Vintage Wedding Dresses and Summer Festival Style.

Dear Reader, 
Hooray! The sun is out and summer kicked off with almighty–Glastonbury–bang last weekend. Festival style is everywhere!

Kate Moss, the original Festival babe in vintage-inspired wedding dress

The 1970s–inspired festival look always work so beautifully in summer, doesn't it. Even the smartest of city girls are currently skipping through our hot London streets in flowy dresses, loose tresses and pretty sandals. 

Farrah Fawcett marries Lee Majors, 1973

With their flowing lines and delicate trims, vintage wedding dresses always suit this free-spirited Festival styling. Today, I thought I'd pick out some pretty examples of 1970s-style brides – and some fabulous free-flowing hairstyles – to inspire any Summer brides…

Actress and model Marisa Berenson, 1976 

Gisele Bundchen and Tom Brady, 2009

1970s style icons Yoko Ono and John Lennon

Mick and Bianca Jagger's St Tropez Wedding, 1971

Poppy Delevigne's Marrakesh Wedding, 2014

Jane Birkin, inspiration for free-spirited 1970s girls everywhere!

I hope I've inspired you to slip on your finest silk dress today, to waft around in this glorious sunshine – or simply to lie on your sofa and imagine you are in Marrakesh!

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you like this post, please try…

Hairstyling to suit 1970s vintage wedding dresses

All photos with thanks to Vogue.com

A Gypsy Vintage Wedding, Part 2.

Dear Reader,
Today I have more delicious Gypsy Wedding images, from the photo-shoot using my original vintage dresses...

After some research, the stylist / photographer team behind the shoot knew they needed an original Romany Gypsy wagon. It took some time to find the perfect one...

And luckily for them, they also found Walter - one of the most revered Gypsy Wagon Restorers. As well as loaning them this stunning black-and-gold caravan, Walter and his family guided them through all the details for the day. In Christian and Erica's words...

"Walter took us though to his barn, and it was an exciting moment to come face to face with what would become the centrepiece of our shoot - a gorgeous, original ‘Doors & Windows’ Romany caravan, hand-carved and covered in gold leaf.

We also took the opportunity to talk to Walter and his wife Mary about traditional gypsy weddings, and within minutes they’d found a fascinating old leather-bound album full of black and white family photos from gypsy weddings. And so we began to form a picture of what a REAL gypsy wedding would’ve looked like."

The results are lovely. So soft and romantic... 

Thanks for stopping by,

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you like this post, please try
My Gypsy Style Vintage Wedding Dress of the Week


With thanks to:
Authentic gypsy wagon – adzlee@btinternet.com
Vintage Headpieces – Flo and Percy
Crockery – Felicity’s Vintage Tea Party
Blooms – The Blossom Tree
Make-up Artist – Gemma Lees
Hair Stylist - Emma Buck
Boutonnieres – D C Bouquets
Cakes – Rachel Edwards
Vintage Suitcases – Fountain Pen Emporium
Groom’s Vintage Suits - Vintage Whistles
Wedding Favours – Vintage Twee
Models – Cirila Zorenc and Charles Durnian at Model Mayhem
Photography and Styling –  Christian Ward Photography

1970s tiered lace wedding dress: Gypsy-style Dress of the Week

Dear Reader, 

Hot on the heels of those pretty gypsy images, this beautiful original 1970s wedding dress has to be our Vintage Wedding Dress of the Week...

Romantic 1970s lace wedding dress, £695 including full-length slip

This is such a romantic look, and a really rare find. With its complexion-flattering cream lace, and off-the-shoulder styling with delicate ribbon straps, it perfectly suits a boho vintage-gypsy-style wedding.

On- or off-the-shoulder? Both look stunning. 1970s wedding dress £695

It would look wonderful with a waist-enhancing sash trimmed in flowers. And as you can see above, it's equally fabulous worn on the shoulder for a bride who prefers a little more coverage. I'd love to see this dress accessorised with a flower crown, or perhaps with tumbling romantic tresses...

This gorgeous dress is available now, priced £695 including full-length slip.

See you next week, with some more lovely vintage gypsy ideas...

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

If you like this post, please try:

Bridal Hair for 1970s dresses

Vintage Wedding Dresses at the V&A

Dear Reader

I was delighted to be invited to a preview of the V&A's vintage wedding dresses exhibition at the weekend. It's a great day out with eighty spectacular dresses and some lovely stories about the brides.

Kate Moss in fabulous vintage-inspired dress, and designer John Galliano

The show starts with some amazing examples of 18th and 19th Century wedding dresses, including many Victorian dresses - all works of tremendous skill and opulence. 

