’s Instagram account. A favorite is, “There are two ways of spreading light. To be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it,” from Wharton’s poem “Vesalius in Zante. (1564).”

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Recent Stories

Features

More Than a Game

In a critically acclaimed work of nonfiction, Abe Streep '04 introduces readers to the Arlee Warriors, a high school basketball team on a Native American reservation in Montana, where life's challenges are abundant.

By Alexander Wolff
Photograph by Devin Yalkin
October 21, 2022

Munya Munyati Has A Few Stories to Tell

Catching up with a young filmmaker who is rapidly making a name for himself at Vice.

By Mara Dolan
Film stills by Munya Munyati
September 16, 2022

Reverberations

A transcontinental move, a career discovered, a landmark speech studied and translated—and an identity reshaped.

By Clara Clymer, MA Translation '22
Illustration by Anna Gusella
April 2, 2022

The Road(s)

A little over a year ago, a writing student headed south to Florida for no other reason than J-Term was forced to go remote. She soon found herself reporting on an environmental justice battle that was roiling the state.

By Alexandra Burns '21.5
Illustrations by Yevgenia Nayberg
March 2, 2022

Dispatches

A Night Out

For one evening in December, Atwater dining hall hosted a student-dining experience unlike any other.

By Caroline Crawford
Photographs by Paul Dahm
January 20, 2023

Finding His Way

What happens when your identity is stolen—not by another person but by your own body?

By Sara Thurber Marshall
December 15, 2022

A Natural Selection

For more than a quarter century, Stephen Trombulak— now an emeritus professor of biology and environmental studies—guided students in avian research on a parcel of College land hard by Otter Creek. This preserved area now bears his name.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photography by Paul Dahm
November 18, 2022

The Utterly Fascinating Life of Howie McCausland

He saves lives. He brought the Internet to Middlebury. He has a degree in astrophysics. And he loves to fish. Yes, this is a true story.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustration by John S. Dykes
September 16, 2022

It’s a New Day at the Museum of Art

Reimagining what an art museum can and should be.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Art courtesy of the Middlebury College Museum of Art
June 30, 2022

First Aid

Their projects span the globe—from Kenya to Haiti to the United States. As the 2021-22 academic year came to a close, a cohort of students gathered to discuss what having a social impact really means.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Illustration by Brian Stauffer
June 28, 2022

The Case of the Purloined Onions

Onions have been disappearing from Middlebury's garden. Now, a team of undergraduate sleuths are honing in on a lineup of suspects.

By Andrew Cassel
Illustration by Naomi Ann Clarke
June 21, 2022

Sonic Art

What began as an attempt by Matthew Evan Taylor to collaborate with fellow musicians during the isolation of the pandemic ended up being a yearlong project that culminated in an evening performance at the Met.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Photograph by Josiah Bania
April 15, 2022

Poetry, In Exile

After fleeing civil unrest in her native Venezuela, a Middlebury Institute graduate student turned to poetry to help make sense of it all.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustrations by Anonymous
January 21, 2022
View All

Pursuits

Public Defender

On becoming one of the country's foremost cybersecurity experts.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Illustration by Neil Webb
April 14, 2022

Q&A

The Making of a Teacher

Hebrew Professor Michal Strier reflects on her life an education—in Israel and the States—a journey that led the Language School instructor to the undergraduate College for the first time this year.

By Jessie Raymond '90
Photograph by Paul Dahm
May 19, 2022

Editor’s Note

A Brilliant Fogg

Saying goodbye to a dear colleague and friend.

By Matt Jennings
Illustration by Jody Hewgill
February 25, 2020

Old Chapel

Making Democracy Real

An Update on Our Conflict Transformation Initiative

By Laurie L. Patton
Illustration by Montse Bernal
January 20, 2023

Road Taken

What to Wear Now

Through accrued life experiences, a writer discovers that a common question has become a statement of identity.

By Samantha Hubbard Shanley ’99
Illustration by Naomi Clarke
March 11, 2021

Quotation

A summer immersed in a language can do wonders, as veterans of Middlebury College’s famous language-learning program can attest. The lockdown is clearly going to amount to the equivalent of about two summers, and there are mini-Middleburys happening in millions of houses worldwide.”

—John McWhorter, writing “The Coronavirus Generation Will Use Language Differently” in the Atlantic.

Podcasts

Alone Together, Ep. 9 with Jessica St. Clair ’98 and Dan O’Brien ’96

Dan O'Brien ’96, a playwright and poet, and Jessica St. Clair ’98, a comedian and writer, join President Patton for our final check in with the community during COVID-19 self-isolation. Dan and Jessica are a true power couple in the arts that met in a Middlebury improv group. They discuss Dan's magazine essay "Life Shrinks: Lessons from Chemo Quarantine," how reopening the country feels a lot like remission, and how their art is evolving to reflect the pandemic.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 15, 2020

Alone Together, Ep. 8 with Dick Clay, Covid-19 Survivor

In this episode, Dick Clay, a student at the Bread Loaf School of English, shares his story of recovering from COVID-19. Dick discusses when the seriousness of the virus hit him, the "wilderness path to recovery," and how he will process this experience through writing.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
June 8, 2020

Alone Together, Ep. 7 with Jodie Keith and Jacque Bergevin, Essential Workers

In this episode, we hear from Jodie Keith and Jacque Bergevin, who have been working with custodial services to keep our Vermont campus safe and clean. Jodie and Jacque share what campus has been like since the students left: what it's like to schedule hourly sanitation of buildings, how every day feels like an empty Saturday morning, and that the infamous Middlebury squirrels have lost a bit of weight.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
Photography by Bob Handelman
June 1, 2020

Review

Success Story

A book detailing the history of U.S. Olympic women cross-country skiers brings to light the decades of grit and determination it took to finally bring home a gold medal.

By Sara Thurber Marshall
Photos courtesy U.S. Ski and Snowboard
January 20, 2023

How Did You Get Here?

Megan Job

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Leif Taranta

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Mikayla Haefele

By Alexandra Burns '21
February 15, 2021

Videos

Pomp and Unusual Circumstances

As viewed from above.

By Chris Spencer
June 1, 2021

Davis the Owl Returns Home

Having recovered from life-threatening injuries, a beautiful winged creature is released to its natural habitat.

By Andrew Cassell
April 22, 2021

In the Blink of an Eye

Gone in less than a minute—the middle of June 2019 to the middle of June 2020, as viewed from the rooftop of the Mittelman Observatory.

By Middlebury Magazine Staff
Video by Jonathan Kemp/Mittelman Observatory
June 10, 2020
Middlebury College
  • Alumni
  • Newsroom
  • Contact Us
  • icon-instagram

The views presented are not necessarily those of the editors or the official policies of the College.

© 2023 Middlebury College Publications.