Wedding Dress Trends 2016: The Gospel According to Vogue.

Dear Reader,

This week Vogue Magazine published their guide to bridal trends for 2016 – based on the latest couture collections. 

Wedding dresses by Monique Lhuillier, Oscar de la Renta, Marchesa

I'm not sure my clients would agree with all of them – and I'm not giving away my own predictions yet! As always, I'll make mine at the end of this year, based on what my brides are loving and asking for. But it's fun to see these from Vogue, and to give you my take on them…

Wedding Dress Trend 1 – Sweet Nothings
The first trend Vogue noted is for barely there dresses, almost lingerie. This is a very couture look – much easier to carry off on a catwalk than in an English church or a garden reception. Super pretty, though. And very reminiscent of all those slinky 1930s and sultry 1940s dresses…

1930s inspired Butterfly wedding dress from my Heavenly Collection

Original 1940s lace wedding dress from my West London vintage studio.

Wedding Dress Trend 2 – Sparkles
Always in fashion, and rightly so. A generous sprinkling of sparkle appeared on the catwalks for next year, particularly from Badgley Mischka, Carolina Herrera and Marchesa. A little sparkle has always been one of the delights of vintage wedding dresses, of course. With many of the dresses in my Heavenly Collection, you can choose to add just a little bling… or a lot!

My 1940s style wedding dress, Bette, with its sparkly trim.

Pretty bling: Florence, 1940s style dress from my Heavenly Collection.

Wedding Dress Trend 3 – Knee Length
Shorter dresses made a welcome appearance on the bridal catwalks. But to see this trend at its best, simply look to the 1950s for the most fabulous tea–length wedding dresses…

'Blanche', 1950s style wedding dress, from my Heavenly Collection

Original 1950s 'cupcake' wedding dress from my West London vintage studio.

Wedding Dress Trend 4 – Bare Shoulders
Always popular with so many brides. Yet vintage dresses often take a subtler approach. Think of pretty keyhole openings, lace shoulders or tiny petal sleeves. Every bit as sexy, but a lot more subtle.

Angel, 1930s inspired lace wedding dress: vintage is more subtly sexy.

Original 1950s wedding dress from my West London vintage studio.

1970s off–the–shoulder wedding dress, from my West London vintage studio.

Wedding Dress Trend 5 – Separate Overskirts
A full-length transparent overskirt, cut to reveal a shorter one underneath...? Oh so fashiony! Very modern, a little bit mad, and quite fun – but not exactly a classic look. What do you think?

Wedding Dress with Overskirt, by the usually classic designer Vera Wang!

Wedding Dress Trend 6 – Cream
Ahhhh, beautiful. Now here's one I really can enthuse about – drawing as it does from the softness and romance of vintage wedding fashion. White is lovely too, of course. But cream, blush and ivory are so much more flattering to all skin tones. Often my clients come to me expecting to choose a white wedding dress, but once tried they fall in love with these lovely muted tones. That's why I offer my Heavenly Collection dresses in a range of pretty and flattering shades.

Full length lace wedding dress in cream by Oscar de la Renta

Butterfly, from my Heavenly Collection in a soft ivory.

Florence: a lace wedding dress with toning underslip (Heavenly Collection)

Well done, Vogue – fun predictions and a good showing for vintage styles. What did you think of them? Later this year, you can see how my own predictions match up!
Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

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Friday Inspiration – Vogue Weddings Book: Brides, Dresses, Designers.

Dear Reader,
Today's inspiration is the spectacular Vogue Weddings Book...

Exactly as you'd hope from Vogue, it's a gorgeous glossy collection of over 400 iconic wedding photographs that have appeared in the magazine over the past 120 years. Pictures so beautiful speak for themselves…

But if you'd like to see more about Vogue's sumptuous book, just click here… And keep watching, I'll be featuring more of these fabulous images very soon.
Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

All photographs with thanks to Vogue.

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The perfect veil for 1950s wedding dresses.