1885 wedding dress by Gladman & Womack

Satin court dress, 1775-80

I enjoyed seeing these older dresses from the V&A's own collection. But I did feel there were a few too many, compared to the 20th Century dresses. While these earlier dresses are interesting, they're not so relevant for a modern bride considering a vintage dress - being neither wearable or flattering!

Dress of Cara Leland Huttleston Rogers, 1890. However did she breathe!

The show then romps through the 20th Century at a very fast pace. It begins with 1920s dresses and has a few examples which are much softer and prettier. I particularly liked one lovely example, which reminded me of a very similar Edwardian lace blouse I sold last year.

Norman Hartnell wedding dress for Margaret Wigham, 1933
Its 3.6m train famously stopped traffic on the day!

I was disappointed to see only two 1930s satin dresses, and no 1930s lace gowns which are famously wonderful. And I could only see a few 1940s and 1950s wedding dresses. Since this is considered a golden period for wedding dress design, I felt the show didn't really do justice to it. Most of the gowns in the show are British and I imagine few girls could afford a wonderful dress at that time, but there must have been some society weddings with beautiful dresses?

Charles James dress for Barbara Beaton, 1934
Barbara was the sister of Cecil Beaton

Dress and hat by Geoffrey Beene, 1970s

Upstairs, the show features late-20th Century dresses, including some very well-known contemporary dresses, Some fabulous, some less so!

Gwen Stefani's dress by John Galliano, 2002

Gwen Stefani's wedding to Gavin Rossdale, 2002

Dress by Gareth Pugh for Katie Shillingford, 2011
Veil by Stephen Jones

Bruce Oldfield wedding dress for model Lisa Butcher, 1992

Lisa Butcher marries chef Marco Pierre White, 1992

But I was most pleased to see Kate Moss’s vintage-inspired wedding dress close up as it is far more lovely than the newspapers photos could show. It's worth going just to see how the gold sequins have been applied to the train!

Dress by John Galliano for Kate Moss' wedding to Jamie Hince, 2011

Hand-embroidered sequins and pearls for Kate Moss's fabulous dress

Each dress in the show has its own story, illustrated with newspaper articles etc. I can see that's very important from the V&A's historical point of view, so I'm sure it would influence the curator's choices. But I would have liked to see some dresses chosen purely for their design qualities - their sheer beauty and ability to flatter - rather than for their provenance.

'Bird of Paradise' wedding dress by Vivienne Westwood for Dita Von Teese
Grosgrain, velvet and mink tricorn hat by Stephen Jones, 2005

After the wedding dresses, I dropped in to see the Italian Fashion exhibition - which I loved. One thing I noticed was the great number of talented women designers from the 1940s and 1950s producing wonderfully glamorous dresses. But they seemed to disappear towards the latter end of the century - when the boys took over again after the War!

Wedding Dresses 1775-2014 runs at the V&A until 15th March 2015. The Glamour of Italian Fashion runs until 27th July 2014. Do go to both exhibitions. There are some things of real beauty to be seen in each.

Love

Helena

Heavenly Vintage Brides

Photographs c. Victoria & Albert Museum

HAIRSTYLES for VINTAGE WEDDING DRESSES, Part 3: 1970s, and short hair.

Dear Reader

In the last of three posts about hairstyles to suit vintage wedding dresses, I'd like to finish with 1970s-inspired styles, and some gorgeous looks for short hair.

1970s 

For me, Farrah Fawcett typifies the 1970s look, with her tumbling sexy curls. But a literal interpretation is not what this is about, and I think the more relaxed dresses of the 1970s look great with softer styles in general. Plaits and braids are everywhere on the catwalk at the moment, and really work with this look. 

So to complement a 70s vintage wedding wedding dress, I'd recommend a combination of different sizes of plaits combined. And adding fresh flowers is very hard to beat for a boho 70s vibe!

Lots of lovely inspiration for these loose sexy styles below...

SHORT HAIR

In a complete contrast to the length of 1970s boho styles, short hair can be super-stylish too - and can work with vintage wedding dresses from any decade. 

Think of Anne Hathaway channelling Audrey Hepburn, for inspiration...!

Brazilian-American actress Morena Baccarin always knows how to wear her gorgeous short hair, dressing it up with waves. Here she wears it softer in the first images, then more retro and longer in the second. Both looks are very glamorous and would work beautifully with many different vintage wedding dresses. 

To end my post, one lady who really knows how to make an impact with short hair is Lupita Nyongo. These three red-carpet looks are all very different and each is quite vintage in feel. 

Thanks for stopping by to look at these lovely styles - I hope you've found some inspiration! I'll be back later this week with a post on gorgeous real vintage bride Molly.

Love

Helena
Heavenly Vintage Brides