Moodboard Monday

If you don't already know this,  a mood board is a group of images, text, colours assembled on one page to illustrate a 'mood' or theme for a project/collection and gives inspiration/focus when designing.

I feel like I'm constantly looking at images every day and for some reason I never really got into making mood boards. I really struggled with them at uni finding it hard to pin down all the images that inspired and influenced me into to groups that all went together. When it came to being inspired my head was like this massive vacuum sucking up everything all at once and applying it to individual dresses one at at time.

Collection building was nearly impossible for me to concentrate long enough to design ten pieces that worked together instead of ten completely different dresses, which is still something I do today. They are slowly beginning to work together as my style is becoming stronger in it's identity, but I still have to admit that design ADHD is what I have.

I'm hoping by compiling a mood board each Monday will just help me document all of my inspirations.  As a project it will be good to see these in a years time along with the collections to see where they have really influenced.

The first mood board is a Cecil Beaton and Tim Walker mash up as we have been looking at these two photographers for inspiration on last weeks photo shoot. The Cecil Beaton photograph of Charles James dresses in New York is one of my all time favourite images along with Tim Walkers Dress Lamp Tree. They both have this perfect way or making the dress the focus of the images, capturing all the folds, the light reflecting off the fabrics and the drama of the couture dresses. Everything else is almost secondary including the models, it's all about the dresses.

Peeky peek

 

 Last week I just about finished the new bridal collection for 2012 and on Tuesday we took a whole fabulously, long day out with photographer Laura Michelle Power to shoot the lookbook. This was one of my photos of Kimmy Lou in our pale blue silk (there's little white in this collection) and tulle dress with a super gorgeous ' what Katy did next ' oversized bow. 

I can't wait to see the official photos, there will be lots more to share on the run up to the launch over the next few weeks. Keep your eyes peeled xxx 

 

Friday Friends - Mundy's Florists

We recently finished this fabulous floral print dress (fabrics as nearly always from Millie Moon) and it has gone to the window display of Mundy's in Street all thanks to Anna. It looks amazing in the window surrounded by all the beautiful flowers and they are long time acquaintance's of Anna so over to her to tell you all about them  .......

Last week I was excited to be able to lend one of our new dresses to Mundy's of Street Floral Designers to be part of their Mother's Day window display.

I suppose you could say Mundy's is where it all started for me - I proudly got my first Saturday job there in 1997, aged 14, and stayed working for them through school, college and university until eventually moving on to my 'proper' graduate job in 2005. I don't suppose many people can say they spent 8 years in their first part time job - I must have enjoyed it!

Mundy's Floral Design is a family run business that has been established over 120 years. The quality of their flowers, plants and floral accessories is second to none, not to mention Julie has 20 years experience in creating bridal flowers for over 2500 brides (me included.)

I honestly believe that in the time I spent working for Mundy's I gained the interest in colour/texture and developed the creativity that got me to doing what I do today. I'd also like to think I picked up a few things about retail and customer service and, as middle aged as it sounds, I've become a keen gardener. So thanks for everything guys.

Don't forget Mother's Day is March 18th - 'Say it with flowers....'

Customer Pics

Another fabulous customer photo, this time from the beautiful Yvette all the way in Singapore and looking completely stunning in her little, black lace illusion dress. I love the ultra chic finger waves, oversized black rose and my favourite splash of red lipstick. Perfect! 

Friday Friends - Sarah Godsill

Anna and me at the tweet up!

The Little Red Cafe, Catharines Hill, Frome when Sarah is based.

Wedding preparations from Sarah's portfolio

 Last week at the Marry Me in Somerset Tweet up we met this super talented lady Sarah Godsill. 
Sarah was incredibly modest about her work, quietly sketching away in the corner until I decided to talk at her about illustration and how wonderful it must be to be able to draw so well! (My poor victims that get caught up in my ramblings on rare outings from the studio.)

The next day this amazing illustration of Anna and me arrived in my in-box and I was totally blown away. The sketches of all the people at the tweet up were instantly recognisable even though I had only met most of these people once.

