Azzedine Alaia RIP you great talented designer and man

So truly sad to hear of the passing of Azzdine Alaia.

It is one of the designers I have followed as long as I can remember and always had great admiration for.

He was born in Tunisia in 1940 and started his career path very early on (actually by lying about his age) as a sculptor, and he worked as an assistant for a dressmaker to pay his school fees. 

He worked for all the big fashion houses, Christian Dior (only briefly), Guy Laroche and Thierry Mugler, til 1980 where he set up is own fashion brand. 

For his own brand he dressed so many from that time, he dressed Grace Jones in the iconic bond film A View to a Kill.

He dressed Marie-Helene de Rothschild to Louise de Vilmorin, dressed and even became close friends with Greta Garbo, imagine that!

Later on, he dressed, Tina Turner, Brigitte Nielsen, Naomi Campbell, Janet Jackson, Madonna, Shakira and Michelle Obama was a regular client while she was the first lady. 

In 2000 he joined the partnership with the group which owns Prada.

Personally, I also have a lot of admiration for Alaia, it's well known that there is little money in couture and pret-a-porter, and these brands show their clothes as a marketing ploy to sell perfume and handbags, Alaia never wanted to go into all this, and for that too I have great admiration.

 Image by Alaia.frImages from: Alaia.fr

Lyn's beautiful wedding in Gardone Riviera Italy

Lyn and Walter had planned an amazing wedding ceremony and holiday with only the closest friends and family. It was a top secret and so exciting to be part of.

Lyn was keen to get something light and airy as the wedding was at the height of Italian summer.

She decided to go for a champagne coloured silk satin and a beaded champagne lace with sequins and pearls, she had a light silk chiffon overlay to her slip dress.

Lyn's Daughter walked her down the aisle and they had a wonderful day and an amazing holiday, I am so grateful to be involved in this day and to be allowed to share the photographs from their big day with you.

Head dress from Rene Walrus

Beautiful wedding in The Old Town and Dynamic Earth

We were delighted to make Charlotte's bespoke wedding dress.

We designed her a dress with a soft fish tail, in a duchesse satin with a soft polka dot mesh overlay. She had a chantilly lace jacket with a beaded scallop edges on sleeve and bodice hems.

The really pale ivory colour and the softness, really worked well with Charlotte's beautiful colouring and sharp glossy hairstyle.

Charlotte was such fun to work with. After the wedding Charlotte said: "Words cannot express how grateful I am for the work of you and your team. All our guests were in awe of the beautiful dress you created, and I enjoyed every moment I got to wear it. You have such a special gift!"

The wedding was in St Patrick's Church and then a reception in Dynamic Earth.

The groom carefully chose kilt and the rest of his outfit with 21st Century Kilts.

Many thanks to Brankin and Black for kindly letting us share their lovely photographs from the day with you.

Summer Wedding at Dalmahoy

Sarah came in to see me after having tried a lot of dresses on. She had ideas of what she wanted to wear but had not been able to find it in the shops.

We looked at different shapes and fabrics, and Sarah chose a lovely zibeline skirt and a beaded Chantilly lace bodice with a crystal embellishment on the front on the belt.

It as an absolute pleasure working with Sarah and dress her.

Flowers by Fiona Halliburton did the lovely flowers, and Sarah was so lucky that her sister did a stunning job with hair and makeup.

Sarah had chosen the beautiful Dalmahoy for her wedding and family friends called Shaun and John Cumming trading under the name Roamin Scot took the photographs and kindly let us share them with you.

Sarah was so lucky that her talented sister was able to do both hair and make up for her wedding so nicely.

I have so much admiration for Sarah for not only doing a full-time job, and organising a wedding but she and her fiance was bought a house and did it up in their spare time too, and it was amazing to get updates when I saw Sarah, all the best wishes to you for the future.

Summer Wedding in The Old Town of Edinburgh

Caroline had us recommended by one of our lovely customers we have been working with for years. It was such a pleasure meeting with her and hear her ideas for her wedding. She wanted something quite informal.

We did a bit of playing around with different cuts and styles, and she settled for a dress with a panelled skirt in silk dupion with silk organza overlay. She then had a boned bodice with Guipure lace overlay. The dress had internal corset and buttons and loops at the back and beautifully finished with lined all over in a Satin lining.

We were subsequently asked to make Caroline's mums outfit for the wedding, and we love how that turned out too. She went for a printed cotton dress, and a silk dupion Fuchsia pink coat. It was very striking and I love how that too turned out.

Caroline had chosen some amazing suppliers, she is a member of the Canongate Kirk, I just love the light in that place. They had then booked the Timberyard for the reception.

It was a pleasure that Chris and Gill from The Curries, were booked to shoot the wedding. It has been years since we had a wedding together, so it was a pleasure and they kindly allowed us to share their work.

Caroline said after her wedding: "I was really worried about my dress, not knowing what I wanted and feeling a bit overwhelmed by the options, but Mette talked me through some ideas, really listened to what I was after and picked up on the style and feel of our wedding to produce something that worked perfectly for the day"

Zest for Wedding

For years I have watched Louise's beauty business Zest Skin Spa grow and develop, I have always admired her skills for having a business head and being a lovely person, both at the same time. So I was over the moon when she asked us to make her wedding dress for her.

She had the shoes before the dress, an absolutely super lovely gift from the groom, and we made the dress to match these dream Valentino shoes.

Louise had ideas of the cut of the dress. She chose a beautiful sand washed silk crepe which and a soft silk satin for accent texture.

We cut her dress as a full circle and a deep V-neck.  We had a zip made to run down the back of her dress, with the tape in the colour of the amazing Valentino shoes and the zip had gold teeth to match.

The wedding was a very sophisticated New York elopement.

I think Louise makes an absolutely stunning bride and I love how the soft silk hangs so nicely on her.

Thank you so much for, Everly Studios for letting us use the images.

Lovely Family Wedding at Royal College of Physicians

Beautiful fun, informal wedding at the atmospheric Physicians Hall.

It was such a pleasure making Rimma's dress. The couple already had been together for years and have 2 lovely kids, so decided to spring the wedding surprise on friends and family.

The groom was an important part of the design process, which was a lovely change for how we usually work.
The wedding dress was made in a lovely guipure lace and a mikado skirt.

We love the final look of the wedding and the very lovely photographs from Geebz photography, thank you so much for sharing.