Eco-Friendly, Vegan Wedding Makeup

The concept of styled shoots on wedding blogs haven’t half come under wraps of late; once considered wedding blog fodder of choice (fun for those shooting with almost guaranteed publication on one wedding blog or another), after the masses realised they could produce their own styled shoots by collaborating with other colleagues and relatively easily get their work published on reputable wedding blogs, the blogosphere was soon awash with every kind of styled shoot imaginable with a focus on every possible ‘theme’ and ‘trend’ and wot-not.  It all got a bit much at one point and even I backed off featuring anything much in terms of styled shoots – having developed a probably irrational phobia of them sometime last year.  But it’s true to say that when wedding blogs hit that ‘styled shoot saturation point’, the wedding industry (including bloggers) started to turn their back on these visual collaborations and focus more on everything else; real weddings, discussion posts, DIY etc etc.

Today, I want it to be my mission to demonstrate that a styled shoot done properly is still of great value to me as a blogger (beautiful, inspirational, unique images) and my readers too (styled bridal fashion doesn’t mean it needs to be unobtainable or inaccessible just because it’s so ‘out there’).

Vegan bridal makeup by Emma Carvell

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

But look, I’m not here to argue the fors and against of styled bridal shoots – that’s not what this blog is about or what I ever want it to be about. I know my readers are primarily brides who aren’t interested i that level of discussion – they want to come here to be inspired by beautiful visual inspiration, ideas, and suggestions be they conceptual and creative, vintage, retro, traditional, classic, whatever  – you name it.

I will very happily (and willingly) feature styled shoots that make a strong connection with me, even if it involves just 21 images like those you see on this page here today. And another thing – I will admit that occasionally, a submission is sold to me based on one imagine alone. This particular shoot was one of them.  Just look at that veil and headpiece…

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

I wanted to feature these 1920’s bride inspired images, because they explore a particular bridal style and fashion era that I know isn’t a look for everyone or that everyone can pull of as well as model Holli Dillon here – the look suggested here takes the notion of vintage and convincingly presents it as an achievable, modern day style – I could totally see one of my readers wanting to achieve a similar look like
this on their own wedding days.

The dropped waist style made popular in the 1920’s was a reaction by the fashion world to the more restrictive, confined and way more modest fashions of the previous decades (corsets reigning women in, body limbs fully covered with long sleeves, high collars and floor sweeping hemlines for example).

The look tends to suit those with a more ‘straight up and down’ body shape (see this post for more info on straight up and down and other key body shapes). But what I love about this set of images is the way they capture a very authentic 1920’s inspired style within a modern day context. The look is obtainable. It is beautiful, it is vintage and modern all round in to one, thanks to a clever combination of original vintage fashion with modern day hair and makeup styling and flowers.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

These photographs were shot by Will Strange who tells us more about how these particular images came about and why they are so important to him on a personal level…

“I conducted this vintage bridal fashion shoot in February 2013.
The background to the shoot was that I wanted to create some images that
would mirror my green-y credentials – i.e. one that would promote the
re-use of vintage garments as an alternative to buying a brand new dress
which may have had a less than ethical supply line.

This is something
that struck a chord with the collaborators on the shoot – Emma Carvell,
who presents herself as a vegan make-up artist, came on-board first.
The actress Holli Dillon was next, attracted by the idea of modelling
vintage garments.” 

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Pennies Vintage
kindly agreed to lend us a range of their garments and also the
location – a gorgeous Georgian drawing room above the shop. 

Finally Flor Unikon
florists lent us two gorgeous bouquets of flowers to round off the
looks.  A great day was had by all and everyone has derived a lot of
pride from the resulting images.”

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

Eco friendly and vegan wedding makeup.

I’d love your thoughts – be it your musings on the value of photoshoots to you as a reader or your reaction to (and hopefully appreciation of) the images above -even if you aren’t necessarily a fan of 1920’s style.

You can see more styled shoots on Love My Dress here. Also check out our pages dedicated to 1920’s inspiration.

Kudos and respect to the creative team listed below, especially photographer Will Strange, for choosing Love My Dress to be the place to feature these beautiful images.

Annabel x

 

Photographer – Will Strange
Wardrobe and location – Pennies Vintage, Amwell Street, London
Model: Holli Dillon
Make-up: Emma Carvell
Bouquets: Flor Unikon, Amwell Street

Annabel

Annabel View all Annabel's articles

Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

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