Courtney - baby pink cotton shift dress
Alice - Black cotton embroidered collar mini dress
Love - Red pleated back wrap dress
Honey - hot pink mini t-shirt dress
I'm well known for prom dresses, wedding dresses and all sorts of special occasion dresses that particularly cinch you in at the waist with sparkle and froth. There are my three staple black organic cotton tea dresses which are great for dinners and dates but no real every day, breath out, throw on and get to work dresses.
I also wanted to see if it was at all possible to design and make a dress, in the UK, cut and made one at a time for under or around £100. So here was the brief.
1. Fabrics must be purchased from an independent UK supplier.
- this was the wonderful Millie Moon Shop in Wells and Frome
2. The dresses must be designed, cut and made one at a time (like all our other dresses) at the studio here in the UK.
3. The dresses must be easily wearable, washable and be beautifully made.
4. They have to be well designed for everyday wear but not frumpy. Simple is not ugly.
This was about producing clothing locally and fairly. I have nothing against overseas production, If I was in China, you bet I would be having everything made there. I just like to see that everyone is taken care of, treated fairly and paid fairly. The only way I can guarantee this is by making where I can see everything at the studio and supporting local businesses.
So the final dresses. The designs were inspired by the late 80's and 90's minimalist cotton designs. Legs on show, relaxed but feminine cuts, supermodels, grunge (see if you can work out the names of the dresses) beaches and mods.
The Courtney - pink, mini, loose cut with a fit to the thigh and oh so chic worn with black.
The Alice - black, collared, mini mod moving to the twenties with an embroidered collar and belt
The Love - red, brightest lipstick red in a wrap that pleats at the back
The Honey - pink, mini t-shirt style with a long sash belt.
Each dress is lined in satin and yes, £99 for the Honey dress delivered to your door. Simple minimalism is harder than it looks, the weight and cut is even more important to the design, every fold counts. The other dresses are a little more than the £99 but worth the extra bit of fabric and detail. And there are many ways to style them.