Her work has this great Quentin Blake feel to it and looking at the further illustrations of the events and weddings she had drawn, I just keep thinking 'Four Weddings' (one of my favourite British films, all eccentric and dappy instead of miserable and grey!). Its beautifully English Summertime feel really makes the drawings and people come alive on the page with her vibrant use of colour and ability to capture personalities. I can just imagine how amazing it must be to receive a portfolio of the sketches after your wedding or event.
It's an illustrated story book of your day and one of the most gorgeous ideas and talents I have seen in a while. Not to mention she's a really lovely lady too who you would really want at your day.

Scrap the silly chair covers, favours, tea cups and even pudding, this is way more of a lasting treat. For more information on Sarah Godsill and to view her work click here!

What Katy Did Next

The 'Olive' steam punk hair piece.

Our tweed dress with the 'Queenie' large fascinator hat

Our Harris Tweed princess coat.

Our black lace cocktail dress worn with black lace bunny ears and the 'Lena' petite hairpiece

Our mint silk taffeta cocktail dress available made to order.

Our Floral bodice with the gorgeous grey underskirt from Doris Designs and the pink shoe clips!

Our Mint Silk taffeta cocktail dress worn with the Julia hair piece

'Alice' wearing our blue velvet princess coat and tweed dress with the Amelia beaded head band.

 We recently lent out our dresses to the wonderful and super talented Katy from What Katy Did Next for a shoot all the way up North. Once I had viewed Katy's work I was more than excited to have my dresses shot with her beautiful accessories and completely trusted that what she was going to do, would be fabulous. The shoot revolved around the theme of Alice in Wonderland, with the two stunning models playing the parts of Alice and the White Rabbit.
Sally Thurrell photographed Katy's 2012 collection which is made up of the prettiest accessories that you could wear to any occasion as well as for a wedding. My favourite has to be the Florence below, I love the pale blue, feathers, lace and the fact that it is a giant super gorgeous bow!

The Florence hair bow

HUGE THANK YOU'S TO KATY FOR ORGANISING THIS FANTASTIC SHOOT! 

Accessories: What Katy Did Next
Bunny Ears: Talulah Blue (we love these so much!)
Underskirts: Doris Designs 
Photographer: Sally Thurrell
Styled by: Katy Howieson and The Whistling Bunting Travelling Tea Party
Hair and Make Up: Beautiful bride makeovers
Models: Katy Marie Clarke and Nathalie Johnston aka Lily La Rousse


 Business Note ....

We have quite a few requests for dresses to be borrowed for photo shoots and as all you indie designers know, it can be a little bit of a hit or miss thing to do. Firstly you have to pack up all your garments and have them couriered to the shoot, trust that the stylists know what they are doing and in some cases after all the expense and risk of sending out your samples they don't even get used!
A few things I have learnt so far about lending out samples is ......

-check out the people organising the shoot thoroughly along with the other designers involved. If you don't like what they do just say no.

-Insist that they send you at least a few shots of your garments being used even if they don't make the final cut as this will pay for your efforts of sending your garments to them for free. If they don't use them they need to pay you.

-get insurance, if all your samples go missing or come back in a mess you would be devastated

-use wardrobe boxes, it's so much easier.

- give clear instructions of how you would like your garments to be shot and what can and can't be done with your garments. If necessary send clips and pins as there is nothing worse than getting photos back to see your designs not fitting right.

- organise the courier to return your garments yourself so they are not hanging around too long.

- be grateful that you have been asked, when it works well all the people involved get something great including you, so most of the time it is definitely worth all the effort. Especially when you get great shots of your work like the ones above. Remember the people orgaizing ther shoot are doing most of the work xxx

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day lovelies! We're doing it (poochy) style today in our fabulous new red dog print dress. Another amazing find from Millie Moons incredible fabric selection and this heart stopping bright red. This is a Michael Miller Tribute to Tammis Keefe print, she was (in my opinion) one of the best graphic print designers of the mid century creating iconic American, kitsch textile prints in the 40's and 50's. Read More here.

The dress will be available in the shop soon with the long awaited return of the pink elephant dress!Also available at the Millie Moon shop ion Frome, Somerset.

Photo Booth Photos

Last Wednesday we were invited to a 1st Birthday party tweet up at The Manor in Wellington.  It was to celebrate Marry Me Somerset's 1st Birthday (Happy Birthday Ladies!!!) and it was a lovely evening of cakes, bubbly an incredible illustrator (who we will tell you all about on Friday) and this fabulous photobooth.
The party photobooth is amazing and has very good lighting and picture quality, we're even thinking how we can do a whole photo shoot in this one. Ran by the lovely Mike and Sue based in Bournemouth and they travel all the way up to Bristol and Oxford. Really wherever you would like. It's also a great way to get photos of all the guests at your party.
I think the bubbles had gone straight to my head but I do love a sailor hat!

