Today is the day dear friends! Stage 2 of the roadmap out of lockdown is Go! And that means that bridal boutiques can now reopen!
We are thrilled for all of our colleagues in the industry who can return to work in some capacity today – and for every couple who has chosen to get married under the new restrictions permitting 15 maximum at a wedding. We send you all so much love.
Today, we want to shine the spotlight on one of our favourite bridal fashion designer friends, Andrea Hawkes, whose own London based boutique is back open for business today.
Andrea Hawkes + Follow
For those of you unfamiliar with the brand Andrea Hawkes, it is our absolute pleasure to introduce you; Andrea Hawkes is a British bridal fashion designer based in Islington, London.
Andrea works alongside her husband Dan, Production and Studio Manager, and produces the most beautifully crafted wedding dresses, in her signature minimal, unfussy and contemporary style.
“I simply love working with my brides. Designing their dress, understanding their desires and inspiration, learning about their wedding style and plans and bringing all these elements together to produce their perfect dress.”
Real bride, Laura
Photography by Georgina Harrison
Book a Complimentary Boutique Appointment Now
As of today, Andrea is taking appointments again at her beautiful London based boutique.
Visits to Andrea’s boutique are by appointment only – and you can book your appointment via Andrea’s Online Booking System. This allows you to browse all of our availability from today, 12th April onwards. Simply enter code ‘AHwelcome’ when booking.
Traditional Craftsmanship
All Andrea Hawkes designs are made at Andrea’s London based atelier. This is superb news for those of you looking for a dress in super quick time, as it means that production times can be shortened for no extra charge.
“Our dresses are entirely designed and made in London by my own team. This has been of central importance since our beginning and an ever more key factor as we have grown and developed. We have built a strong, trusted team, with the skills to produce the quality and service I had always set out to deliver to my brides.”
Need Your Dress Soon?
Thanks to all of Andrea’s designs being produced within her own production studio, and thanks to the studio’s full flexibility on lead times, dresses can be produced quickly, avoiding any typical wedding dress order/waiting times.
There will never be any waiting for your dress via an overseas delivery that might get caught up in BREXIT shipping complications – also hugely reassuring.
“If your wedding is coming up soon, we are here to help! At Andrea Hawkes, we make all of our designs right here in our Islington Studio meaning we can work with any bride who has a shorter timeframe for their dress. It is important to us that each and every bride finds the perfect dress with the right service with no compromises to be made.”
Real Bride Diana
Photography by Olivia and Dan
“Due to the changing guidelines surrounding weddings during Covid we understand that some of our brides may find themselves with a shorter timeframe to find, purchase and fit their wedding dresses. This may feel like an overwhelming task but rest assured we are here to help ease your worries and guide you with all of our accessible options to help find you the perfect Andrea Hawkes dress.”
“We design, make and fit all of our dresses in our own London studio with our in house team which means we have greater flexibility to work to shorter timeframes and accommodate our brides changing plans. Over the past few months we have worked with a number of our wonderful real brides on much shorter timescales whilst making sure they enjoyed the full personal AH experience. Our team promise to make sure you feel at ease knowing that we are here with a solution to help you find your dress no matter your lead-time or your location.”
Real bride, Joni
Photography by Caro Weiss
Sustainability & Ethical Production
Sustainability is and always has been at the heart of the Andrea Hawkes brand – she has long specialised in using natural silk fabrics and more recently, vegan plant based fabrics.
“We already make vegan dresses for our brides. Our silks are exchangeable for other sustainable fabrics, such as organic cotton, organic bamboo silks, Tencel and others. We can source the fabric which is right for you and your wedding dress, whilst adhering to our sustainable approach and principles.”
If you are curious about the provenance of the clothes you buy, for environmental and sustainability reasons, the Andrea Hawkes brand should absolutely be on your wedding dress shortlist.
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“We are actively looking for ways to continue improving our sustainability. We approach it as a continuous work, never with a perfect answer but always room for change and improvement. With consideration for the options available to us, at our level of trading, with view across our industry and garment production as a whole, we feel we are doing many of the important things at this stage.”
“Our approach to sustainability will be constantly reviewed and published to ensure our brides and our future brides understand our practises and the future changes we are working on to improve this further where possible. We will update and focus on individual elements regularly on our blog.”
You can read about Andrea Hawkes’ full commitment to sustainability here.
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Size Inclusivity
Andrea Hawkes has dress samples for trying in on store ranging from size 8 to size 22. But size labels do not matter. Personal fit does. Andrea Hawkes dresses can be made in any size or height and fully made to measure.
Find your perfect dress regardless of your size, shape or height.
“Being a wedding dress designer with extensive experience with brides-to-be, appreciation for fashion design and garment fit is extremely important. It is the expertise to understand garments and how they fit the individual.”
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Can’t Visit a Boutique? Try Your Dress on At Home
If you simply can’t make a visit to Andrea’s boutique, fear not. Last year, as they innovated their way through the pandemic crisis, Andrea Hawkes launched an AH At Home service. You can read all about it here.
It is genius and so utterly convenient for those of you who may be time poor and struggling to fit your wedding planning around super busy lives, or perhaps unable to travel.
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Articles To Bookmark & Read
If you’re in the mood for snuggling down on the sofa and immersing yourself in some wedding dress research, allow us to provide you with some articles very worth your time:
- Classic Vs Modern Wedding dresses and how we do both
- Spring Styling
- Summer Styling
- Should I wear a veil?
- Making your intimate wedding special with Chenai from ByChenai Events
- Ways to Accessorise Andrea Hawkes designs
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Andrea Hawkes Bridal and Occasion boutique is located at 65 Amwell Street, London, EC1R 1UR.
Please visit andreahawkes.co.uk or email [email protected] for further information. You can also follow @andreahawkes on Instagram.
And you will find all our interview and real bride articles for Andrea Hawkes here on Love My Dress.
Have the BEST time dress shopping!
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Andrea Hawkes is a Love My Dress recommended supplier, partner and member of our directory.
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.
