Delivering stunning collections year after year, Essense of Australia is loved for its creativity and forward-thinking approach. Bridal Buyer had the pleasure of interviewing Martine Harris, Co-Owner and Creative Chief Officer...

Tell us about your passion for the bridal industry - where did it all start?

I was always interested in fashion, and I studied fashion. Then I started working in a bridal store and I fell in love. I love interacting with brides and being part of that really special moment as a bride is choosing that dress, the family dynamics, the friends.

How have weddings changed since you started out?

Weddings have continued to modernise. And, whilst they are not the same as they used to be, women have really continued to grow and express who they are through their wedding. They love showing off their personalities and sharing their love story. 

In terms of how they dress, it’s not just about what their grandma or mum wants. It’s about, ’how do I want to see myself’ and creating the best version of themselves as they walk down the aisle. I’ve loved seeing the industry evolve.

How important is it for a company like yourselves to have options to suit different women?

For us, its always been about being connected to the market. I still go out and do trunk shows. I love being in store. I love being with brides - I don’t have as much time to do that as often as I’d like. But it has always been important for our core company leaders to really understand the bride. We make sure they don’t get stuck in an office and lose touch with what’s happening in the market.

To evolve, we have added and grown our label portfolio. Essense is still a wildly successful label, but we were able to see opportunities for brides who are looking for something else. Affordability was one - to be affordable back in the day, it was something nobody wanted to talk about because they didn’t want it to be referred to as cheap. So we started thinking, well, what if we could make a brand that was really cool and had personality - not cheap, just affordable. That’s how Stella York was born.

Similarly with Martina Liana, there was a real gap. We could see high-end brands and then mid-brands. We spent a lot of time in Asia - I used to go every month. We were training staff there and they’re incredible craftspeople. We knew we could offer a more affordable couture brand, with locally-produced silk. People said it couldn’t be done in Asia. We felt like our staff could and they could do it extremely well - so Martina Liana was born of a need for affordable couture.

What other additions to the collections have evolved along the way?

We have an EveryBody, EveryBride programme. We started looking for better solutions for plus-size girls. We did a lot of research around that, and introduced EveryBody, EveryBride into our Stella York and Essense lines - really extending our size range and starting to advertise more often to plus-size brides. There was no plus-size representation anywhere, and we really wanted to makes changes to this.

Discover more on how Martine connects with her retailers, and how she prepares her team for a big buying event like Harrogate, in the latest issue of Bridal Buyer.

READ ISSUE 4 HERE

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