Dear Reader,
Today I'd like to show you the second in my new range of heavenly vintage veils, together with some of the inspiration behind it...

This beautiful mid-length veil is made of a fine and delicate tulle, and embellished with pretty embroidered edging and detailing. It looks wonderful with all 1950s wedding dresses…

Though deceptively simple and pretty, it's constructed with two tiers. So it can be worn over the face, to make a dramatic entrance – and swept back for that fabulously romantic You-may-now-kiss-the-bride moment.

Here's some of the glamorous 1950s inspiration behind this classic style…

Brigitte Bardot, 1956

Princess Grace of Monaco, 1955

Bride Magazine 1958

1950s Vogue bridal shoot

Brides Magazine, 1955

Elizabeth Taylor and Nicky Hilton, 1950

The mid-length vintage-style veil – fit for a Princess!

Held in place with a simple comb, the veil can be made to any length to make it perfect for your own choice of vintage wedding dress. And the detailing can be adapted to complement your dress too, with a choice of pearls or crystals scattered throughout.

This beautiful veil is priced from £95 to £175 depending on your choice of length and detail. Do contact me to make an appointment to come and see me soon!
Love
Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you like this post, please try
My New Range of Vintage Style Veils – the Birdcage Veil

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Divine inspiration: the Italian nun making wedding dreams comes true.

Dear Reader,
I first saw this uplifting story in the New York Times a little while ago. Do read on, I think you'll be charmed...

High in the hills of Umbria sits a beautiful medieval monastery, St Rita's. It's named after the patron saint of weddings and for 600 years it has been a place of pilgrimage for Italian women, praying to the saint to protect their marriage. And often leaving their wedding dress as a gift of thanks...

And it is here that the wonderful Sister Maria Laura has a completely unique atelier - providing disadvantaged brides-to-be with the dress of their dreams, all completely free. 

Before taking her vows twenty years ago at the age of 28, Sister Maria was a seamstress and designer. Now she applies her skills to re-fitting and re-styling dresses for any bride who could not otherwise afford one!

In return, the brides often make a donation, or simply return their dress after the wedding so that someone else can enjoy it. Sister Maria never leaves the convent, and now has so many brides visiting that this has become a full-time occupation. In her own words...

"It gives me great joy to see a young woman who can fulfil her dream of love with a dress appropriate for the happiest day of her life."

 

What a darling! Sister Maria, we salute you.

Enjoy your weekends, Heavenly friends, and see you again next week.

Love
Helena 
Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you liked this story, try more Inspire Me features


If you'd like to read more about Sister Maria, 
there is also a feature in Stella Magazine.
Photos c. Nadia Shira Cohen

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Real Bride Sophie shines in a 1950s-style wedding dress, 'CHANTILLY'

Dear Reader,

Remember I promised to share more pictures of Heavenly bride Sophie, and her wedding to Jeremy...?

For her city wedding in Ealing, Sophie looked fabulous in 'Chantilly' - a 1950s inspired lace wedding dress from my Heavenly Collection. She teamed the dress so prettily with silver Jimmy Choo 'Luna' peep toe pumps, a sweet veil and gorgeous bright Spring flowers.

Husband-to-be Jeremy looked dashing too, in a blue Reiss suit, Thomas Pink dress shirt and Alexander McQueen tie and cufflinks...

And their whole happy day was filled with wonderful personal details, from the 'Molly Bakes' cake-pops to the London Bus tour!

"Many of our guests travelled to London for our wedding from all over the world, so we hired a routemaster to take them on a tour of London before arriving at our reception at The Amadeus in Maida Vale."

 

Thanks so much to Sophie for sharing for her super-stylish day with us (and for her kind words!) If you've enjoyed this post, check out the nice feature in Brides Magazine, here.

"I just wanted to share some pics from Saturday - I felt wonderful in my dress and received so many compliments, so thank you for all your help and support in making my dream dress!"

See you all later this week, for another inspiring Real Vintage Bride!

Love

Helena 

Heavenly Vintage Brides

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