Interview At Pure Bridal

Royal weddings have gifted us with some of the most extravagant and opulent visuals since Diana's wedding in 1981, to the most recent with the wedding of Kate and Prince William. Diana's wedding turned out to be a moment that would go down in history as one of the most anticipated ceremonies of that time, with her dress influencing brides and celebrities all over the world. Kate's wedding was no exception and created an uproar of excitement for designers everywhere. I wanted to research into the influence a monarchy can have over the general public and how much they inspire everyday wedding dresses you would find in your local bridal atelier.

I guess we'll jump right in, are there any particular bridal trends influenced by our monarchy and their weddings?

You've probably noticed lace, lace is probably the biggest fabric used and the biggest influence. In terms of shapes, smaller brides tend to go for more form fitting dresses such as fishtail as they want to show off their figure, but you still have the brides who want to be a princess and wear a ball gown. So there isn't really an outright winner, every bride is different so the variety of styles that we sell is always mixed. There is never one particular style at the minute. However, we have noticed a small increase in A line styles this year with it being a more safer style to wear, it's fitted at the hip and flares out and it's a lot more practical. People are leaning more towards smaller weddings like hotels, barns and marquees so they don't want large dresses which they can't move around in.

Would you say A line is one of the more flattering styles to wear?

Yes definitely. A line will flatter every shape, it will give everyone a waist, it will show off their hips but it wont be tight under the hip so you wouldn't know if they had big hips or smaller hips. Ultimately I think it just depends on the bust size but most people will fit into an A line, not everyone will fit into a fishtail or a ball gown. But yes, A line is a really popular style.

I spoke to Lucy from City Brides and she mentioned crepe fabrics being a popular trend, would you agree with this?

Yes lighter fabrics such as tulle and chiffon has definitely come in this season. So lots of heavy beading, 1920s, Gatsby type themes. Like I said many brides aren't wanting big heavy dresses anymore and people are going abroad so fabrics like crepe and chiffon are really great. They're easier to move in and easier to transport since they have to get onto a plane. Yes I would definitely say that's a style that has crept in within the last six to seven months.

In terms of alterations, do brides have many such as add or remove lace?

Some people will change the dress and alter different things about the dress to suit them but the majority of the brides will love the dress that they see and will then have what's called a standard alteration which is the bust and almost always length, most of us aren't six foot two which is the length the dresses come in. Everybody's shape is different regardless of us being a set size, you still always need the dress to fit you completely tight at the top. So I would say about ninety percent of our brides will need an alteration of some sort and will usually be under the arms and the length taken up and also a bustle, a lot of people like to have a bustle put underneath the dress so that they can put the train away for the evening and they can dance.

Can you explain what a bustle is?

A bustle is where the train of the dress is looped onto a small button just underneath the bum which then creates a type of waterfall effect on the dress and that just gets all of the train on the back of the dress off of the floor. It's a handy little alteration and we advise all of our brides to get this otherwise you see brides using a hanger which goes over the wrist. The problem with that is you then end up rubbing the dirtiness that the dress has collected throughout the day all along the side of the dress, so you end up with a dark line going down the side. Also, a lot of these dresses are quite weighty so it can get rather tiresome holding a dress like that. So to have the bustle looks really pretty and often makes the dress look completely different which is nice for the evening, as well as, being more practical. It's usually about ten to fifteen pounds and only involves a small loop and some buttons, it can make a big difference.

Do you design the dresses or have them bought in from outside designers?

We don't design them. We have five different designers in the store and when you go looking for a designer you obviously look at the different qualities that each of them have. So they all have something different about them be it style, budget or fabric so we pick our designers based on the kind of things that they do and what we like. If you're lucky enough to have that designer in your store you can only have one designer in each store in each county so if some else has that designer in their store you can't have it. But if you are lucky enough to have it they will bring out two collections a year which are in March and September. As a manager I will go buying and they will show us a collection of about sixty dresses and from that we would then pick ten dresses we would like to have in store. So we would have done our research beforehand and looked at what people have been buying, saying and what people have been coming in and asking for which we didn't have. We will have a goal written down of what we need and then pray that when we watch the catwalk shows those things will appear. We then deliberate for a few hours on what would be good investments and usually end up picking between ten to fifteen dresses. We do this for all of the designers we have in store. You will also see that even though the designers have kept their ideas secret they all would have picked up on many of the trends during that season. So we noticed everyone was doing the two piece this year and almost all designers included this into their collections, or they had a whole range of two pieces so you would have four different skirts and bodices allowing you to mix and match the dress. We didn't feel Norwich itself was ready for the two piece so we didn't invest but we went a season later and bought a couple, They're not everybody's cup of tea but have had interest in them. So it's worth having a representation of that style in the store.

