Back in August this year, I received an email from a desperate Bride to be. And it went a little like this...
"...I've been desperately looking for a 1960s-style wedding dress. I feel as though I've tried on every vintage dress in London - I've tried on absolutely gorgeous dresses at Fur Coat No Knickers and Elizabeth Avey, amongst other places - but nothing quite fits my figure! I have a very specific idea in mind of what I want. My question is do you know of anywhere that I could get a dress made for me quickly.... I'm getting married on 9 October!"
And that was on 16 August, which left less than 2 months for this Bride to get her dress sorted! So I put a call for help out on Twitter and much to my delight I heard back almost immediately from several different companies, including one called House of Mooshki. And so I passed contact details on the Bride, and the rest, as we say, is history. The Bride was thrilled with her dress, and married the love of her life. Thank you House of House of Mooshki :)
So who are the House of Mooshki? Certainly, I had never heard of them prior to me receiving that email from my distressed Blog reader, and I was keen to learn more. As it turns out, House of Mooshki are are fabulous design team who specialise in creating beautiful shoes and the most fabulous bespoke and customisable bridal wear. And this got me very interested, as I know that many of my readers are Brides that would prefer not to purchase 'off-the-peg' designs. I was also very interested to learn that this intrigueing and exciting new brand, is delivering services to Brides located thoughout the UK and around the world, form their North East of England Head Quarters...
"Most women have dreamt of getting married all their lives. Some want a quiet informal affair whilst others want the fairy tale princess dress. We want to give you, our Bride, exactly the dress you have in your head...."
Love My Dress Wedding Blog - Photography Copyright (c) 2010, Keith Laws Photography - telephone 07709308703 & Red Boat Photography & Helen Russell Photography
I'm just loving the 1940's theme that runs through some of the image son this page, which were shot at the Sunderland Air Museum. Infact, I pretty much love all the designs on this page. They really appeal to my vintage bridal wear loving nature - I was sure my blog readers would like them :)
I got chatting with Vikki McCarthy, the owner and chief designer behind this exciting new North East Brand, that is beginning to really create a stir within the wedding industry - and she told me more about House of Mooshki, and how it all started off with shoes...
"My name is Vikki McCarthy and I am a shoe and frock-a-holic. I have a passion for shoes and dresses like no other ~ only money stops me buying all the beautiful things I want!
I have ran a ladies shoe business for quite some years now dealing in mid range priced handmade leather shoes. Our website is something a little different in that you can choose your style, but then also choose you colour and your material. If we don’t have it listed, you can email us and we will upload each specific requirements so our clients can almost design their own shoes. The idea came about as my feet and clothes are so hard to buy. My foot size is a UK size 5.5 and my dresses…well that’s a whole other ball game..size 14 on the top and a 12 on the bottom!
Getting a cocktail dress is something of a trauma. We started with the shoes but built the website in a way that in time we could expand into other products, mainly dresses, handbags and jewellery...."
"Just out of the blue one day my boyfriend mentioned “Oh, my niece Olivia is a Designer! She's at one of the London Fashion Schools!”… and as my jaw hit the floor and he got a smack around the head for not telling me sooner (we had only been going for for a few months at this point) he quickly brought up her website. I was flabbergasted…she was not only very talented, but stunningly beautiful and a figure to die for. I was only just a little bit jealous. We had a fantastic first conversation and she was so so up for designing for us. Her ideas were coming through thick and fast over the telephone that both of us were just babbling through the excitement..."
The beautiful neice, come talented designer by the way is the lady in all of these photographs...
"Olivia had worked for 4 years in a bridal shop in the South East part time and said one of the biggest things she wanted to do was make sure that all the dresses we made had inbuilt corsets in so that women felt secure and pulled in whilst in their dress. I must say this has gone down a storm with our brides…we beg them not to buy bridal underwear as its already built into the dress.
So here we were, a shoe company with a new-found designer who had experience designing bridal wear, and so off we went! We decided to put together a few sketches and push out a small collection of dresses. It took months to find the right manufacturer to match my quality standards but eventually we found one and sat waiting patiently for their production. We knew we could not compete with the likes of Pronovias or the big designers, but we also knew that there are so many girls out their with figures just like mine, who cant fit into a standard size or who infact don’t want to have their wedding dress off the shelf. They know exactly in their head what they want and must trail most wedding boutiques and the internet trying to find it…..and its not easy."
Treating All Brides as Individuals...
"Each bride is different and has different needs and therefore in our book, should be treat as individuals. To see a bride come through our door, a little nervous, sometimes with an idea of what they want and some with no clue whatsoever, they all leave happy, confident and excited. That inspires us. Reading their feedback for me makes our day."
How Our Consultations Work...
"Now I cant sketch. Honestly, if you see my attempt at drawing it would make you laugh (it certainly did Olivia when I tried to draw our new uniform for a bridal fair), but what I am absolutely great at is looking at a person and knowing what kind of dress they would suit. Knowing how to build a dress around certain imperfection a bride may want to hide. What will make the most of brides assets and hide what they are conscious of?
The consultation is a very light affair at House of Mooshki and usually starts with a nice cup of tea, unless of course we are holding our meetings via telephone or skype… which actually seem to be working fantastically well. We have an in-depth form we kind of work through which doesn’t just cover the dress but the wedding as a whole. We will always try to help build the dress around the bridal theme too if we can."
The original sketch by Designer Olivia that was sent to our 'distressed Bride' is below...
I love this Carrie Bradshaw style frou-frou wedding dress...
