What’s in a name? When you can’t use yours for a Starbucks order, quite a lot.
Such is the tale of wedding dress designer Hayley Paige, who rose to fame as a recurring figure on the TLC reality show Say Yes to the Dress, which follows brides on the hunt for the perfect wedding gown and the designers and sales associates who help them find it.
But allow us to do justice to this fairy tale—because yes, there is a happy ending—and start at the beginning. Originally from California’s Bay Area, Paige knew even as a young girl that she wanted to be a wedding dress designer. Her grandmother exposed her to design and crafting and taught her how to sew.
“When I say, ‘I’m a wedding dress designer,’ people’s faces light up. Everyone loves the idea of love,” says Paige, who now resides in Palm Beach. “I’ve always liked that wedding dresses are not just fashion for fashion’s sake, but there is profound commitment behind them.”
Elyse Gilreath, who has worked with Paige for 12 years, describes her as someone who is both inspired and inspiring. “Her creative vision is never-ending and without bounds,” Gilreath says. “You never know what is going to come from her mind (or her mouth) next. And yet, somehow, her designs resonate perfectly within an industry that is typically tied to tradition. She uniquely finds a way to make a woman feel both completely one-of-a-kind and ‘like a bride’ all at once.”
Paige attended Cornell University, where she studied fiber science and apparel design and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2007. She worked for Jill Stuart and Priscilla of Boston before being offered a job designing her own line of wedding dresses at JLM Couture.
In Paige’s mind, she signed a contract and got a job—a dream for any 25-year-old. Under the JLM Couture umbrella, she designed collections for Hayley Paige, Blush by Hayley Paige, Hayley Paige Occasions, Jim Hjelm by Hayley Paige, Hayley Paige x BHLDN, Hayley Paige Red Carpet, and La Petite Hayley Paige. Her dresses were sold in more than 200 stores across the United States. She dressed celebrities such as Chrissy Teigen, Carrie Underwood, and Kelsea Ballerini. After appearing on Say Yes to the Dress and getting married in 2015 (she has since been divorced), TLC even offered Paige her own spin-off reality show, Hayley Ever After.
Earlier, in 2012, Paige had created a personal social media account under the handle @misshayleypaige. As was normal for the time, she chronicled her life: designing, dresses, friends, family. All typical of social media. All personal. She did not get paid for any of her content.
When Paige’s contract with JLM Couture was up for renegotiation in 2019, the two parties could not agree on new terms. Then, in late 2020, JLM sued Paige, citing her Instagram and other social media accounts as being in violation of her original 2011 employment contract, which granted the company the “exclusive world-wide right and license to use her name … or any derivative thereof in connection with the design, manufacture, marketing, and/or sale of bridal clothing, bridal accessories, and related bridal and wedding items,” according to JLM’s legal complaint.
The company was granted a restraining order against the designer, which ruled that she could no longer use her name in any business or commerce or to publicly identify.
“I was 25 when I signed the original contract,” says Paige. “I didn’t have an attorney review it. I was afraid of missing out on the opportunity if I pushed back on the contract. I didn’t realize the ways the contract could be interpreted and didn’t realize how much of it was tied to me as a human and not just me as a designer. I couldn’t use my name in any business or commerce or to publicly identify. If I put my name on a cup of coffee, that could be trouble. It was so ludicrous.”
In 2011, social media was not the financially lucrative and influential beast that it is now, and there was simply not a lot of case law surrounding the industry. “I should have trademarked my name and then licensed it out to them,” Paige says upon reflection.
She handed over her personal Instagram account and other social accounts bearing her birth name (including TikTok and Pinterest), along with years of private messages, and resigned from JLM. She was hit with a seven-year, non-paid noncompete.
At one point, Paige was ruled in contempt of court for sketching and sharing a design on a new social media account, @allthatglittersonthegram, as JLM argued it was competitive, promotional, and in violation of the preliminary injunction. JLM also sued her now fiancé, Conrad Louis Clevlen, for tagging her in an Instagram post, claiming trademark infringement.