Are the designers that you buy from specialist? So do they know how to create the patterns and make the design?

Oh yes, so the designers that we stock are Maggie Sottero which are an American brand and they know how to design and make a dress. They have massive team of designers and once a dress is designed and pitched to the rest of the team it will then get put into the collection in Harrogate if it gets enough votes and if enough people order the design it will then be put out into the shops. They're all made with fantastic materials which has made the cost of the dress elevate over the past two years but the quality of material has improved. Things like laces and slipper satins compared to the more standard satins and beading which is influenced by the 1920 styles all raise the costs. But yes we would say they're some of the best at creating the dresses. We have another company designer called White One who are based in Barcelona and over 25 years old, their lace is second to none really and you can't compare it so they are our main lace designer. We have smaller companies like Eternity who focus more on boning and the structure of the dress, so everyone plays their part really. They work similarly to us where they look at the trends a year in advance and start to play with things. We are noticing brides are being a bit more daring these days so the designers are able to have a bit more fun.

Would you say coloured dresses are becoming popular?

Coloured dresses are so difficult, we have seen a lot but we haven't invested in them because we know they don't work for us here. We also know that if you buy a dress in ivory you can sell it in that colour, however, if it has an option to come in another colour and they know they want it in red, black or pink for example they can then order that colour. But if we were to have a dress on the shop floor in red the customer would struggle to see past the colour and then find it off putting. Something we have noticed is print, only usually about one in the collection but there was definitely a floral print or cotton lace print. Things like a festival or boho-chic type theme have come into play as well. But yes colours are always difficult, it's usually used in the form of a sash or bow.

Referring back to the two pieces, would you say that's a recent trend?

No, two pieces were popular about ten years ago. That was all you ever saw. So the bride would go in and try a dress and a skirt which was how it worked. Then designers realised they could start making dresses in full which meant us buying more and then equalling more on the shop floor, which would hopefully translate into more sales. Within the last year or so someone thought about bringing the two piece back again. You can have the issues of brides loving the top part of a dress and not the skirt but you can't chop and change since it's been quality controlled and changing it would ruin the structure of the dress. To manipulate it would mean going higher in cost and we usually tell people if you're wanting such a big change then it's probably not the right dress. Whereas this two piece design allows them for be more flexible.

Do you have people ask for a personalised dress or a specific design?

We do have that happen but we can't unfortunately. The closest we've gotten is the two pieces, we also have a fantastic seamstress so we can say the dress from the waist down is everything you're describing but we just need to change the top to a sweet heart or add a jacket. So we can manipulate within reason. We did consider having a made to measure service but the problem is it's too costly, plus finding someone with the skills is difficult since seamstressing is a dying trade and there's just not enough skilled working seamstresses out there to throw them in and start making dresses. Also, the problem with making a dress from scratch is always a worry because you can't see it before it's ready so if you don't like it when it's finished you will still have to pay for the time and materials. So there's always a big risk there and we decided a long time ago after having a few complications where people had built up an image in their head that wasn't quite what they were going to get, we decided that we would rather have a bride stand in the mirror and for us to say "this is exactly what is going to be sent to us in six months time do you love it?" and they say yes then there are no worries. The bride will receive a dress that she loves and is identical to what she tried on and fell in love in.

Are there any popular styles of neckline on wedding gowns possibly inspired by royal weddings?

Strapless sweetheart will always be the most popular style, it's the most flattering on the majority of people and the best fitting. The problem we have is we only have one of every dress so if I order that dress in a fourteen and you're a size eight bride, trying it on is difficult getting the sleeves, neckline and the top to fit you properly. whereas you can't really go wrong with a strapless since you can always make it fit someones body and straight away they can see how amazing it looks. We have noticed thats sleeves have become popular which no doubt occurred around the time Kate got married. A lot of people are wanting some form of coverage even if it's a cap sleeve and we have noticed that our dresses which are sleeveless but also have a cap sleeve option have become really popular. So the fact that they can have a bit more coverage during the day and then in the evening they can pop them off so they're a bit more relaxed appeals to them. Another popular trend is having illusion neckline which is usually tulle up to the neck and over the arms and sometimes includes lace, making it look like it's stuck to the skin which is very similar to Kate's dress. It just adds a bit of comfort for the bride if they're not used to wearing a dress which is either more of a lower cut or more open.