I'm super excited to introduce a truly fabulous post written by one of the most fashionable people I know. So it only seems fitting that this piece is all about a bespoke designer. Everyone, please welcome Phillipa....
It was two years ago this month when, on the 10/10/10 I
stepped out of the shower of the quaint boutique hotel in the lake district
where we had spent the weekend, and
found my then boyfriend now husband sat on the balcony with what looked like a
wrapped up shoe box. As it was not a
special occasion and my husband does not normally present me with wrapped up
gifts on a Sunday morning for no reason, I wondered if this could be the moment
I had been waiting over five years for but couldn’t quite work out why the
wrapped up shoe box. The confusion
subsided when I ripped off the wrapping paper to reveal the famous brown box
synonymous with my favourite shoe designer M. Christian Louboutin and I knew
that this proposal was going to be so special and so me. Inside the box were the most beautiful pair
of ivory, snakeskin, Bianca Louboutins (if you haven’t guessed by now, I am
something of a shoe obsessive) and inside the shoes gleamed a stunning one carat,
square cut platinum ring.
Since that moment I have spent the past two years (until my
wedding day this summer on 04/08/12) submerged in a world of wedding
wondrousness and when a friend pointed me in the direction of my ex-classmates
blog, I quickly became an addict and now feel extremely honoured to write this
guest post. I don’t want to spend this
article recounting tales of what was, ultimately, the best day of my life, but
instead tell a tale of a very modern relationship, formed and developed through
Twitter, a social-networking medium that can have an array of advantages for
wedding planning and beyond if you look in the right places.
It was May 2011 and my wedding plans were well underway when
I first met designer Kirsty Doyle at a hot yoga session organised by Justine
Mills, owner of the boutique Cricket in Liverpool, where my stunning Louboutin
shoes had come from. I started to follow
her on Twitter and, after her mentioning in the changing rooms one week, that
she was about to spend her Saturday doing some fittings for some bespoke
clients, I decided to send her a tweet asking if she specifically did mother of
the bride outfits. It turns out she did
and, although this bespoke bridal aspect of her business was in the early
stages of growth, she had started to be approached by a number of bridal party
guests for outfits for their loved ones’ big days. I knew this would be the perfect option for
my mum, who always likes to do something a bit different, as well as solving
her problem of finding something to fit her ultra-petite frame.
Even before I met Kirsty, I was aware of her reputation as
an up and coming designer in Liverpool and had spent many a Saturday browsing
the shop she used to have in Liverpool 1 showcasing her latest range of designs. I knew that she favoured bright colours, good
quality fabrics (specifically silk) and bold, sleek cuts that gave her clothes
a distinctly recognisable quality for those who, like me, have an unhealthy
interest in fashion. When I mentioned to
friends that I was thinking of asking her to make my mum’s 'mother of the bride' outfit, they filled me in on her background which made my decision for
me; she was the perfect candidate to make my mum feel special.
Kirsty started out selling customised t-shirts on
Liverpool’s Great Homer Street Market before being chosen to compete in Sky
One’s first series of Project Catwalk.
Not only was Kirsty given the opportunity to work and network with some
of fashions most prominent designers and figures, she also went on to win the
show and have a feature in UK’s Elle magazine.
From there, Kirsty’s career has gone from strength to strength with her
clothes being stocked in Liverpool’s flagship boutique Cricket before the
opening of her own store in Liverpool One.
Kirsty has developed her brand into an ultra-modern enterprise, with the
removal of her high street presence in favour of her website and a move into
the bespoke market which has blossomed incredibly over the last 12 months into
a thriving bridal business. Kirsty still
does her normal ready to wear clothing line, Kiki by Kirsty Doyle which can be
found on her website Kirsty Doyle but it is really her bespoke service for bridal parties (mother of both the bride and groom), bridesmaids and more recently, brides which are really
becoming her flagship designs.
Two months after the initial tweet was sent, and many more
Twitter conversations later, my mother made the two and a half hour drive from
where she lives in Grimsby to Liverpool to meet with Kirsty at her studio. My mum and I had spent time doing a bit of
research into what kind of style she wanted and came to the studio armed
with photos and magazine cuttings to show Kirsty. Together, the three of us pieced together an
idea of what we wanted and before long the basic outline of a design had come
together. At this point my mother still
had no idea as to what colour she was going to choose and so Kirsty pulled out
a large range of sample colours and offered numerous colour combinations for my
mum to choose from. Meeting one complete
and both my mother and I were excited to leave Kirsty to produce a mock-up of
the dress for my mum to try on at our next session. A few weeks later we were back in
Liverpool, this time to try on the design Kirsty had come up with after our
brainstorming session, enabling us to have a visual idea of what the outfit was
going to look like. The sample design
was not in the same colour or material as the final piece but gave us an idea
of how the final design would fit together, enabling us to play around with
bits that we weren't completely happy with.
This time we added a peplum to the bottom of the dress, another exciting
feature to the outfit, suggested by Kirsty and quickly put together whilst mum
stood modelling the design. Things so
far were looking good!
For the third
meeting, Kirsty actually visited my flat for the unveiling and first fitting of
the final piece. It looked fantastic,
however, my mum had shrunk even more since her original measurements were taken
and a few alterations were needed, as well as the three of us deciding that the
collar detail on the jacket should be stiffer and the peplum should be more
defined. Kirsty went away again and,
after a fourth and final visit, mum’s outfit was ready to be taken away.
Nearly twelve months after our original
meeting, mum put on her outfit to watch me walk down the aisle, she looked
absolutely stunning and received many compliments on the day. Furthermore, having the opportunity for my
mum and I to meet regularly and bond over the development of her outfit was
great and now the wedding is over we are both somewhat bereft at that fact she no longer has an excuse to visit me regularly (especially as I have since
moved to Richmond which is even further away).
The advantages of going bespoke are endless and after
enjoying the experience of creating the mother of the bride outfit so much, I
was actually a little jealous that I had not gone for a bespoke gown
myself. By this point I had already
ordered and paid for my gown but I have excitedly followed Kirsty’s expansion
into bridal designs over the past 12 months.
If you are looking for a personal and unique experience,
where you can collaborate with a professional designer to produce the dress of
your dreams, feel like a princess whilst indulging in the numerous appointments
and fittings to fit the dress perfectly to your figure, whilst safe in the
knowledge that no one else anywhere in the world will be wearing your wedding
dress then bespoke really does win hands down.
Another advantage with this choice of wedding dress is that you can give
the designer your budget and they can (hopefully) try and work to it, giving
you a designer experience suitable for your pocket.
If you would like to enquire to Kirsty about her Bespoke
Bridal service then either follow her on Twitter or sign up to
her website here - (there is a promotion on at the moment where if you sign up to her newsletter
you get a £100 voucher towards your bespoke outfit!).
Good luck to all you fabulous brides currently planning your
own day of your dreams, I only wish I could go back and do it all again!
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Thank you Phillipa for sharing this with us. I'm sure everyone who reads this will agree you all look stunning. Not only is your mum's dress fabulous but your's is amazing - very jealous!
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