Historically Inspired Wedding dresses

Victorian inspired wedding dress off shoulder alternative bride

My favourite type of dress to make is an historically inspired wedding dresses. My whole career has stemmed but an interest in costume history. I began by colouring in photocopied pages from my mother’s fashion history books. This led an arts degree in costume design for the stage and screen. Making costumes is not only about historical drama, but that is definitely part of the study!

Above, forest green Victorian wedding dress. I made this dress my the lovely Rebecca to be a time-travelling bride at her Dr Who theme wedding. Photography – Yuriy Nutsa Photograhy

I bring my love and knowledge for all eras and the skills I gained with historical construction techniques to the design of wedding dresses. From Medieval maidens to 1950’s rockabilly, vintage, retro and historical, I love them all. I love creating inside the design parameters of any century’s fashion trends. I equally love to blend and make new combinations of elements from disparate eras. It is all celebration from me if you want a Victorian steampunk wedding dress, an accurate Viking hand sewn robe or a Regency muslin dress with accurate undergarments.

Historical fashion from the silver screen

I love to be inspired by the interpretations of fashion history that are brought to us by costume designers for film and TV. My all out favourite costume designer is Jenny Beavan OBE (fame of Cruella, Room with a View and Mad Max). She is a family friend and was kind enough to take me under her wing in my formative teenage years. I count her very much a mentor.

Cruella inspired couture wedding dress

Above: A wedding dress I designed for a Cruella themed bridal photoshoot. The couture origami design of the bodice was inspired by Jenny Beavan’s costume design for the character of Cruella in the Disney 2021 film.

It was Jenny who told me that the purpose of costume design is not historical accuracy or reproduction, or to flatter the lead actress, but to tell the story. Often historical accuracy is central to a story being told. For example if it’s a documentary drama, or was written first as contemporary novel but which is now an historical period from our perspective; but equally often it is not. Both approaches are valid. In recent years the historical fantasy series like ‘Bridgeton’ and ‘Game of Thrones’ have crystallised design in the latter vein. Inspired by history but bent to serve the story.

Designing wedding dresses from history

I very much approach using historical fashion inspiration for wedding dress design in the same manner. Accuracy might be interesting to one bride, and very much rejected by another. My deep knowledge of fashion development will help inform our design. I will bring you all the options and you can decide which elements to combine to make your perfect historically inspired wedding dress.

Historically Inspired Wedding Dresses

Edwardian ‘Titanic’ style wedding dress with antique Irish lace. I made this early 20th century style dress for the wonderful Rachel who travelled from Ireland 3 times for fittings.

pleated frill victorian wedding dress on church path

I made Eleanor a Victorian wedding dress in hand dyed pale blue silk. We design off the shoulder neckline and a box pleated frill to the bottom of the full skirt. Eleanor chose to have historically accurate underpinnings including a custom corset, hoop skirt and bum roll.

Photography by Sebastian Lomas

alternative wedding dress tufor inspired red velvet fit and flare skirt

This burgundy velvet wedding dress was inspired by a mix of Tudor design and 1950’s glamour. Tracey was being married at the historic Langshott Manor in Surrey which dates back in part to the Tudor era. I designed the bodice with Tudor flat fronted boned shaping and wide neckline. I made the skirt slim fitting in a 1950’s wiggle skirt style. This is a (garnet and pearl) gem among historically inspired wedding dresses.

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Felicity Westmacott

I write about all aspects of weddings, dressmaking, fashion history, and the human relation to clothing. I welcome comments and debate.

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Over Christmas I wanted to make something to combat the darkness of December and add a bit of razzle dazzle to my bridal shop. And so the Poinsettia wedding dress was born!
I love to make dresses for my brides, but once in a while it's very fun to make something from my own imagination and see where I end up. 

The first thing I knew I wanted was sparkle! And lots of it! I wanted to make something dramatic and showstopping. I went with a deep plunging neckline, and a semi-sheer bodice. To compliment the sleek silhouette of the base dress, I also made a big overskirt (removable, of course). But the crowning glory of this dress are these gorgeous oversized flowers! And they match perfectly with the white and silver sequins of the material of the dress and I think they're a stunning feature of the dress.

Although the intention of this dress was to be for a winter bride, I think there's something very Hollywood glam about it. And the fact it's sleeveless means you won't overheat, even in the summer.
What do you think - does this dress suit a winter or a summer vibe?

If you're looking for a bespoke look for your wedding, drop me a DM. I love to create completely unique and beautiful bridal pieces, so let's chat!

#bespokeweddingdress #sparkle #surrey #dorking #weddingdressmaker #seamstress #bridalboutique
As a wedding dress maker, I would say the fitting process is when I need my brides to trust in me the most. It's all well and good showing them beautiful drawings and fabrics, but when it comes to those first fittings, things can look very different to what you imagined. And that's fine!

All art goes through a process, whether it's layering oil paints on a canvas, or refining the clay of a sculpture...but an artist knows, it will all be worth it in the end.

I think the finished result looks absolutely beautiful, and that’s thanks to those fittings, where I could refine, check and double check, and make sure this bride’s dress fitted her perfectly!

If you want to see photos from Laura's wedding day with this dress in action, on a beautiful, snowy day, then have a look at my earlier post.

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#weddingdress #wedding #bride #bespokeweddingdress #customdress #weddinggown #londonbridaldesigner #surreybridaldesigner #surreydressmaker #londondressmaker
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in
from design to completionbespoke wedding dressesFelicity Westmacott
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
Dorking, RH4 1RT241 High Street• Visit the Studio •
emailme@felicitywestmacott.co.ukTEL 07762 543230TOUCHGet in