One local woman has turned her passion for fashion into a global business, designing for celebrities on the red carpet and brides who want to feel like royalty on their big day.
Dominique Galbraith creates one-of-a-kind dresses out of her Soundview studio for women looking for a showstopping style.
It all started 17 years ago when Galbraith was just 17 years old. She used $300 of her birthday money to buy her first sewing machine.
"I started by just making things for myself, just figuring things out and started going to parties and wearing my own pieces, and people would say, ‘where did you get that?’ and I’d say, ‘oh I made it’ and they're like, ‘oh can you make me one,’” says Galbraith.
From there she combined the first letter of her first name and her maiden name to create her brand, D Auxilly.
She'd send her designs to stylists, and one was eventually worn by a fellow Queens native.
"The first most notable would be Nicki Minaj," says Galbraith.
From there, her career blew up and changed courses. Shifting from party dresses to wedding dresses.
“The best of my ability is displayed through couture gowns and what better way to display that than bridal gowns," she says.
Now she gets clients from as far away as Qatar, who find her Instagram, with a following of nearly 25,000, and ask her to create one of the most important dresses they'll ever wear, by hand.
"They'll send me their references, they'll tell me what’s in their head and I’ve been blessed to hear 'this is exactly what I wanted,’” Galbraith says. “It is an amazing feeling to dress celebrities,and it’s also amazing to have every day women feel like celebrities in my gowns.”
Galbraith advises brides to get the ball rolling eight months before the big day.