Bluebird Bridal - Part One - The Shimmy Dress

Here at Bustles and Bows, alterations and customisation of dresses is a BIG part of our lives. We spend many many hours downstairs in our sewing room transforming customer’s dresses into one of a kind creations, and making their dresses fit like gloves. This is something that we adore doing and when we’ve got the time and the opportunity, we just love to get creative.

This is how The Bluebird Collection idea began, we had some dresses that we felt could use a new lease of life. Sometimes they are vintage gowns, sometimes they are just samples in gorgeous fabrics that have gone unappreciated... until now.

The dresses in The Bluebird Collection will be taken apart, and reconstructed creating absolutely one off, up cycled designs, just waiting to be snapped up by one very lucky bride. This is a real chance for us to let our creativity run wild.

It is with this in mind, then, that I am excited to share with you the very beginnings of this project with: The Wiggle Dress.

You see... we have this oh-so-simple fishtail gown... which is lovely, of course, but we felt she had a little more snap crackle and pop hidden within her fibres than she was letting on. So we decided the best thing to do was to chop of her legs (gasp!) and cover her in gorgeous fringing. 

You could say that The Great Gatsby has been somewhat of an influence on us.. (If you hadn’t known that we had this idea months ago, that is!) but the timing is perfect, and we thought you might enjoy reading about the process of this gowns fabulous transformation.

Latest bridal trends Spring/Summer 2013

Without hesitation I would say that lace is still the biggest trend in bridal at the moment, thanks to the Kate Middleton effect!

We have many different shapes and styles of lace dresses in store with beautiful lace detailing on the bodice and some that are solid lace from to top to the hem.  

There are many different types of lace from simple open lace embroidered pattern right through to heavily embellished and corded and re-beaded laces.

We are finding many ladies are coming in requesting lace dresses with lace sleeves or straps, but still finding the vast majority prefer a strapless dress once they have tried both styles on.

In terms of dress shapes we are finding the mermaid shape is still the most requested shape when ladies first come in to try on dresses,  but of course it is not always suitable for those of us who are slightly fuller on the hips (in other words pear shaped), and for these ladies an a-line dress in varying fullness of skirt is a better option as this will make the most of a small waist.

Asymmetrical detailing is still a big feature on a lot of our dresses with crossover bodices, or pleats and tucks which wrap over to one side.  Sparkle is still a feature on a lot of styles, this is predominantly in silver, although we do occasionally find a bride who will prefer gold detailing.
New up coming trends on the horizon for next season will be slinky "Gatsby" type dresses, with fabulous beading effects usually concentrated around the necklines and often these dresses have low cut back or even keyhole back detailing.

Once again this style of dress is not for everyone, its best suited to those who have a more boyish shape due to the way these dresses are cut, often on the bias with no boning or corsetry built-in they offer little or no support.  

The majority of orders we are taking at the moment are still for corset style back fastening, but we predict simpler back detailing such as covered buttons will soon become the more popular choice.

The sweetheart style neckline is still the most popular option, although we are now seeing more and more dresses with a straight across "or bustier" style with a slight dip in the centre.  Ivory is still the most popular choice for bridal gowns, although some are opting for pure whites or off whites, of course this choice is often dictated by the bride-to-be's hair and skin colouring, we find ivory is often the most flattering shade. 

Bridesmaids colours we are finding most popular at the moment are:- Cadburys purple, mauves and lavenders,  hot pinks and coral, cobalt blue, aqua and the ever popular pinks and reds.  

In the Gents Formal Hire we are still hiring mostly Grey Suits in both light and dark grey, but are seeing a return to the traditional and classic look of the black morning suit with pin stripe trousers, but most are opting to leave out the top hats and replacing the cravat with a simple tie or scrunch tie.  

All our staff are experienced in bridal styling and always happy to offer help and advice to help style up your wedding, your way.

Funny Stories - The Lion Lady

I have been working in bridal wear for 22 years now, and over the years have met some real characters.

