As an influencer, entrepreneur and founder of @shopweworewhat, Danielle Bernstein understands the power of style and the unwieldiness of social media. After posting photos of her Kim Kassas Couture wedding dress on Instagram, she seemed to get a closer view of both. She chose it for her Oct. 18 engagement party to real estate agent Cooper Weisman, which was held at The Manor New York.

While some of Bernstein’s 3.3 million followers approved of the wedding-type gown, others compared the dress with a lace underlay to “a cheap costume,” “a Victorian nightgown” and “something you’d buy from the Shein costume section.”

Bernstein could not be reached for comment Monday.

The Tel Aviv-based bridal and eveningwear design studio was started by Kim Kassas in 2018 with a focus on customers who do not follow fashions, but prefer to define their own sense of style. The top of Bernstein’s dress features a structured silk brocade corset and an asymmetric balloon skirt to combine a balance of the past and present.

Designer Dor Yaakov, who created Bernstein’s dress, was staying above the fray about the reaction on social media. “I’m not watching media too much, or reading critics’ negative reactions. I am treating myself as an artist so I prefer to only focus on my designs, as I should. I’m staying true to myself,” he said Monday. “I’m doing what I think I should be doing.”

Chen Horesh of Gbys Style House, which works closely with Kim Kassas international management, connected Bernstein with Yaakov. The two women are both based in New York, and had been talking about the prospect of lining up a gown once Bernstein got engaged to her partner of two years. After Bernstein shared an image of a vintage dress that she really loved as inspiration, the pair decided on a vintage dress and Yaakov sent her a few sketches. He then mined some vintage Solstiss French lace and silk brocade too. A team of five people spent 200 hours working on finessing the custom dress that included a silk overlay in one week.

The flurry of reactions to Bernstein’s choice boosted Kim Kassas Couture’s traffic, and orders are expected to follow, according to Horesh. Acknowledging how high-profile weddings “bring in a lot of brides, traffic and orders — 100 percent,” she said. As for exact numbers, it’s too soon to say, Horesh added.

Kim Kassas Couture will continue to treat art as fashion, Yaakov said, “This is what we know. We treat each dress with the story that she [the wearer] has to tell,” he said. “This is how the company is getting bigger.”