“I was completely blindsided, and the experience was really jarring,” Paige says. “It felt so violating. It really impacted my identity.”
But what do all heroines do in modern fairy tales? They slay their dragons, of course.
Paige rebranded under the name Cheval (French for “horse” and an homage to the song “A Horse with No Name” by the rock band America) and launched a new shoe line called She is Cheval. In a cheeky nod to her legal saga, she created a signature toile print depicting a troll lying in wait under a bridge, a mannequin hiding in a tower, and a UFO stealing an identity.
When JLM Couture filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2023, Paige essentially became a creditor of the company and was able to financially resolve the dispute by paying JLM $263,000. She retained her intellectual property, right to design wedding dresses, and the Hayley Paige brand name via this legal settlement. In 2024, after a four-year legal battle and two trips to appellate court, Paige won back the rights to her personal social media accounts. Furthermore, a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit set precedent regarding ownership of social media accounts, asserting that such accounts should be treated like any other form of property, with ownership belonging to the person who created the account unless explicitly transferred.
It was an impactful moment not just for Paige personally but within the broader context of influencers and creatives who are navigating the modern landscape of professional versus personal social media. Paige’s legal case made such waves that U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts invited her to speak in front of the U.S. Senate as an advocate for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to ban noncompete clauses. Throughout all this, Paige also started A Girl You Might Know Foundation, a 501(c)(3) that aims to bring awareness to the risks of noncompete clauses and predatory contract language, as well as to advocate for protections surrounding social media and intellectual property.
“Watching Hayley navigate the lawsuit was both excruciating and inspiring,” says Gilreath, who resigned from JLM when Paige’s legal battles began and who continues to hold steadfast as the designer’s right-hand woman. “We are both people who believe good will win out, and yet that belief was tested time and time again. The biggest takeaway for me is one word: resilience. I have never met anyone who demonstrated more resilience, and certainly not with as much grace and positivity, as Hayley has. Around every corner, when we thought it couldn’t get worse and it just kept getting worse, she made conscious and difficult decisions to see the bright side.”
They say that if you have a calling, it will keep calling. Well, Paige answered. On July 27, she launched a new line of wedding dresses under her legal name of Hayley Paige and debuted them with a bridal show at The Colony Hotel. (Look for her designs at The White Magnolia in West Palm Beach and Luv Bridal in Fort Lauderdale.) In 2026, the Hayley Paige brand will go global, with dresses sold in stores worldwide.
“I feel so incredibly welcomed back in the industry,” Paige says. “To feel like you can go through hell and back and people will still be there for you, that alone has been a huge source of accountability and grace.”
Paige’s latest collection, “Twice Upon a Time,” personifies all that she has been through—there is grit and humility laced with softness and happiness. The dresses have a lot of interchangeability, as the designer weaves hidden messages into her creations and plays with color and tones to make textures pop. It’s fun, sparkly, and full of personality.
“At the moment, our main project is bringing Hayley Paige bridal back in full force,” says Gilreath. “Our e-commerce shoe brand, She is Cheval, is also in operation, and who knows what other product categories are to come [as we continue to] find new ways to spread joy, inspiration, and a healthy dose of glitter. One thing is for sure: the future is bright, joyful, whimsical, and inspiring. And it will be a whole lot of fun.”
Paige couldn’t agree more. “I get to do what I love again, and it parallels my own love story. I went through a divorce, but then I fell in love again. I got engaged again. I get to do this again. And with ‘Hayley Paige,’ it feels really special.”
The inherent happiness within Paige’s new collection mirrors her stance on life. A bad experience will not change who she is or derail her dream. Instead, those moments have filled her with gratitude. “The fact that this ‘bad’ thing is happening to you—it’s going to change your life for the better, and that next great thing is right around the corner.”
Story Credits:
Hair and makeup: Laura Garcia, Jessica Adarme, and Marie Lear with La Di Da Beauty
Creative stylist: Juli Alvarez
Models: Krystina Martina, MMG; Emma Rogers, Ford Models
Wedding dress designer: Hayley Paige
Shoe designer: Hayley Paige, She is Cheval
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