On 5th November we are hosting an Eliza Jane Howell event and I have to say it’s one of my favourite trunk shows of the Cicily Bridal calendar. I have a very special place in my heart for these beaded bias-cut wedding dresses because they remind me so much of what I chose to wear on my wedding day.
My wedding dress was a bias-cut dream of a gown. Thin spaghetti straps, plunging V- front and even lower V-back. Delicate beading draping flatteringly around my curves and falling into the most exquisite godets! To say I loved my wedding dress is an understatement!
It is a million miles away from what I expected to wear, however. I am not a glamorous dresser, normally avoiding anything overtly sparkly or figure hugging. My dress size has never fallen below a healthy size 12 or 14 so I never imagined myself wearing a dress with an unstructured silhouette, one that would show all my curves like a second skin! So how my wedding dress made me feel was unexpected and genuinely surprising. Glamorous, comfortable, confident, sophisticated, taller, slimmer and, dare I say it, a little bit sexy!
(Actual picture of me from my wedding 10 years ago so apologies for the quality and I can’t actually believe I have put a photo of myself above Julianne Moore, Emily Blunt and Kate Hudson, oh not forgetting Kate Moss!! And yes, my husband is wearing an ivory suit!)
And this is the wonder of the bias-cut or “coup en bias” and I have the Parisian couturier Madeleine Vionnet to thank for inventing this particular technique of making clothes. Called the “Queen of the bias cut” and “the architect among dressmakers”, her influences are still current today from high fashion cat walks, to red carpets, to our bridal boutique rails.
The Bias-Cut Dress
We’ve all heard the term bias-cut but what exactly does it mean?
It simply means that the fabric is cut on a 45-degree angle rather than along the straight grain lines. This allows the fabric to have stretch and a beautifully draping nature.
Madeleine Vionnet perfected her bias-cut technique in the 1920s as the demand from women for more freedom from their clothing was high. It was the era of jazz and the charleston, women were having more freedom in their lifestyles so their fashion choices were changing, not only requiring comfortable and less restrictive clothes but also becoming more expressive. Madeleine liberated their bodies from corsets, making women’s personalities, and their wellbeing the centre of her fashion creations.
(Madeleine Vionnet creation)
Her totally innovative approach, her sartorial skills and the perfect balance between experimentation and elegance meant that her dresses took on the personality of the woman wearing them. She said, “when a woman smiles, then her dress should smile too”.
By the 1930s Hollywood had fully embraced this look and when we think of that golden era of fashion images of Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo and Carole Lombard come to mind, the embodiment of class, glamour and sophistication. Although my wedding was 10 years ago and this decadent fashion was born nearly a century ago, the bias-cut wedding dress is a classic style that will never date!
(Cicily Bridal Real Brides wearing Eliza Jane Howell)
(Cicily Bridal Real Brides wearing Eliza Jane Howell)
Eliza Jane Howell 2017 Wedding Dress Collection – Stardust
It is this golden era of fashion that truly inspires Gill Harvey, the designer behind the Eliza Jane Howell collection. The glamour of the 1920’s and 1930’s and the bias-cut fashion technique are synonymous with the Eliza Jane Howell wedding dress collections, oozing luxury and feminine sophistication.
I absolutely love the new 2017 Stardust Collection because not only does it echo the sartorial past of this fashion but also steps forward into our wedding dress future with amazing contemporary geometric beadwork, choker necklines and stunning open backs.
I’ll be counting down until Saturday, 5th November as I excitedly anticipate the constellation of dresses that will be arriving for the Eliza Jane Howell trunk show. All the information you need about the event can be found here.