"Once we work our way the form which usually takes around 2 hours ish… and we cover everything from shape of dress, fabrics, colours, embroidery/bead work, necklines, waistlines, straps, lace up back, bows…everything you can think of.
If a bride has made an appointment quite a few days in advance, then we will email the form over to them and get them to do a Blue Peter and develop a mood board for us. Cutting out all their favourite looks or even the looks they don’t want is a great thing. Usually by the end of the meeting the bride is as high as a kite and chomping at the bit to get their designs. We usually state around 7 days for the designs but that depends how busy we are. We have for some brides turned it around the same day and blown their expectations away completely.
Once they receive the designs, any amount of tweaks can be made and we consider the first set to be a starting point. However, to date, we have not had a bride yet who we have had to redesign a dress for. With my note taking and Olivia’s uncanny ability to draw up almost anything we usually hit the spot with our brides. There might be tiny tweaks, but that’s it. Up till now…touch wood… the response from all our brides has been fantastic."
Delivering a UK Wide and International Service...
"With the introduction of technologies like Skype/MSN we can offer both a National and International service. The brides who are not close to our offices get exactly the same service as the brides who have a face to face consultation. We have held calls with girls in Dubai, the South East, London, Cambridge and all of them are pleased with the service we have given them and the designs they have received.
We are desperately looking as we speak for consultants around the world to act on our behalf and earn commissions. This can be bridal shops, photographers anyone who has a good eye for design and also has the understanding of a woman’s body and which bits we all usually like to hide. Someone who is comfortable talking with people about their needs and not afraid to tell them that their dream dress they are thinking of might not actually suit them."
Bespoke Shoes...
"Our key products are our bespoke wedding dress design but also our ability to design and make your wedding shoes to match. These are handmade in fantastic leather covered in either satin or whatever colour and fabric you like. We have so many girls now wearing red and blue shoes under their dress so they can wear the shoes time and time again.
Our shoes are available in just about any colour or fabric..."
What a beautiful dress below - I've not seen anything like this before. I love the not towards Gladiator style with that beautiful upper body detail and that train is so elegant - the bow to the rear finishes the look off wonderfully - I really, really like this design...
The absolutely stunning accessories used in these photoshoots were lent by North East designer, Kathryn Russell - unfortunately, Kathryn does not have a website, but you can contact her on 0191 - 2846528 or 07760 220590. Kathryn's studio is based at 52 Salters Road in Gosforth, Newcastle Upon Tyne...
Price Guide...
"Our price guide starts from £699 for a basic dress and we haven’t had one go over £1800 but that was dripping in swarovski crystals. If the bride wants to keep the price down we will use glass beads instead but usually they all choose the swarovski’s as they really do change the look of a dress…and twinkle beautifully."
No 'Order 6 Months Before Your Wedding' Here!...
"What we love about what we do is seeing a smile on a brides face when she sees her designs, and then to see her face when the dress comes in. I had this pleasure last night when the dress arrived and her face when she put it on was just…..magic. If you could bottle it…I would be a millionaire. It’s amazing how every bride has a different idea of how they want to look so each dress is just as exciting to make as the first.
Our timescales differ depending on what each of our brides needs are. Most brides are ordering for 2011 but we have had a few with tight deadlines. We have recently turned a dress around from concept design to receiving it yesterday in 26 days. So anything is possible and we would never give our brides a 6 month deadline before their wedding. Each brides needs are different and ordering the dress will be based on those needs."
Not Every Bride Suits White...
Pretty pale yellows and golds are celebrated in style below.
Vicky tells me “Not everybody suits white dresses - it only became fashionable for wedding dresses because Queen Victoria wanted a white lace used in her wedding dress and it became traditional...”
Best Advice For Brides?...
"Let your imagination run free, Go for what you want but be realistic about your body shape. Remember, all those gowns you see in the magazine are on very tall models who are stick thin and airbrushed to within an inch of their lives. What looks great on them might not necessarily look good on you. Always try on different shaped dresses as the dress you think you don’t like, might actually be the want you end up buying..."
Credits
♥ Venues/Locations ~ Sunderland Air Museum, Wear Docks, Washington Old Hall and Lambton Castle
♥ Model/Designer ~ Olivia Wright
♥ Hair and Makeup ~ Lisa Jones
♥ Photographers ~ Red Boat Photography & Helen Russell Photography & Keith Laws Photography, telephone 07709308703
♥ Styling ~ Vikki McCarthy and Olivia Wright
♥ Jewellery ~ headpieces all by Kathryn Russell {no website available, but telephone 0191 - 2846528 or 07760 220590}
For further information, and/or to book an appointment, visit the House of Mooskhi Website, contact Vikki McCarthy on bridal@houseofmooshki.com or telephone +44 771 - 4446155. The House of Mooskhi. Head Design Office is based in Country Durham.
House of Mooskhi will be exhibiting at exciting new 'Bridal Gathering' event in the North East of England on Sunday 7th September. Why not book in and visit their stand for a free consultation? I will be there too! :)
And watch out next week too, because we may have news of a rather fabulous giveaway coming to you from the Mooshki girls! Exxxxxxxxxciting!!! ;) And as for our 'desperate Bride'? Watch out for a real wedding feature comin to a blog near you soon! ;)
So what's it for your lovely Bride to be readers? What are your thoughts on made-to-measure wedding dresses as opposed to off-the-peg, and often very pricey designer alternatives? And I'd love to hear from any of your North East Brides, especially if you are considering maybe booking a consultation with Mooskhi :)
With much love,
Annabel
xXx
♥