Friday Friends - What Katy Did Next

Our Friday friend today is What Katy Did Next  , a gorgeous accessories label by UK designer Katy Howieson. A relatively recent graduate of textile and surface design, Katy has already proven her professional skill out in the fashion and bridal market with three stunning collections. We were very honoured that Katy asked to use our dresses for the styling shoots of her latest collection, Alice in Wunderland. 

The Heart Shoe Clips were a thank you from Katy and I am truly in love with these. The best surprise hidden in my box of dresses, sparkling, pink and heart shaped. These will be a regular occurrence on the blog! 

 

The wonderland lookbook shoot, (above image of the Julia hair piece) photographed by Sally Thurrell will be coming up soon, in the meantime you can read all about it on Katy's blog. 

To find out more and to see the gorgeous accessories made by What Katy Did Next Click Here. Xxx 

Super Cute Kids Petticoats

 Now childrens wear is usually Anna's department (as I only seam to like designing dresses that I would wear myself!) but these were made for my cousins and goddaughter as Christmas presents so I'm allowed this one.
The skirts were designed to wear with leggings or under party dresses, for running, dancing jumping about and dressing up and being silly in. Kind of what my adult dresses are for. I remember my Mum dressing me up as a child, I had this incredible bright yellow, fuchsia pink and turquoise blue polka dot, tiered ruffly party dress one year which was amazing.
I used to hate anything with a high neck and anything brown. I threw my first fashion strop at the age of three when someone tried to put me in a brown dress at a fashion show, apparently it was quite a scene. I also used to wear my pink ballet dress to lunch at Grandmas and squeezed myself into a Victorian Christening gown because it was pretty. It ripped bad! My parents didn't stand a chance against my insistence of what I wore.
I used to love friends dressing up boxes, I had one friend who lived in an old chapel with graves in the garden and a cherry tree. Her dressing up box was brimming full or red tulle, golds and rustly taffeta's which I still love the sound of today. As a child it was definitely about all the senses, colour and texture and volume.

So back to the skirts, they are pretty, voluminous, comfy, nearly tutu like, have bows on and are bright. I think I would have liked these as a child to run around the garden in and that's what it's all about. Yes, I may have tried to squeeze into one of these too xxx

The little black dress .... Introducing the Sara.

Introducing the Sara .......

This dress was made for my friend Sara's hen party, as I wasn't making her wedding dress I thought she should have a super smokin' cocktail dress to wear instead beforehand. This will also prevent any old fashioned wifelyness in the future, it certainly ain't no kitchen dress! :)

The dress had to be a secret and I knew in all the excitement of the party a photo shoot wasn't really going to happen. Luckily the day before our gorgeous model Kimmy Lou popped over and she did the honours whilst we finished the hem.
The dress will be coming up on the boutique in the next week or so available made to order in this gorgeous draped silk with a corseted bodice. It's a showstopper that works wonders on curves. Complete with pockets as always and you can have any underskirt colour you like, I love the metallic gold trim. xxx

Dresses on the Catwalk ....

The gorgeous Kims look suitably fifties Miami with the cats eyes glasses.

We so want one of these lightbulb make up cases!

Anna was very busy last week representing us at a fashion show in Street. Unfortunately I couldn't be there as I was attending my best friend Sara's hen do,  but here is Anna to tell you all about the wonderful night. I so wish I had been there, it looks like everyone had a fantastic time!

Huge Thank Yous to Anna, Kim, Kim and all the make-up artists, hairdressers and organisers! x 

Over to Anna .........

Last Saturday night I took along some of our dresses to a fashion show in Street, my hometown, in aid of Breast Cancer Research.

At Alexandra King we are lucky to be able to make dresses for ladies worldwide through the wonders of the Internet, but it's also great to get involved with other local businesses and showcase what we do in Somerset.

The fashion show was organised by Oomph and Lift Lingerie, which is run by mother and daughter team Elaine and Natalie. Elaine and Natalie decided to open their shop last year after struggling to find correct fitting bras for themselves and spotting a gap in the market in this area. When creating our dresses we are very aware of the difference good underwear makes and often offer advice on this, so it's great to have them on our doorstep.

