Vintage Style Wedding Dress with Art Deco Embellishment

I must admit that I’ve waited most of my life for the twenties so that I can relive the fashion. So imagine my delight to find another bride with the same desire to create a bespoke wedding dress with vintage styling.

The custom dress, in essence appears simple, but look a little closer for the details to find what makes this wedding dress extra special. The sand washed silk with is subtle glow, and contrasting panels of silk crepe and French silk chiffon.

The ceremony look is finished with a hand embroidered, lace edged bespoke veil.

The beautifully named “leg o mutton” sleeve - or perhaps the French “gigot’ sleeve sounds more debonaire. This version is very slim for the style, but it has a gather on top of the shoulder, tulle puff inside, and the sleeve making a line from the shoulder to the elbow where the sleeve becomes fitted to the wrist. It’s reminiscent of 1930’s sleeves designed championed by Elsa Schiaparelli. The cuffs are finished with tiny, hand made fabric covered buttons.

The skirts are full and flowing circular pieces creating lots of flowing ripples, with silk chiffon godet inserts at the sides for an ethereal element. The centre front is split for a modern twist.

The front bodice was made in two-ish parts, The bast in sand washed silk satin, gathered under the bust, and the mid sector a diamond shaped bias panel in silk crepe, carefully proportioned and shaped to perfectly suit Emma’s figure.

The neckline of the dress is a plunging v-neck front and back, which can often cause the sleeves to fall off the shoulder, so we incorporated a vintage marcasite necklace with filagree chain links, crystal centre stone and two tear drop pearls. Which was quite difficult for me to part with.

The embellished detail around the waist line was truly me in my element. I found lots of vintage Art Deco brooches, dress clips and necklaces to choose from which had filigree chain links, marcasite settings, and strong Art Deco styling. Because we wanted the embroidered pieces to blend together (rather than being a scrapbook of different elements), the necklace chain links were broken up and spread along the waist line, along with pearls and vintage glass beads to blend all the elements together.

All images by Wedding Photographer Emmy Shoots