Helena Couture Designs Bridal And The French Quarter, Emerald Lakes. Our Little Slice Of Europe.

The Bridal Dress Charity, By Helena Couture Designs, Blends Modern Sophistication Of Sharp Angles And Lines, With Softness From Fabric Detail. Showcased At Emerald Lakes, French Quarter, Our Very Own Europe Inspired Streets-Cape, As The Back Drop.

The Shoot
Even though the fabric that makes up Charity is made up of many soft laces pieced together, the style is quite modern, with many angles and sharp lines.  Therefore, I wanted Charity to be shot around buildings with a European influence.  I had a location in mind, during the final stages of completing Charity, which would give us the feel of Europe, without leaving the Coast and hence Emerald Lakes, French Quarter was chosen. 

I wanted to couple Charity with a suit from Urbana. Their style of suiting could be as flamboyant as needed, as this shoot was going to give the feel of a modern elopement, as if it was shot somewhere in France or Italy. 

With help from the rest of the team of local industry experts; Danielle Knight & Co. Photography and Film, Blake Designs HMUA, Flowers by W Events and our models Denika and Aaron from Glass Management, I feel we have created this.  A special thank you to Tegan, from Glass management, who the morning of the shoot, was able to confirm Aaron, as the replacement of the previous male model who became unavailable the day of the shoot.  After checking the suit fitted prior to the shoot, everything was back on track. Aaron is also a professional dancer, having danced for the London Ballet, on Broadway, in California, and early 2020 in Australia on Billy Elliot, until COVID-19. 

Even though I co-ordinated the shoot, I never like to hinder the creative energy of the other industry professionals of my team. They are the experts in their field and I like them to look at what I have put together, regarding clothing, models, venue, and basic colour theme and see where their creative juices take them.  This has always worked well for me and I love to see what they create.

I have felt humbled by the comradery The South East Queensland Wedding Industry has shown, while I have been co-ordinating two years’ worth of shoots in the space of only a few months.  Our workload was severely depleted, with most of our 2020 weddings postponed until 2021. I was hoping, that by doing these shoots, would lift our spirits and get us back doing what we love and I feel it has worked, plus more!  Everyone has been excited to collaborate. The shoots have been an awesome journey and a great way to network with existing and new industry experts, all the while creating new memories and images to share, with love.

Charity
Charity was conceived from humble beginnings, hence the name for this dress.  Quite often I donate my remnants to schools, childcare centres, patchwork groups, anyone really that is happy to create something from what is usually too small for me to use, without it being labour intensive. Not ending up as landfill, never breaking down, and causing an environmental problem, has always been a driving force for me wanting to donate what I am unable to use.  Last year, due to COVID-19, we were unable to donate the remnants, due to the chance of cross-contamination. 

The Criteria…
Design A Simple Design/Silhouette/Cut That Can Transform Into A Sexy Party Dress For Reception, Without Changing Outfits For A Modern Bride.

Detail
As the design is simple, I wanted the detail to be intricate, feminine, and soft.  Something, that when from a distance was very subtle, but the closer you got to the dress, the more you wanted to explore her and uncover the journey your eyes took you on.
I chose lace for the detail and the only lace I was able to use, was from the many tubs of remnants I have collected over the years.  There were six laces that I knew would work in harmony and in turn, creating a new pattern, when all the laces were blended.

Labour
It could be as time consuming as needed, as we were in COVID-19 lock down and this gave me something to do, which I find very therapeutic and much more slimming for the waistline, as I would have probably eaten my way through the lock down.  Also once the lock down was over and my staff were able to come back to work, it gave them plenty of hours to perfect several different types of hand stitching that were required to transform the remnants into a new design of lace.

Materials
Even though I was able to clear out almost one tub of remnants for Charity, I still needed to use materials that were not remnants to complete her, but the cost of new materials was less than $100. 

The satisfaction of creating Charity, along with saving my waistline, staff improving on their skill set and being therapeutic, it was also a great way to do a spring clean and end up with a new piece of bridal art.

I hope you enjoyed our journey.

Related Tag: Wedding Gowns Brisbane

Helena x

I would like to thank my team of creative industry professionals, who helped turn my dream, this shoot, into a reality…