Jewellery to go with our dresses for the show was lent to us by Rachel from Ayerst and Graces. Ayerst and Graces is another local shop that stocks jewellery from designers and makers from around the UK. It's great to support stores that stock the work of British craftspeople, and of course this is the natural choice to go with our bespoke handmade dresses.

Kim Heal and Kim Hill modelled for us, we all had our hair and make-up done and a great night was had by all. There was a fabulous selection of underwear, swimwear, dresses, clothing, jewellery and nightwear on the catwalk and everyone enjoyed a few glasses of wine and yummy homemade cakes. Around 70 people attended and we made nearly £500 for Breast Cancer Research - not bad hey?

 Thanks again to all involved xx.

Emerald Green Awards Dress

 Late last December the lovey Alice Rimes came to me with a request for a dress to wear to the Wedding Ideas awards in January.
Alice had something very specific in mind, a collared cocktail dress that would stand out against the wash of full length gowns and in the emerald green, would make an impact.
Well, it worked and I was so happy when the photos came through. We chose our favourite emerald green silk and trimmed the dress with a beaded pearl trim cut from a vintage scarf I had been hoarding away.
This was a fabulous start to the year and such a gorgeous dress with Alice looking show stopping in her bespoke number.

 Photography by wild about weddings and supertography. 

Alice is a writer for wedding ideas magazine and is far better a putting the whole experience into words, she's certainly not just a pretty face! 

"Wedding Ideas’ Alice designed and bought her dream bespoke dress, and so can you…

Before I get started: Bespoke; the simple definition = custom made. (Don’t worry if you didn’t already know that – neither did I before I started working for Wedding Ideas!)

Every bride-to-be wants to look truly unique on her big day and sometimes this may mean wearing an alternative to a shop bought gown. Alexandra King is an independent label, run by the lady herself from her adorable studio in Somerset. Alexandra, along with her partner Anna Vickery, creates heavenly bespoke dresses, inspired by the vintage era and they specialise in bridal and womenswear.

I first contacted Alexandra because I wanted something really personal and individual to wear to our Wedding Ideas awards ceremony.  With a few ideas in mind I emailed Alexandra explaining my taste and style, along with photos of dress ideas that I really liked. She quickly replied and said she would love to work with me on my designs (cue lots of excitable squeaking from me!).  I then went to visit her in her studio to discuss my dress, take a look at her drawings and pick out the fabrics I wanted. (I went for an emerald green taffeta, with a vintage beaded lace for the cuffs and collar). Alexandra also measured me at our first meeting. Dress design agreed on and deposit paid, all I had to do was wait for my lovely little dress to be made. It really was as simple as that!

A few weeks later an email drops into my inbox – a photo of my gorgeous green dress, just as I imagined. In fact, even more beautiful than I imagined! Alexandra invited me back to her studio for a fitting and to make sure I was 100% happy with the look and feel.

Me and Alexandra at her studio I put the dress on, I danced, I twirled, I jumped about – and having pulled a few shapes in front of the mirror, we all decided perhaps the sleeves were a bit tight. It wasn’t a problem at all. Alexandra wants all her brides to be 110% happy with their big-day gowns, and is willing to make all the changes needed until they are fully satisfied. My new sleeves were added the very next day and just a day later the dress arrived by special delivery to my front door.

Having designed and bought my dream, bespoke gown, I can hand-on-heart say it was a wonderful and rewarding experience. It was a simple, fuss-free purchase that allowed me to have exactly what I wanted, and I would certainly recommend it. For brides to be struggling to find ‘the one’, buying bespoke may just be the answer. Alexandra has an extensive bridal wear collection that can be tailored to suit individual needs, all of which are made up to your personal measurements. She can also make delightful designs for your bridesmaids, too.  Alexandra is an extremely talented dress maker, (and lovely, kind and funny to boot) and she may just be the answer to your wedding dress dreams. Also, I’d like to add – bespoke does not automatically mean more expensive, Alexandra’s prices are incredibly affordable for brides, go check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me!

Whether or not you decide to ‘go bespoke’ – I would like to wish you the best of luck for finding ‘the one’ and please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments below, I love hearing from you.

Love Alice x"