Custom-made wedding gowns!

Lily Allen's ceremony gown by Delphine Manivet

Disagree or agree with me, but I love Lily Allen’s style and her music.

Who’s Lily Allen?

If you’ve never heard of her, she’s a British singer with 2 successful music albums under her belt. She was just as famously known for being the face of Chanel, when Karl Lagerfeld hand-picked her and photographed her to promote the Coco Cocoon luxury handbags in the fall of 2009.

She is also largely known as a style icon in the UK and why she’s relevant to my blog (other than I love her!), is that she got married last month.

Naturally, it was rumoured that Chanel would be doing her wedding dress. In fact, she had two gowns, Chanel did a vintage-inspired one for her reception (see photo at left) and Parisian Designer, Delphine Manivet, designed the gown for her ceremony.

The lace bodice is reminiscent of the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding gown but Lily’s veil clearly harkens back to the 1920’s. Unlike Kate's 1950's- inspired gown, Manivet remarked that the Lily’s dress was inspired by 1970’s and 1990’s fashion.

If, like Lily, you decide to go the route of having your attire custom-made; it is important to distinguish between a seamstress and a designer.

Designers, of course, design and fabricate a gown especially for you. Seamstresses will usually sew exactly what you ask them to do, although some do designing as well.  Be aware that seamstresses that work exclusively by store-bought patterns may not know how to alter gowns to give you the style elements that you may want – e.g. a bustle skirt or unusual back. 

Generally, these are the steps to getting your gown designed:

1.    Meet with your designer but do have in mind the direction you want for the style of your gown for example, do you want your gown to be  dramatic? Full? fitted and body conscious? Feature a skirt with lot of movement? Or should it be feminine or on the other end of the spectrum - more structured?

2.    After having discussions with you about your preferences and examining your body type; the designer will usually present attire concepts in the form of sketches and inspirational photos. He/She should also have fabric samples for you to choose from.

3.   After this, you can choose the silhouette, embellishments and decide on the type(s) of fabric that you like incorporated. Then, via collaboration, you and the designer will determine a final choice.

4.  Measurements of the bride-to-be are then taken by the designer, over the actual undergarments that will be worn on the day.

5.   Most designers will do a “muslin fitting,” to ensure proper fit. Muslin is a cotton woven fabric from which the designer makes a shell that moulds to the body of the bride. This shell enables the designer to easily drape onto it or create  desired elements from the final garment.

6.    The designer then takes the muslin pattern and crafts it into the bride's chosen fabric usually, adjustments are done at this point since the muslin does not have the same characteristics as the final fabric (for example, silk, organza, satin etc.).  

7.   Additional fittings to ensure a perfect fit may also be required, depending on the complexity of the gown.