The black lace illusion dress

 The black lace illusion dress. 

This is the dress inspired directly by Princess Margaret's couture gown produced by Norman Hartnell that I went to see at Bath Fashion Museum. The dress was stunning on the outside with a full circle skirt in corded lace over a fitted, padded, pencil skirt underneath and has a strapless sweetheart bodice. I Loved the illusion of having a fitted silhouette underneath the fullness of the lace and the skill of getting the top layer to stand away from the body.
The asymmetric neckline was chosen to drape over the sweetheart underneath as this line is always very elegant and added more to the illusion dress underneath. The disappointment with the Norman Hartnell dress was that it was un-lined. This may have been so that another corset could be worn underneath or it had been taken out at some point but it looked a little tatty so our dress is lined in silk nice and neatly.  Finished with a black velvet bow.
Model: Nicole Handley
Crown: Janine Basil Millinery
Location: Banwell Castle, Somerset UK

Nicole with the giant bear at the castle, he knid of looks a bit Royal too.

Blue Wedding Dress

 

This little blue lace, fifties inspired wedding dress was just gorgeous, gorgeous, and more gorgeous to work on. Designed and created for a customer who took one look in a bridal shop and was immediately terrified and put off by the overwhelming nature of such places. Me thinks this may have been an all you can eat wedding dress factory style store where they get you all worked up with their hundred of options on big big dresses, satin shoes, tiaras and the whole shebang! It can be a little too much sometimes. 

So she sent me some lovely pictures of herself, had colours in mind and a clear sense of styles that suited her best. I did a few sketches, sourced fabrics and laces and we came up with this beauty of a dress complete with optional covered buttons for the back. I chose slightly larger buttons than usual to give the dress a slightly less delicate look with a bit more punch to the back of required. The underskirt was removable so that it could be worn to parties afterwards getting more use from the dress instead of it staying hidden in the wardrobe to gather dust as so many do.

I know I say this about all of my dresses but this really is a favourite. I am always happy to work on bespoke dresses and if you would like more info on ordering please take a look at our ordering page.

Astor and the last wedding dress.

 Photography: Alexandra King

Model: Sian Estelle Petty

 So here is the final dress of the collection, Astor and I think my favourite and certainly the most fun to wear with all the skirts.
This dress, with it's carefully layered ballerina skirt of full circles and exaggerated bow was the first dress I designed for the collection. Originally it had petals cascading down the front but wasn't quite my style and the bow very much more me (as Anna will know! :) . The dress was made with an integrated bodice and then the asymmetric choice was hand draped over the top and the pleated hips hand stitched in place.

Available like all the others in this first collection made to order from our Somerset studio and you can view them all in our shop. Any questions please don't hesitate to ask! Contact us here.

 Working on this small yet focused collection has been amazing and the best thing was using just one colour so I could really focus on the silhouette, texture and drape of each dress. I'm really pleased with the final pieces and yes I have spent quite some time in my studio trying each dress and imagining more weddings. There's not much convincing my other half to renew our vows each year!

A final huge THANK YOU to Sian and Alisha and Wing for all of your help with this. There will definitely be more dresses coming in the future with a larger collection next time!

Swanson the star dress of the show

The super beautiful Claudia played by Nicole Kidman in Nine if you like Moulin Rouge and beautiful vintage women you will love this. Also check out 8 1/2 for good measure along with La Dolce Vita

The incredible Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard

Here is the 'Swanson' dress again named from the cast list of Sunset Boulevard, this the star Gloria Swanson.
This dress is designed to be the show stopper with influences coming from the red carpet, old Dior and Nicole Kidman in Nine. I watched it over and over and over again just to see the dress and the lines were just mesmerizingly elegant.
The dress she wears has a very pointed bust and I wanted to keep this line on my 'Swanson' dress but the mini Madonna points weren't going to work quite as well off screen. This is where the pleats and folds came in creating strong lines with similar angles.
The dress is cut on the bias at the skirt giving hourglass silhouette and flares at the hem to give a statuesque appearance.
I chose to put a bow at the back (I know the 80s cliche bum bow!) but this is with the 1950s in mind, used to add shape to the back and wraps around the waist beautifully making the dress that little more sultry.
Available made to order here in our online shop.

As always ask if you have any queries, I'm always happy to hear from people. 

Also this week we opened a shop at Wedzu which is full of amazing handmade wedding items. Just like Etsy but for weddings and super awesome. They check out all the sellers before they can open a shop so there's no nonsense there.  And I have made some gorgeous dresses for races and weddings which I will update next week. One particularly lovely Audrey-esque navy blue and white lace dress.

Faye's Art Deco Bow Dress

Photography: Alexandra King
Model: Sian Estelle Petty
Pearl beaded Pill Box Hat: Alisha Petty

The 'Faye' dress is the 1930s glamour gown, sleek, sweeping and fit for an art deco, silver screen goddess. I love using crepe and this is a very fine wool crepe that drapes beautifully and feels gorgeously soft. 

We designed and hand beaded the bow after researching more art deco, 1920s and 30's flapper dresses and motifs, the glass rhinestones are extra sparkly too.

Bows are a recuirring theme in my work, hence our logo and I'm thinking of this panel cut design for a tea dress and a flapper dress in a future collection.