The Julia Dress - White and Gold Tulle Gown

Introducing the Julia dress .....

Adorned in golden seed beads and featuring many layers of tulle, romance is encapsulated in the Julia dress. Designed as a one of a kind piece in collaboration with the What Katy Did Next 2014 Reign collection the Julia is a romantic piece for evening or a special occasion.

Thee dress features a strapless hand beaded silk bodice cut in a sweetheart and dropped at the waist making the most of a highlighting belt. Layers of soft ivory tulle cascade from the delicately ruffled hip in an elegant diagonal line to the back. The Hem reflects this line with a graduated line showing off a beautiful choice of shoe.

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

Golden Reign - New Collection from What Katy Did Next

The Etoile veil

Katy Howieson is an accessories designer we have worked with many times before and is someone who's taste and style I trust implicitly. Her beautifully designed hair accessories and jewelry set off the imagination, none so much as her latest Reign collection.

Katy styled our garments with her golden pieces to create these stunning images shot by the always brilliant Sally Thurrell.
I love the use of golden make-up to tie the look together and the dark grey tones that make the gold pop in a regal renaissance painting fashion with added risque.

Favourite pieces include the star studded 'Etoile' veil, the delicate 'Beatrice' pearl earrings (we are wearing ours to many occasions this Summer, they are to die for pretty) and the divine golden crown 'Aurelia' that epitomises the way a crown should look, elegant and regal.

Here's what Katy had to say about the collection on Rock My Wedding.....

" Katy: After spending most of last year on bespoke orders, I was really looking forward to making a bold statement with a dramatic Winter collection. I was hugely inspired by the hoards of metallic, glittering gold on the A/W Bridal catwalks and wanted to create a line of unique headwear and accessories with a regal air, that encouraged brides to step outside the box – whether it be with something delicately different or a more striking piece.

The Reign collection is all handmade in the UK so if gold isn’t your cup of tea – a lot of the designs can be altered to work with silvers, ivory and pearl shades." Katy Howieson on Rock My Wedding 

View the collection in the What Katy Did Next online shop here There are many beautiful things not just for brides. 

The Etoile veil with our gold glitter bodice

The Beatrice pearl earrings

The Dahlia leather hair clips with our golden lace jacket 

The Dahlia leather hair clips with our golden lace jacket 

The Dahlia leather hair clips with our golden lace jacket 

The Aurelia golden crown

The Frances Hair Clip. Love the use of gold on the lips.

The Zara veil and Orla belt with our Julia dress

The Orla belt with our Julia dress

The Orla Hair band

View the collection in the What Katy Did Next online shop here 

Further Reading

What Katy Did Next: The Reign Collection Rock My Wedding 
What Katy Did Next.co.uk

Photography by Sally Thurrell 
Accessories : What Katy Did Next
Make Up: Make Up By Jo
Hair: Kara Scott
Models: Katherine Lees and Mumbi Masisi

Gold - 10 Reasons to Wear it.

Our latest golden gowns 

Gold is one of those colours that can be equally trashy and opulent. Its wonderful for evening wear or as highlights throughout the day, comes in many a workable tone and real or gilded can be glorious.

Here are Ten reasons to wear gold and how....

1. Since the beginning of style this shiny precious metal has been used to adorn the body with its brightness, it's a colour that has worked throughout time. Our favourites are the Cleopatra's, the 1920's and 30's and it's return in the 1970s.


2. When Howard Carter caught sight of King Tut's tomb he was quoted to say '“...as my eyes grew accustomed to the light, details of the room within emerged slowly from the mist, strange animals, statues, and gold - everywhere the glint of gold. For the moment - an eternity it must have seemed to the others standing by - I was struck dumb with amazement, and when Lord Carnarvon, unable to stand the suspense any longer, inquired anxiously, 'Can you see anything?' it was all I could do to get out the words, 'Yes, wonderful things.”  Howard Carter, Tomb of Tutankhamen
Would he have said this if everything wasn't gold? This magnificent discovery inspired fashion for decades to come. 

Tutankhamen's golden sarcophagus

3. Think of Coco Chanel when wearing gold.  Team it with black and keep it delicate in style. Chanel adorned her designs with golden chains and buttons as elegant highlights and decorated her apartment with the famous golden ears of wheat as symbols of prosperity. 

4. Gold is mostly used in Old Hollywood movies, or at least that's what I imagine the colour is twinkling in black and white and looking so effortlessly glamourous.  Imagine Cleopatra with Vivien Leigh, Elizabeth Tayor, Theda Bara or one of Cecil B Demille's Ten commandments. The sequins were used to add extra sparkle to the screen and gave such a heightened elegance. A full length golden sequin gown will have you dazzling an adoring audience.

Coco Chanel photographed by Cecil Beaton

5. Whatever your skin tone gold can work for you. If you are pale use darker antique shades or team with contrasting colour such as black. For darker skin tones go for brilliant blonde shades head to toe. Red lipstick always works with gold and use a metallic bronzer to highlight the cheeks and collarbone to bring the look together. Try MACs mineralize blush in warm soul.

