Anne Barge Clegg is making quite a name for herself as one of the nation's
leading bridal gown designers. One of her designs was declared an audience
favorite this summer on the NBC Today show after a week of Internet
voting by viewers. Clegg (BSEd '69) says she has wanted to be a bridal gown designer since she was a little girl. However, coming from a family of teachers, her father encouraged her to be educated in a field that would guarantee her a sound career. So Clegg came to the University of Georgia College of Education in 1966 as an education major, with intentions to become an art teacher. But the itch to design bridal gowns never went away.
Clegg loved sketching bridal gown designs and learned a lot of technique
from her UGA professors, Wachoviac and Cress. In 1969, during her student
teaching assignment at North Springs High School in Atlanta, Clegg learned
that well-known bridal gown designer, Priscilla of Boston, was coming to do
a trunk show in Atlanta. With fateful determination, Clegg asked the
other teacher in the classroom to drive her to downtown Atlanta so that she
could show her bridal gown design sketches to Priscilla, personally. She did and Clegg was hired on the spot. She promptly moved to Boston where she started her career as a bridal gown designer.
Clegg’s career made many twists and turns in the years ahead, from working for Rich’s Bridal Department, to owning her own store in Paces Ferry Place, Atlanta, to managing millionaire mogul Richard Branson’s Virgin Bride boutique in Trafalgar Square, London, England. When she moved back to Atlanta in the late 1990’s, her friends and colleagues encouraged her to begin designing and marketing her own dresses on a full-time basis and that she did!
With her studio and headquarters now located in the Four Season’s Hotel
in Atlanta, Anne Barge has made an impressive name for herself in the bridal
gown business. Her gowns and accessories are sold exclusively at Neiman
Marcus department stores and select bridal boutiques around the country.
The latest triumph transpired on NBC’s Today Show. In their summer series,
Today Throws a Wedding, a gown in her 2003 bridal collection was chosen among
selections from three other renowned bridal dress designers. After
a week of internet voting by the show’s viewers, the Anne Barge design was
chosen by a whopping 42 percent of the votes! Word from her Atlanta
headquarters is that business is booming…especially for one particular dress!Congratulations to Anne Barge Clegg and best wishes for her continued success. This is one College of Education alumna that just loves weddings.
See Anne’s gown design selected for Today Throws a Wedding at http://www.msnbc.com/modules/today_wedding/2003/vote/week4.asp and
visit her website at www.annebarge.com.
Monday, August 25, 2003
Writer/Contact: Lauren Barrett, 706/542-2267, lbarrett@coe.uga.edu