KOSIBAHBookBook a consultation
A bride in a strapless Kosibah couture ballgown on the riverside steps beneath the Manhattan Bridge.

Couture bridal · London 1991 · Harlem

One gown.
Made for one woman.

Bespoke wedding dresses and couture evening gowns, designed from a blank page and made by hand at Yemi Osunkoya's atelier in Harlem, New York.

Book a consultationSee the gowns

Complimentary first consultation · Harlem or Zoom · Evenings and weekends

Every Kosibah gown begins as a conversation. Yemi sketches in front of you, in real time, until the drawing is the dress.

Your figure, your venue, the season, the hour of the ceremony, the traditions that matter to your family. All of it goes into the sketch before a single thread is cut.

The Process

By hand, at every stage.

  1. Yemi sketches gowns in a striped armchair while a bride sits on the settee opposite, lace and fabric samples on the table between them, in the Harlem atelier.

    The sketch

    Drawn in front of you

  2. A calico toile pinned at the waist on a client, the designer kneeling with a tape measure round his neck.

    Toile fittings

    Cut first in calico, to your body

  3. Hands sewing a crystal-beaded appliqué onto an ivory satin gown, the appliqué held in place with pins.

    Hand finishing

    Appliqué, beading, corsetry

  4. Adjusting the sparkling tulle skirt of a blush off-the-shoulder gown at a final fitting, beside a tall mirror.

    Final fitting

    Until it is simply yours

The process in full

The Gowns

Couture and made to measure.

All the gowns
The Kosibah salon: striped wingback chairs and a settee facing a carved oak fireplace.

The Atelier

Visit the Harlem salon.
By appointment.

Your consultation and every fitting take place in the house where your gown is made.

Visit the atelier
Denise and her husband walk the aisle beneath ivy-covered arches at Lake Como, Italy. She raises her bouquet in a bespoke Kosibah couture mermaid gown with a long tulle train; the lake and mountains are behind them.

Real Brides & Evening Wear Clients

“Many people have commented on how much my dress fit like a glove. My response, ‘It should do, it was made especially for me!’ ”

Denise

Lake Como, Italy · Couture

More brides and clients
Yemi Osunkoya in the atelier, a model in a beaded gown behind him.

The Designer

Yemi Osunkoya

Thirty-five years of couture, from London to Harlem, and a Black-owned house proud of both. Clients include royal households in Nigeria and Ghana and senior staff of the British Royal Family.

His story

Featured in

Consultations

In Harlem, or over Zoom. Weekends and evenings too.

A private hour with Yemi. Bring your date, your venue and whatever has caught your eye. Leave with a clear idea of your dream gown.

Book a consultation