I often come home from work and have a story to tell my husband and family, and they have been telling me to write them down and share them, so I thought this blog the ideal place to do so. 

My first little shop I opened was at the top of the High Street in Hastings Old Town, and within days of opening I soon realised that this was a melting pot for all the towns eccentric, colourful and artistic characters.

During my first week of opening a steady stream of people popped in to say hello, including an elderly lady with crazy hair and a rather large shopping bag over her arm.  I noticed she seemed to be talking to the shopping bag, and when I asked if I could help her she said " Oh no thank you, I will come back next week " and promptly left.

I remember thinking that was a little odd but thought no more of it.  Sure enough exactly a week later she came back with the same large shopping bag, but this time a noticed a large toy lions head peeping out of the top of the bag.  I said hello and asked her how she was, she replied that she was fine and was there for her 12 O'Clock  appointment with her lion Claude to try on some tiaras.

I thought to myself , oh god not now please I have a bride due in 30 minutes, but thought it best to let her lion try on some and hope that they would soon be done and away.  I obligingly took her over to the glass cabinet where the tiaras were kept, and asked which one the lion would like to try. ‘The big sparkly one’ she said, ‘he loves sparkly things’  so I took out the biggest sparkliest crystal tiara I had and placed it on his head thinking to myself as I did so that’s this  was all rather surreal, and that perhaps one of my practical joke loving friends had put her up to it. However, she seemed quite genuine, if a little bonkers, so we moved off towards the mirror where she placed him on a chair in the fitting room and then spent the next five minutes telling him how fabulous and handsome he looked, and what a very lucky lion he was, and that he was to be a good boy and say thank you to the nice lady for letting him try on the sparkly tiara, which he duly did and I found myself telling him that it was a pleasure and shaking his paw. 

At the time this all seemed pretty normal, although I had the feeling all along that Jeremy Beadle was going to jump out at any moment.  I guess this was my initiation into the crazy,wacky world of bridal wear.  More stories to follow

Looters and Happy Brides

I have loved coming into work every day this past week, as on the door mat each day has been a thank you card from one of our happy brides. I know its old fashioned of me in these days of electronic messaging/emails/texts and all the rest,  but there is nothing quite like opening up an envelope and reading a hand written card from someone expressing their thanks for what you have done for them.  

On Tuesday last week the rumor mill was working overtime, I received a text from a friend at 3pm about suspected riots and looting due to happen in our small town that very evening, at the time I was downstairs working on an alterations and completely oblivious to the impending chaos about the happen outside. 

Looking out of the shop window I could see police walking up and down the road, heavier than usual traffic and lots of people milling around, I suspect doing the same as I was trying to find out what was going on.  

The supermarket at the end of our road was closed early and boarded up the windows which caused panic to spread fast.  At the end of a hot and humid day where we had steamed 5 bridal gowns, 6 bridesmaids dresses and 1 set of menswear ready for wedding that weekend, we then had to decide whether of not to risk leaving them in the shop overnight with the threat of our shop windows being smashed and dresses being taken.

We made a decision, and so my husband came along to the shop, we packed up all the customers dresses and took them home with us! 

This may have been an over-reaction of our part, but can you imagine the scene the following day if the rumours had been true, I would have come in the following morning to a crowd of distraught brides, so happy I am that the dresses were safe at home.

Everyone went down the aisle as planned and all I found on my doormat were thank you cards.

Welcome to Bustles and Bows Bridal Boutique

We are a specialist bridal boutique in the South East of England.

We have been around for quite a long time. Our first store was founded in 1998! Needless to say I've many wonderful tales and memories to share from over the years, and as such I will be posting about all things boutique and weddings related.

Our website featuring all our dress designs can be found HERE

To contact us and book an appointment to try on any of the dresses on the websites call 01424 447314 for our Hastings store, or 01424 848500

for our Little Common store. 

Alternatively you can email us on info@bustlesandbows.co.uk