Adele Puccio, a teacher, wants to give once-loved dresses a second chance at life.
Puccio enjoys collecting vintage wedding dresses as a hobby in addition to her day job as the chairman of the Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
However, she isn’t just a curator, Puccio freely gives away her dresses to any bride who asks — even her very own wedding gown from 1985.
With a present inventory of over 100 wedding clothes, Puccio has witnessed a nearly constant flow of brides who are visiting the library in an effort to “yes” a dress from among the stacks.
“The large variety of clothes that have gone out of here this year is incredible”, she says.
Puccio’s term- of- teeth set became a community phenomenon after a native paper, The Star- Ledger, about Puccio’s dress collection in February 2024.
“After that, points exploded”, Puccio says of the resulting clothing donations that began to pour in.
Significantly like a small Kleinfeld Bridal, Puccio’s filled business is lined with racks of lace and fabric. Puccio claims that she seldom had more than five to ten gowns obtainable at once prior to this spring. She then receives daily donations from previous brides all over the country as well as from bridal shops hoping to support the cause.
” I often enjoyed classic style”, she says.
Puccio took advantage of every chance to visit Kleinfeld Bridal, the recognizable New York wedding gown place of TLC popularity, when she was younger, and lived only a few blocks away from the store.
Puccio perused the websites of BRIDES despite various girls her age reading young magazines, not because she was dreaming of her bridal day, she claims, but because she admired the in costume designs.
When she started her collection 20 years ago, Puccio sourced her fashions from vintage and thrift stores. She frequently donated the dresses to local brides or loaned them through a Facebook group where brides can get wedding dresses for less than shipping costs.
Word began to spread about Puccio’s collection after she helped Estefani Hernadez Soler, a local librarian, find her dream dress for her May 2023 nuptials.
“Someone told her, ‘Hey, go see Adele, she’s got dresses,'” Puccio recalls of being introduced to Soler.
Soler chose a lace-trimmed 70s sleeved gown for her wedding, which took place at the.
“She looked lovely”, Puccio says. “I mean, it was a dress from the 70s. It was beautiful.”
Dress donors and newlyweds have since shared personal photos and tales from their weddings with Puccio.
A “very pretty Maggie Sottero” dress from one of these had been owned by a woman who passed away a few years after her wedding. After hearing about her collection on the radio, the woman’s mother gave her daughter’s wedding dress to Puccio.
“She heard that and she was like, ‘That’s what I want to do with my daughter’s dress,'” Puccio recalls.
Puccio, who married her late husband in 1985, even donated her own wedding dress to the collection. The gown was later chosen by a bride while Puccio was out of the office, but she doesn’t mind.
“It should live again”, she says. It’s preferable to spend all those years in a closet.
The ever-growing collection from Puccio is a welcome lifeline for brides who are trying to find a dress that fits their budget. While she never asks for anything in return, she has received a few memorable tokens of appreciation.
A Polish grandmother in a nearby town chose a 1990s white satin gown to send to her granddaughter in Poland, she says. “She was so happy, she came back to the library with a tray of pierogies.”
The library’s staff and visitors have grown used to seeing brides parade their outfit choices down the library hallways.
“Once someone is in a dress, the ladies from circulation come over and comment on it, and sometimes patrons will come, too”, Puccio says.
As Puccio’s collection continues to garner publicity, dress donations have threatened to overwhelm her office, forcing her to move in additional clothing racks. Due to the high demand, Puccio now requires bridal parties and dress donors to schedule an appointment before arriving.
Puccio isn’t overly precious about alterations, or even about getting the dresses back. Almost as soon as they leave, douches are simply replaced on the rack.
“There’s probably another 10 dresses that people have dropped off at my house that I haven’t brought in yet, because there’s no space”, she says. “It’s just great”.