Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Scallops and Tulips, The wedding dress and Coat













 Photography: Alexandra King
Model: Sian Estelle Petty
Hats: Alisha Petty

 I now have the chance to say a little more about the bridal collection and will post each dress in detail over the week. 

The capsule six look collection was inspired by the women that kept asking for our cocktail dresses in white and the reason I have eventually produced this collection. Always being inspired by vintage dresses, the golden age of couture mainly Christian Dior and Jeanne Lanvin and old Hollywood movies, these dresses are the first expression of all of this inspiration in my head directed to Bridal wear.
 
The dresses had to be wearable, there are already many designers creating wonderfully extravagant, long strapless white wedding dresses and I wanted these to be different. These are the dresses that if I was to get married another six times, I would want to wear! 
So, they had to be light, not bulky, not trapping (I had a horrible experience when I was looking for wedding dresses years ago and felt physically ill being trapped in a this huge wedding dress, like being forced to get married and there would be no running away or moving in the huge skirt that surrounded me!)
These are for the bride who loves a bit of vintage, old movies and wants a dress that's for and about her not just her wedding. 

The 'Dew' and 'Dalzell' (names taken from the Sunset Boulevard cast list) dress and coat are inspired by those 1950s and 60s Hollywood weddings where the stars have a low key and terribly stylish marriage at the town hall or in Vegas. Think Jackie, Audrey, Elizabeth and Mia. 
The dress is made in a silk duchess satin with an integrated bodice and dramatic folds in the tulip skirt to create the strong lined hourglass silhouette. This is designed to be clean and simple with just our hand beaded belt at the waist.
The Scalloped coat again works well with the simplicity or the shift dress with echoing curves at the centre front and cuffs. This was also designed to be quite a princess coat with the rhinestone trim at the cuffs and the pleats at the back of the full skirt. It's softly tailored with no shoulder pads and just a little structuring in the bodice with boning like a Victorian made jacket. 
I imagining new brides in Vegas and at gorgeous old Town Halls in this with a killer pair of kitten heels and a vintage clutch to match. And maybe just a very chic fascinator from Alisha Petty.