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.

Bespoke Bride Kelly by Anna Vickery

Here is another of Anna's spectacular bespoke wedding dresses, this time for beautiful bride Kelly who was married in the first weekend in September. 

Anna met Kelly through teaching dressmaking workshops at Millie Moon in Frome and to cut a long story short came to the rescue when Kelly was let down on her first wedding dress order. 

This worked out wonderfully as Kelly was now able to have the exact dress of her dreams, a stunning 1950's inspired couture gown. 

The design included a fine French corded lace bodice with elbow length sleeves that fitted over the smooth sweetheart bodice trimmed with covered buttons down the back.  A sharp pleated silk belt cinched the waist and the dress finished in a glorious full circle skirt made of handwoven silk. 

In Kelly's words " Thank you very much for making my beautiful wedding dress. Michael and all the guests really loved it. I was so pleated with the outcome. 

                                    With many thanks and love from Kelly "

For more info on this dress and other bespoke gowns please contact Anna Vickery at anna@alexandra-king.com 

 Suppliers:

Photography: Gareth Hannam 
Shoes: Rachel Simpson
Hair and make-up: Townhouse Retreat
Accessories: Vintage pearls and Kelly made her own hair bow from scraps of the dress fabric.
Flowers: Bramble and Wild
Transport:VW Split Screen Hire
Bunting: Millie Moon Haberdashery and Sewing School
Marquee Hire: Archers Marquees

Glitter Black Bow Tie

This bespoke glitter bow tie was made recently for a very important wedding. See important wedding in the New York Times here. 

Lined in silk with a double bow and silk band, this bow tie has a traditional shape with the added matte sparkle creating an elegant textured alternative to the standard satin design.

We always welcome bespoke commissions for important occasions, just drop us an email at alexandra@alexandra-king.com

Remodelling Your Mothers Wedding Dress - Yellow 1950s Prom Dress Style

Cutting up someone else's, mothers wedding dress should have been a terrifying task but Ada was so wonderfully relaxed about the whole process that it went like a dream. 

Ada first of all sent me a photograph of the dress in question, worn many years ago by her mother as her wedding dress. This dress was to be worn as a reception dress and remade into her dream prom dress. 

The thought of wearing your mothers wedding dress is always something I admire, I would have loved to have worn my Mum's fine polkadot maxi dress but she gave it away years ago and the prospect of fitting it would have required rib removal surgery. My Mum makes a size 10 look obbesse! 

Ada was the same size as her Mum and once I had seen the dress and accepted the challenge, she packed it up along with some treats and posted it to me at the studio. 

I drew up three sketches and Ada chose her favourite design. 

It was then just a case of putting the dress in the washing machine to see if any foxing marks from the years of storage would come out. Luckily it came up beautifully,  from my experience in the vintage dress trade I knew what will go through the machine safely. Don't try this at home! 

The original pale yellow lace wedding dress. 

We firstly made up a base dress and bodice and took apart the original dress to be re draped onto the bodice. The fabric was just fabulous in organza and tulle and lace with lots of texture detail. 

removing the sleeves and cutting the waist

Cutting the sweetheart bodice.

The satin lining to the dress with the built in bodice

We made a tulle skirt in the matching yellow and then the lace detailing was finely cut into motifs and then hand appliqued over the skirt. A silk pleated belt was applied and fine detachable straps. 

pleating the soft tulle skirt

cutting out each of the lace and ribbon motifs from the original dress

The scalloped trim from the neckline and hem was used again on the hips to finish the line.

working out the size of the motifs for the dress, these were way too large!

 The end result was such a transformation and along with being yellow, was one of my most enjoyable dresses to work on last year. I love the soft tulle and the the appliqued lace.

packing the dress ready for Ada in London.

Ada on her wedding day with silver glitter shoes! 

The dress was then packed up after Ada had approved the final dress photos and it fitted perfectly. Congratulations to Ada looking beautiful on her wedding day! xxx

Spring Summer 2011 Bridal

Here is the lookbook for the long awaited Spring/Summer 2011 Bridal collection. I have loads more to tell and say about the collection but first need to share these pictures of the gorgeous Sian Estelle Petty modelling with hats by Alisha Petty. The Petty Sisters are a fantastic pair and thank you very much to them and their talented ways. x

Sneak Peek at Work in Progress

I have been working away on a small collection of bridal gowns over the last few months and it's nearly time to show you. Here are some sneak peeks of the work in progress for some of the dresses, toiles and details.

Creating a Wedding Dress

I usually work on bespoke dresses where the bride has a very individual idea and then I design her dress specifically for her, instead of picking from a collection of set dresses. I now have quite a few designs I've been dying to create so it's time to release my own collection which should be ready early next year.    

This dress was a first sample trial run so I thought I would share the process of creating a wedding gown from start to finish.  I haven't included everything as we would be here forever!

We start with a basic block for the bodice to make the foundation of the dress and make a muslin toile to make sure the bodice design will work and fit correctly. We next cut out the foundation bodice in the silk once the pattern has been cut correctly.

Next the foundation bodice is made up and then boning is inserted where needed whilst checking the fit all round.

The next stage is to build the lining of the bodice, this is the inside of the dress pictured down to the hips and again it's checking the fit and how it lies with the foundation bodice. 

This dress has so many full circles for the base lining, the lining and the tulle skirt which is made up of metres and metres and metres of full circles, all layered and draped to create the full skirt. 

The best way to cut a full circle is with a tape measure and a pin, measuring the same distance all around to make a perfect circle.

The the base lining is attached in silk and I start to build up the layers of the skirt carefully hand stitching each piece in place and checking the fall all the way around. 

I always check the dress in the mirror as I'm working, it's something I picked up from art lessons at school and I think it gives you a new perspective so you can see if anythings not quite right. It's definitely needed after working on the same dress for 10 hours a day!

(please excuse my messy studio, I'm a hoarder!)

Then the bodice is draped onto the foundation in stages constantly adjusting the folds in this particular design until I've got then just in the right place and then hand stitching in place.  Then it's time for the finishing touches in the way of details, sashes, beading, etc. The total time amounts to over fifty hours but the finished piece is always worth it.

The most exciting part is being able to walk into my studio the morning after I've finished the dress to see the design I sketched weeks or months before in real life. xxx