We stylists take for granted that everyone knows what we know. We joke it is not our first rodeo as we layer accessories, add veils and nail a design brief. Our collective failure to communicate this at length (without boring the pants off the internet) is partly because we do not acknowledge how deep the well of our shared experience is.
Leah and I joked on the podcast about hosting a buttoning competition. Bridal boutiques could enter their long-time stylists in a head-to-head contest to see who can dress a bride in a classic button back dress the quickest.
I am sure I would make the podium!
Button backed dresses - much like pockets, detachable sleeves, removable tops, over skirts and added scarfs - are items that are much loved additions that are easy for brides to wrap their heads around and add to a “must have” list.
Similarly, when Ben’s petticoat reel or my reels about sleeves and veils got hundreds of thousands of views, I was surprised and delighted. It appears in a world of bite size, Tik Tok trends, some longer content, that you can make a meal of, is in demand.
On the back of these penny-drop moments, I saw a global brand offering customisation. A brand that had been previously only offered standardised options and standard sizes. My instinct was to eye roll at the old news and limited scope of their offer until I realised, I have never spelt out the true breadth and depth of the customisation available to our clients.
Provenance
I do not care how loud the anti-woke backlash becomes, provenance, that is who makes your dress, out of what fabric and from where, is vitally important to the Miss Bush philosophy. Beyond ethics, it signals true artisanal dress making allowing single cuts and completely bespoke options.
It is the law that a shop must tell you the country of origin of your dress and it must be on the label in the dress.
This is not about flag waving, this is truly understanding, why some dresses can only be ordered in the nearest size, why they take so long to arrive in the UK and how much of the price you are paying is duty.
True customisation is by product of transparency.
Single Cut
If a brand subcontracts or outsources their dress production, the production process must be streamlined, and big manufacturers will make dresses in batches. This allows huge global brands to produce up hundreds of thousands of units a year. If you are ordering a car or an iPhone this level of mechanisation is efficient but inflexible.
I have chosen to source brands that make single cut dresses.
Suzanne Neville makes her dresses in Harrow-on-the-Hill, Jesus Peiro make their dresses in Barcelona and Galicia, Divine Atelier dresses are made in Brasov and Nortier dresses are made in Basingstoke.
This goes beyond a cleaner, transparent supply chain which is naturally more sustainable, to a completely distinct set of choices for a bride.
Single cut means no compromise on style, details, or size. It means responsive production. It means you are a name not a number.
Size inclusivity
This does not just mean a brand willingness to make dresses over an 18. This means truly adapting patterns and/or creating new patterns for people of all ages, all body shapes, and sizes.
As each dress is cut one at a time, it is as easy for the pattern cutting teams to make it right as it is to make it standard. Advances in digital pattern cutting have helped to streamline the process. However, if faced with someone like me - a 50 something post-menopause shaped woman with an H cup bust - all our brands would revert to their years of experience, cut a pattern by hand, and supply us with a mock up dress or toile. There is no need to compromise and order the closest size.
Design changes
I have seen rudimentary design changes offered by some bigger brands, swap one skirt for another, raise or lower a neckline.
The scope of customisation from a truly artisanal brand far exceeds this. In the last week I have ordered dresses including the following changes -
- Added and taken away sleeves
- Switched sleeve design
- Switch fabrics
- Changed necklines
- Changed skirt volumes
- Added and subtracted petticoats/linings
- Changed zips/lace up to buttons
- Added and subtracted boning
- Incorporated a design detail that is deeply personal and deeply sentimental
- Changed colours
Some changes can be radical; others could barely be noticed to the untrained eye.
They are borne from the centre of the Venn Diagram the middle of the three-way relationship between bride, designer, and stylist.
- Made separates a dress
- Made separates a jumpsuit
- Blended dresses and styling additions from all our four brands
Risk free?
Does this terrify you? Rest assured if you love a dress as is you can order it as is. There is a tendency in me to encourage a bride to make a change, however tiny, to truly know their dress’s DNA is as individual as they are.
Minor changes = major happiness
If we are making major design changes or you have uniquely individual figure - like me – a mock up in calico first, to sign off the new design and check how the pattern has translated is essential.
If you are ordering a base layer dress, a simple column A line or ballgown that is being teamed with multiple styling looks we hand hold you step by step.
Dress first, to see how it feels in your size and fabric followed by the frosting!
Our in-house production team is an increasingly rare and wonderful thing! It was suggested to me recently that this was old-fashioned, but I really do not believe our responsibility stops when a dress arrives from a supplier.
Fittings in one place, an ongoing relationship with the designers and brands that supply us, last minute emergencies or simply eleventh-hour longings! Once you have booked us you have our undivided attention if you go a tad diva! To the wedding day and beyond.
Having a custom dress should be embraced with open arms. Dresses are cloth not granite, nothing is carved in stone. It is our responsibility to deliver what we promise, to earn our brides’ faith and trust and work towards a shared creative and collaborative vision.
Lastly, to be a little more fashionista-y, it also means we can channel new looks faster and be first on the grid with new looks. And who said politics was not fashionable? 😉