Golden Lace Bodice

This gold lace bodice was another piece designed for the What Katy Did Next Golden Reign collection.
Designed for opulence with a delicacy in the bodice that can be worn as part of a bridal or evening ensemble. The French corded lace was hand dyed a mottled antique gold tone and embellished with fine matte gold seed beads. Matching gold buttons fasten in loops at the back down to the waist which is cropped high.
There is something of the Elizabethan armor to this design in the dark golds giving a powerful regal romance to the look.
The fitted princess line cut of the bodice looks beautiful with the full tulle skirts and it would be interesting to see the bodice toned right down with indigo denims and leather.

Available as a one of a kind piece in the online boutique here. 

Photography by Sally T Photography


Photo with model by Sally T Photography, styled by What Katy Did Next

Sally T Photography
What Katy Did Next 

The Hera Dress

Adorned in beads, the birds and the bees crawl over the bodice of the Hera dress in golds and silvers as the symbols of love and nature. The ladybirds glisten in crystal amongst gilded bugle hearts adding detail at every angle to produce an exquisite opulence to the bodice design. Reminders of the bead work delicately trim the hem of the peplums as the matte silk skirt falls to the ground contrasting against the decadence.

This dress was designed as a beautiful statement piece, a labour of love that carries a certain demure elegance without showiness.
The bare beauty of the skin next to the highly polished decoration works as the right balance when wearing this dress. We styled it for the shoot with up-most simplicity, soft hair swept up with nothing to distract from the face, the eyes or the dress.

A one of a kind piece this dress took over a month to embellish with the tiny seed beads that make up the pattern. Produced at the Somerset studio in the UK with silks sourced locally in Gloucestershire.

For more information on the Hera dress please visit the online boutique here. 

Bespoke Gown for the Barbican

This dress was made for a wedding at the Barbican Arts Centre this September and was commissioned as a bespoke piece for a bride looking for something to fit perfectly with the venue and her style.

Based on our Christy dress the French corded lace used was a deep champagne colour to match the dark ivory of the silk duchess satin. Once again we turned the silk on it's back to give the lustrous depth of sheen without the high shine.
This fitted design with its dramatic low back, smoothed hips and feminine sweetheart illusion over the bust gave a beautiful balletic quality. Contrasting with this delicate fit the double full circle skirt drapes in dramatic curls to the hand bound hem made from the matching silk satin.

The bride chose a fabulous pair of spectator shoes from Chie Mihara with a lemon yellow bow which we picked up in stripes over the finely beaded belt.
Each of the covered lace buttons was hand beaded with Japanese foil lined glass beads in a mix of champagne and cream tones. This design matched the edging of the neckline also adorned in subtle beads.

It has been an honor to design a dress to be worn at the Barbican surrounded by so much inspiration and style.

Inspirations - Beaded Lace Collar

Sharing my pieces from my vintage archive ....

For a long time I've been meaning share some of my vintage clothing collection that has given me so much inspiration over the years. It's significantly smaller than it was and mainly dates from the 1950s and before.

Last weekend I spend Easter Sunday wandering the hundreds of stalls at the Bath and West Flea Market. Anna and I met up and bought a very large quantity of ribbons, I found an perfect Morris chair for our house which matches my Grandad's and at the end of the day I found this collar.

I have to share it because it's one of the most beautiful and intricate pieces of seed beading I have ever seen. In keeping with our Broderie Anglaise collection, this looks like it was based on very fine embroidered cotton lawn with oval eyelets. Then each oval has been embellished with fine opaque white rows of seed beads.

I'm not 100% sure of the age, the collar and cuffs are cut pilgrim style and I would guess early 1920s. There's something Edwardian about the set but the button and cuff buttons are yellowed Bakelite with a slight art deco shape to them. So maybe late 1920s or the buttons could be an added detail at a later date?

The set has a gorgeous heavy drapey weight to them, look perfect with a little black sweater too. These will be carefully wrapped up and stored flat until I discover them in a few years and get the wow of seeing them again!

I wonder how wore them and how they styled them when they were new, and I wonder what skilled person sewed such unbelievable beadwork? Hope they can give some inspiration to you too. x

Christy, The 50s Satin Bridal Gown

 

 

The Christy Dress. Audrey Hepburn is a slightly obvious inspiration here but I needed to do my take on the classic 50s wedding dress.
Made in a gorgeous, heavy silk duchess satin which creates beautifully smooth bold lines and stays very clean without too much shine in the satin. Designed to be elegant, chic but a whole lot of fun to wear and swirl around in. The bodice is cut with princess seams and an integrated corset inside the lining to create the cinched waist. The hips are fitted with a graduated skirt seam to show off the pulled in waist and move the fullness away from the waist area. This gives a beautiful line to the back and the skirt as you can see is supported by many layers or nets.
Trimmed with hand beading (see note below)and satin covered buttons all the way down the back to finish. Looks amazing with Alisha Petty's Veil.

Onto my soap box............
The beading around the neckline and cuffs is hand beaded at my studio. I adore beading just as much as the next girl, in fact probably more and have bought cheap beading in the past but, when I see complete, bead encrusted dresses on the high street it drives me mad.
There is only one way to bead a dress and that is by hand, one by one and it takes days. The beading the Christy dress took two full days to complete.
So next time you look at a heavily beaded dress on the high street for £100 ask yourself this. Who hand sewed all these tiny beads one by one for such little pay? I know this is the way or the world and if people didn't sew beads they would probably sew something else but beading is labour intensive, far more so than a plain dress for the same price and someone (be it adult or child) is being paid less that £1 a day to do it.
................And off again.

Here is the Christy Dress in full spin!

Beading

Just adding the finishing touches to the bridal collection with beading. Above are the art deco beaded motifs for our bias cut gown, one still in it's embroidery hoop. These have taken two days and are labour intensive but also very relaxing to sew and the result is always exciting.  Our dresses are not something to be rushed. : )

A Labour of Love

There hasn't been a 'dress a day' for a while as beading has taken over...........................

This dress has been what you will call a real labour of love. The lady had a previous dress that I made for an event a couple of years ago and she very kindly came back for her wedding dress.

This has been such a success due to fact that she had wonderful ideas to draw inspiration on and was very clear on what she did and didn't like at all points on the dress. This made the design a real collaboration and a joy to work on.
Inspirations came from Art Deco, Coppelia ballet costumes and Elizabethan royal costumes and a 1950's dress, a designers dream.

The dress involved some tricky pattern cutting including a fully boned and cupped bodice under a smooth un-darted outer bodice all in silk which didn't like any mistakes. I was so pleased with the final silhouette and having the length in the full skirt made a real swish to the movement.

The main labour came in the stars beaded on the cuffs. Stars were a  real favourite of the customers and added a hint of wit to her dress. I personally think all dresses should have an element of fun and intelligence to them, a dress should always be more than just a dress.

Beading is a real luxury, it's time intensive and hard work, this took endless hours and days to complete. There is no machine to bead and the only way to attach a bead and a sequin properly is by hand, one by one. Whether you buy a beaded garment on the high street for £10 or you pay £5000 at the top of the market each of those beads were sewn by a human hand, so please think twice about the person who sewed those beads for you in relation to the price you are paying. 

 

I adore beading, its a valued skill I learned at uni when heavily inspired by 1920's flapper dresses and the 'golden age of couture'. It shows a real labour of love of which this dress is. It has also reminded me that beautiful things take time and are always worth every penny and more!