6. When you wear gold you can keep accessories to a minimum. Leave necklines bare, be modest with earrings and splash out with a bracelet or cuff. A little golden confection of a clutch bag will be great too. 

7. Gold works with so many colours and it doesn't always have to look glitsy. Its beautiful and opulent with vibrant Eastern jewel colours of turquoise, ruby and emeralds. Looks sophisticated and elegant with black, stunning with ivory, whites and pastels and for all out 1920s deco glamour with silvers and other precious metals. 

8. Everyone should have one gold piece in their wardrobe. Be it a fabulous metallic pleated skirt, a sequinned flapper dress for dancing in or the gown of all gowns shimmering in gold that makes you feel like a movie star. 

9. Golden cloth woven with god wire and silk has often been seen to befitt Princesses. Try a golden Bikini Princess Leia style.

10. In Henry VII's time gold was only to be worn by Royalty in England, indulge in the fact that we now all have the freedom to wear gold and flaunt it! 

“The future holds a golden world. It will be for beauty; it will be for intelligent productiveness.” - Diana Vreeland


Related articles: 

Inside Coco Chanels Apartment Chanel.com
The King of New York Vanity Fair 
Costume Designers in Hollywoods Golden Age Pretty Clever Films
Explore Diana Vreeland.com

Grace Kelly in Hitchcocks 'To Catch a Thief' designed by Edith Head

Joan Craford in 'The Women' designed by Edith Head

Greta Garbo in 'Mata Hari'

Barbara Stanwyck in 'Lady of Burlesque'

Lena Horne in 'Stormy Weather'

The Cate dress - Gold sequinned gown.

The Cate dress is a golden icon of a gown swathed in little circular fish-scale paillettes in a matte blonde toned gold. Deep black velvet accents the 1930s inspired deco neckline, mirroring the waist with hand applique glass bugle beads.

Available in the shop as a one of a kind piece.

Bronzed 'Amy' Red Carpet Gown

Awards season is upon us and what could be more dazzling than full length sequins in a dark golden bronze. The 'Amy' gown has just been completed at the atelier as part of our gold series designed with red carpet outing in mind. The gown's cut is backless to the waist with a gathered halter neckline accented with deep black velvet. You can just imagine an Old Hollywood statue all dressed up.

Available as a one of a kind piece in the shop here. 

Lupita Pink Silk Dress

Introducing the Lupita dress in a blushing pale ice pink.

The dress was designed with red carpets in mind (of course!) the dress that makes an entrance and has interest from all angles. The bodice features sculpted, razor sharp pleats over the bust, a smooth fitted bodice and a hugging hourglass cut.
The skirt is midi length, that certain 1940's just a little longer cut that teamed with a pair of open fronted courts elongates the line. And glorious drapes falling all the way to the floor to finish at the back.

Style with an optional bead encrusted belt and golden spiked courts and off you go to the ball looking by far the best dressed. Of course!

For more info take a look at the dress in the online boutique here. This is the only one of it's kind. 

The Pandora Dress

Finally the seventh dress, the Pandora. This little pop rocket of a dress is my personal favourite for its electric personality and illicit thoughts that filled my head whilst designing her.

A single scenario repeated in my imagination for which this dress would be worn .........................

It's a cold, crisp, dark night in New York city and Pandora is entering the premier of her latest film. The flash bulbs are cracking all over the red carpet, paps are shouting her name 'Hey Pandora, look over here for me!', fans are squealing with desperate joy flapping their autograph books and Pandora's porcelain face glows as her eyes sparkle in the light. 

The most famous starlet of our time is bundled into the theatre where she takes a deep breath and flicks her brunette hair back into perfected place. 

The gentleman on her right takes her over sized platinum coat and checks it in, the one on her left goes to announce her anticipated arrival. For just a moment Pandora stands alone in the foyer awaiting the overwhelming fuss that will be made of her in just two minutes time.

A tap on the shoulder startles her, 'he's waiting in the alley' a tall figure whispers closely. 

Her heart pounding and butterflies whirling everywhere Pandora turns on her sparkling heel and move swiftly towards the fire exit. Busting the door open the cold air freshly hits her skin as steam billows from the subway grates. The single light coming from the doorway catches the sequins of her dress shimmering as she opens the heavy black door of the car. In a split second she is free, gone. Leaving just a sheer glimpse of an image.

The Pandora is a coquette of a dress. The sweetheart of the neckline that molds over the smooth bust, the wrapping of the silk chiffon tightly around the waist and the dense sequins that shimmer over the bodice as it moves. The plunging back of the dress reveals all, with long drapes hemmed in indulgent marabou feathers fit for the finest courtesan.
Cut in an hourglass highlighting the curves and falling to the calf I wanted this dress to be both as sexual and ladylike as possible.

For more info on the Pandora in the boutique please click on the photos.

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.