Isn’t it high time we ditch the phrase “we really should be more sustainable”?

This Springtime, I say we shrug off some of the guilt and the greenwashing, along with our woolly jumpers, and recognise the potential already sitting on our rails.

I went to Bridal Week London this year in search of designers who were trying to make our lives easier in this regard and found plenty. I saw collections made from lower impact fabrics, along with tree-planting initiatives and collaborations with fashion colleges to repurpose old dress samples. (eg. Shikoba Bride, Justin Alexander & Maggie Sottero)

Charlie Brear took an approach we can all relate to with her versatile new collection, THEWN. She drew on her celebrity styling background in our interview, sharing some excellent advice for every bride trying on dresses.

Her tips demonstrated easy-to-have useful conversations we can all have with every bride-to-be about the natural lifecycle a wedding dress already has. Keep it to pass it on to your daughter, sell it on to get it back into circulation, or wear it again. The circular story is already there. It just needs telling on the shop floor during the sales process to sow the seed in the mind of the bride-to-be.

What I found most compelling was Charlie’s argument that re-wearability isn’t just about dyeing or cutting - it’s about styling. As a former MTV stylist who spent years happily hacking up vintage pieces with a large pair of scissors, she understands instinctively that the same dress can tell a completely different story depending on how it’s worn.

Her advice for brides wanting to get more from their dress is so practical: layer everything on for the aisle - the big veil, the full skirt, the statement sleeve - then strip it back for the dancefloor. "More is more," she says, "and then take it all off."

And one tip I’m sure we’ll all agree with:

“Always a good shoe. Statement shoe”.

It made me think about how differently Brides might approach buying a dress if they thought of it as the beginning of a story rather than a one-day event. Because when a bridal stylist on the shop floor points out that your dress has a life beyond the wedding - that it can be styled differently, worn again, passed on - you’re not just buying a dress. You’re investing in something with lasting value.

 

_{WORDS Caroline Arthur}

_{IMAGERY Claire Coulthard (Main), Molly Georgia (Gallery)}