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By Melissa Newcomb

In May 2024, Hayley Paige Gutman ’07 updated her Instagram bio with this message: “I’ve missed you.” For the previous three years, Gutman had been unable to post to her 1.1 million followers under her own name—or practice her profession as a wedding dress designer—in the midst of a contentious legal battle with her former employer.

“I never thought announcing myself would be an announcement in itself,” she admits in a video she posted at the time. “I am Hayley Paige. I want to shout it from the rooftops! I feel like a kid on Christmas.”

Prior to the split, Gutman’s Hayley Paige brand had become one of the most sought-after among Millennial brides—renowned for designs that are both classically romantic and fashion-forward.

For example: a gown called the “Warren,” which features an A-line shape with a deep V-neck, a keyhole back, a bodice beaded with iridescent rhinestones, and a flowing, side-slit skirt in layers of ivory organza.

Hayley Paige Gutman on the front cover of the Knot magazine. — Gracing the cover of a leading bridal mag.

“If Hayley Paige is known for one thing, it’s creating wedding dresses with a healthy dose of shimmer," Martha Stewart Weddings observed in 2018. "That, and designing her eponymous collection with a distinctly vibrant, youthful vibe and a dose of edginess.”

Gutman spent a decade building her brand under the umbrella of a multi-label bridal house.

Hayley Paige Gutman on a red carpet event for TLC's "Say Yes to the Dress" with host Randy Fenoli. — On the red carpet.

But when the business relationship soured, a noncompete clause and other contractual issues stripped her of the right to use her own name, design wedding dresses, or control her social media accounts.

“I couldn’t even go to Starbucks and have my name written on the cup,” she says, “or I was in violation.”

Gutman—who grew up in Northern California as the daughter of a surgeon and an interior designer—had dreamed of creating wedding dresses since she was a little girl who watched Disney princesses live happily ever after.

She learned to sew from her grandmother; when she created her own prom gown, she says, “it looked like a wedding dress. It was straight-up white and it had tulle.”

I couldn’t even go to Starbucks and have my name written on the cup or I was in violation.

On the Hill, she majored in fiber science and apparel design and was a varsity gymnast who’d competed internationally.

Her senior collection for the annual fashion show? You guessed it: Bridal gowns.

Seven blonde models wearing white dresses designed by Hayley Paige Gutman for her senior year fashion show collection. — Fellow students model Gutman's senior collection.

Gutman’s decade-long rise in the industry included building a large social media following and regularly appearing on the long-running TLC reality show “Say Yes to the Dress,” which follows women searching for the perfect bridal gown.

“I have a slight-to-major Hayley Paige obsession,” a bride-to-be admits on one episode.

Hayley Paige Gutman during a floor routine for the Big Red in gymnastics. — On the Big Red gymnastics team.

“I’m a little bit in love with her. I kind of want to be best friends.”

(As the same bride also observes: “She’s like a little fairy princess, and I want to hug her.”)

During Gutman’s enforced hiatus from wedding dresses, she began designing shoes under a new brand, She Is Cheval. (The word is the French term for horse.)

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She also launched a new Instagram, calling herself “A Girl You Might Know”—and let followers connect the dots.

“It was positive momentum that I really needed. I felt like I had the support of the public court, even if I wasn’t doing well in the federal court,” Gutman recalls.

“It was validation that I was doing the right thing in fighting back, and somehow it will work out.”

A shoe display of mostly heels from Hayley Paige's shoe business, Cheval. — Designs from the She Is Cheval shoe collection.

As litigation dragged on, the case garnered national media coverage, including in Cosmopolitan, People, Newsweek, “Good Morning America,” and elsewhere.

After an appeals court restored ownership of her social accounts in spring 2024, she and her former employer reached a settlement, with Gutman retaining her designs, trademarks, copyrights—and most importantly, her name.

I felt like I had the support of the public court, even if I wasn’t doing well in the federal court.

In July 2024, several months after the Federal Trade Commission proposed a nationwide ban on noncompete agreements, Gutman testified before a Congressional subcommittee about the harm such clauses can cause.

Says Gutman: “It was such justice to go to the U.S. Senate and get to share my entire story, start to finish, accurately.”

Hayley Paige sits with a microphone at a table while talking to Congress about her experience. — Testifying before a U.S. Senate subcommittee.

(A federal court in Texas struck down the FTC ban in August 2024; the agency is appealing the decision.)

In the wake of her legal battle, Gutman—who says she signed her original contract in her mid-20s, without representation by an attorney—created a nonprofit, the A Girl You Might Know Foundation.

It’s dedicated to giving artists and entrepreneurs—particularly young women—access to legal advice and other resources to help protect their rights in the business world.

Gutman’s new line of bridal attire is set to debut in 2025—and she aims to return to “Say Yes to the Dress.”

“I’m excited to take some of my best-selling, iconic pieces and bring them back in an elevated and fresh way,” she says.

“I’m recapturing my signature aesthetic, but also showing I’ve gained some lessons along the way. More grit to my grace.”