Rank Bloog

FOREVER PLAID

All month I've been reminding you winter is coming. Eureka! I've finally found a designer who has actually worked wool tartans into bridal wear with some real edge. For years I've been in awe of Scotsmen in kilts and the flair they have at using plaids to go formal. Until Joyce Young, the typical evening garb for a lady accompanying her tartan-clad Scot was a tartan skirt and lace blouse with corresponding tartan shawl or wrap tied over the shoulder. Not a bad look but hardly the grand entrance makers below. Will you get a load of these gowns? Tartan godets. Tartan trains and insets. Joyce is an incredible designer who pairs up these wools with the richness of shantung and taffeta. Her shops are in Glasgow, Gretna Green and London and now she's online with her own TV spots. 'Touch of Tartan' is only one collection she offers as she has a whole range of traditional as well as destination gowns to choose from. In her own words-- "A Tartan themed wedding is spectacular. Scots girls worldwide can get married making a real statement with a wedding dress which teams up with the groom's kilt from the Touch of Tartan Collection. Add in coordinating bridesmaids and mothers and the complete wedding party will be totally and uniquely Scottish. Actually you don’t even have to be Scottish – it’s a great look and most people can find a Scottish connection somewhere in their family tree – or just make one up !!Visit “Touch of Tartan” on www.bystorm.co.uk to see our couture dresses for weddings, evenings,mothers of the bride and all special occasions. Each outfit is individually made-to-measure from a wide choice of tartans. --"

Joyce Young Collections

Tartan Spirit Couture

Modern Classics

Weddings Abroad

HOW TO KNOW WHEN YOU'RE AN OUTSIDE THE BOX BRIDE?

click photos to enlarge
photo Elevenorchids
Gown by Amy-Jo Tatum

*You wear a gown in red with three tiers of ruffles and a matching lace veil. You carry a fan instead of flowers and marry on a hillside overlooking miles of vineyards.

*You wear an ankle-length ballet dress with a wreath of flowers around your head. You marry in the forest while a flutist plays, Afternoon of a Fawn.

RS Couture

You wear a long bouffant lace gown with fresh flowers in your hair instead of a veil. You’ve driven up the coast to a B&B just to get married in the garden there.*

*You wear an ivory crocheted lace mini dress and very long antique lace veil. Your wedding is in a country chapel and you carry your grandmother’s Bible instead of flowers.

*You wear a vintage gown from the 1930s with white gloves and a cocktail hat. The ceremony and reception are in an art gallery doing a David Hockney retrospective.

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*Your gown is pink satin. You elope.

*You wear a double-breasted white suit with a wide brimmed felt hat and carry a single red rose. After you and your groom leave city hall you celebrate with four friends at a local restaurant.

*You wear an antique lace tea gown with a mantilla and carry three roses you picked out of your friend’s garden. And your friend’s hosting your wedding with high tea and sandwiches served on sterling silver and Haviland china.

*You wear a street-length A-line dress in all over Chantilly lace with a bird-cage veil. You and your groom board the ferry and after it takes off you have your nuptials on board. Your reception is on the other side of the bay once you dock.

*You wear an ivory suede sheath under a black leather jacket. Your veil is a long scarf. After tying the knot in a city park, you and your groom take off on his Harley. You don’t know where you’re going for your honeymoon yet.

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RETRO REPRO

A couple weeks back we explored going with real deal vintage on your wedding day. If you love the silhouettes of yesteryear consider retro reproduction versus the time involved in hunting down an actual vintage dress in your size. Defined, vintage fashion is anything over 20-25 years-old. While using a pattern and recreating a vintage look isn't wearing an actual gown that has survived the ages, you will be replicating as close a look as you can get. And because women back in your grandma's day dressed up and much of what they wore was sewn, golden oldies like these are still available through companies like So Vintage , a treasure trove of 20th century patterns--most spanning the post war boom of weddings, babies and a fully stocked sewing room. For me these have been the muses and backbone of all my collections. Yes, the patterns are one-of-a-kind which means one size only but they have an online resource with instructions on how to size a pattern up or down (convenient for your designer or dressmaker).

Going for a custom made dress is the equivalent of getting the silhouette, fabric and fit you want all at once. And you're not confined to using only wedding dress patterns. Try whatever pattern suits you in the particular fabric you want. Plus, there are plenty of resources for vintage patterns online. If you do decide to have your dress made have your designer or dressmaker construct a muslin first. That's a cloth pattern of the actual wedding dress where all the fine tuning and fitting is done before ever cutting into the actual fabric. That way once you do take the actual cut, all the bugs have been worked out three dimensionally and there are no big surprises.

Patterns available through So Vintage Bridal and So Vintage Gowns

NEW LOOKS FROM SPOSE DI GIO

di Gio has to be one of my favorite designer lines after the big three: Dior, Chanel and Valentino. I fell in love with di Gio back in the 1990s when I bought my first Vogue Sposa Magazine. Clients who read Sposa and happened upon this clean-lined collection, often wanted to incorporate some element from a di Gio gown into their own design. Today I still give the Sposa di Gio line A+ for purity of line and fabrication. Founded in 1975 by the di Capitani sisters of Italy, their look has always been consistent, contemporary and realistic for today’s bride. You'll usually find one exquisite detail on every piece . . . enough to accentuate but never overpower the wearer. They are truly a great inspiration to the world of bridal fashion . . .

For a more comprehensive look at di Gio's collection, check out their website. If you're a bride living in the US you can find out more about Le Sposa di Gio through Joan Gilbert Bride in San Francisco.

Photos courtesy of Vogue Italy

INSPIRATION SUNDAY

Celadon organza twist-front gown with blush hand-cut rosette hem, jeweled star corsage and lavender grosgrain ribbon sash, price upon request, by Vera Wang, verawangonweddings.com.

Blue ombre crocodile trapezoid clutch, $1,300, by Nancy Gonzalez, saksfifthavenue.com.

Blue Baubles
Gold and lapis bead necklaces, $4,500 and $6,500, both by Katy Briscoe, 713-662-9886.

Posh Plumage
Beaded peacock feather in champagne, $13, from Jim Marvin, 337-258-5252.

DOES ANYONE REMEMBER THIS FRAGRANCE?

Elizabeth Arden
I can't think of a better fragrance for a bride on her wedding day. Light and fresh, Blue Grass has been around since 1936 and is fused with notes of lavender, clove, orange blossom and nutmeg. However, you won't find it atop the Elizabeth Arden counter. Arden has brought out too many edgy fragrances with higher price tags, so this stock is kept under the counter and asked for mostly by women of the World War II Generation. Blue Grass was launched in 1936 by Elizabeth Arden, her advisors skeptic the equestrian name hinting at her passion for breeding racehorses sounded a little too, Old Kentucky Home to work wiith the new fragrance. Fortunately, Blue Grass was a success for Arden, lifting her out of financial crisis as she went on to reign supreme with it in the fragrance market for the next twenty five years. So loved in our household when I was growing up, we all referred to this beautiful concoction as, 'Horse Perfume'. It remains my favorite of all time and I crave Blue Grass like I sometimes crave chocolate or certain foods. For me it's right up there with examining and touching a genuine Dior original or reading Steinbeck.