Save 15% on Shell Belle Couture’s Luxury Bridal Lingerie, Silk Kimonos & Honeymoon Wear

There are a few brands that truly share the DNA of Love My Dress and Shell Belle Couture is one of them. Michelle Blenkinsopp-Guild and I have known one another for many years and I have long admired both her and the exquisite pieces she creates.

Shell Belle Couture specialises in luxury bridal lingerie, silk kimonos, nightwear, honeymoon wear and resortwear, each design created with an extraordinary level of care and a deep respect for beauty, femininity and traditional craftsmanship.

For a limited time, Love My Dress readers have exclusive access to 15% off all Shell Belle Couture orders over £150. Use code LOVEMYDRESS at checkout before midnight on 31st August 2026.

In the film and conversation shared in this article, Michelle shares the story of how Shell Belle Couture began, the world that continues to inspire her and why preserving traditional craftsmanship remains so important to her after 15 years in business.

I am so pleased to be sharing Michelle’s story and her beautiful work with you today. I hope you will take the time to watch our conversation, explore the collection and perhaps find a silk kimono, lingerie set or honeymoon piece that becomes part of your own story too.

Use code LOVEMYDRESS to save 15% on any Shell Belle Couture order over £150 before midnight on 31st August 2026.

I spent so long creating commercial designs for the high street, where every single detail is questioned to save pennies and I was constantly fighting my corner to keep the beautiful touches, saying that is exactly why people will buy it. The frustration was real. When you are talking to non-creatives, merchandisers and buyers who are mostly only interested in the profit margin and last year’s best sellers, it is an uphill struggle.

And the way the suppliers were always pushed and pushed on price giving little respect for the factories or their workers never sat comfortably with me. It became my dream to have a beautiful brand and be an ethical trader paying a living wage to skilled workers. I am now able to relish in the finer details with a wonderfully valued team.

It wasn’t until I moved with my then young family to Mauritius that my dream evolved and began to take shape. I was creative director for a couture brand and I loved my team and challenging them with my creativity. It was absolute heaven to run with ideas, watch gorgeous pieces come to life and see sales double every season.

We lived there for four years and it felt like everything I had learnt over twenty years was evolving into my brand. I had worked on trends in Paris for many years, styled luxury shoots and spent two decades as a commercial designer. To then find skilled machinists who knew how to do the heritage details I loved was incredible. The shell edging, the appliqué lace, the tiny ladder insets. I remember that first bubble of excitement when I realised I could actually do this and that the time was now.

Our first shoot was on the idyllic island of Mauritius and I still work with Shoba today and our friendship spans 19 years.

For me, it’s always been about treasure. As a student, I would spend hours trawling vintage shops, falling in love with silk slip dresses and vintage kimonos etc. It was the rush of excitement when you discovered something so beautiful you knew you’d never part with it. I have always loved the 1920s and 30s it is a period in time that is endlessly inspiring.

When you look closely at what makes you fall so deeply in love with these pieces, it’s always the details… the beautiful finishing touches, the artisan techniques, the exquisite touches and considered styles that become part of your own love story, growing more precious with time. I am also a hopeless romantic.

As a lingerie creative I have always focused on the details and it is the intricate attention to detail that makes our pieces so precious.

I truly believe that somewhere along the way we have lost all the beauty in intricacy, the noticeable touches to everything, from architecture to iron radiators, toasters, I saw an old photograph of an art deco toaster that imprinted the most divine floral design onto your toast. It stopped me in my tracks. They really knew how to romanticise everyday life back then.

I think that in this crazy, challenging world, which seems to be getting more and more brutal, we have to lean towards softness and femininity, taking pleasure in our surroundings and in the precious things.

Whether it’s drinking from your favourite mug, or flowers picked from the garden or wrapping yourself in your favourite time-worn silk kimono, you have to create rituals, precious moments to protect yourself.

Seek Happiness in simplicity. It’s lovely that ‘romanticise your life’ is now on trend but I do believe that women have always sought out the pleasure and beauty in things.

I think for such a special event you have to choose pieces that not only look beautiful but feel wonderful to wear.

I believe it is the way the pieces make you feel. They are designed to fit and drape beautifully, to flatter the female curves and to be wonderfully soft to wear. I love to add sensual touches too, just a subtle reveal like a cut-out at the nape of your neck or a lace placement on your lower back.

I also believe that items of clothing become very evocative and do hold your memories, whenever I see the pieces I wore for my own wedding, I remember my husband’s surprise when he saw me in them and how that made me feel, the precious times we had on both our wedding and honeymoon.

I wore a silk full-length dove grey kimono with an appliqué lace veil at the back on my wedding morning, being wrapped in the softest sandwashed silk felt so luxurious and calming while I was surrounded by family and friends getting ready. My niece fell-in -love with my kimono and once I was in my wedding gown she wore it over her dress for the wedding day, that was special for me and a lovely story for that piece.

I took the Kimono on my honeymoon too and still wear it today, nine years on. I keep it on display in my bedroom on its own gold palm tree hook.

It takes a long time to create our couture pieces, there is a lot of handwork, cutting out lace, pinning it to the silk sewing, then cutting the silk away behind it, to create the appliqué lace details.

Slow shell edge machines and a seven-stage checking process mean this is definitely slow fashion, made with love and patience. It cannot be mass produced.

As a brand we believe in sustainable luxury, where you buy once and buy well. Our pieces are treasured and worn for years and are so beautiful that our wearers want to pass them down. They are considered heirlooms.

I hope they end up in a dusty trunk and are discovered and worn by future generations. My son jokes with me about what he calls my ‘death-trunk’ where I hide away all my favourite pieces and sketch books and precious pieces – he knows it will be his one day.

I would love her to feel the difference and appreciate the time, patience and skill that is taken into making her pieces. Designed and made individually by women for women. A team that care about each piece and how it will make her feel. When wearing our pieces I want her to feel feminine, beautiful for herself and also to feel confident and desirable.

I also want her to feel seen. I think that as women get older they need reminding of who they really are, who they once were and that they are still those same beautiful, desirable women.

Our styles are a celebration of femininity through all of life’s moments, whether it’s your first marriage or you are later in life where feeling beautiful matters even more.

I think a lot of lingerie in the market is aimed at a younger market and are designed as such, with small fitting shapes and cheap fabrics which can make you feel frustrated, older and it can knock your confidence, feeling like nothing fits you anymore.

Our beautiful bodies change as we get older and our pieces are designed to be more flattering and sensual, with considered details that enhance your curves.

Even our all-French lace slips are created with you in mind. Try them, you might be surprised. The Eloise has pleats at the hip and a silk laced back. You should feel wonderful at any age, you are wonderful! 

Our Shell Belles are all ages, though many of our clientele are over 40 – they appreciate the quality, the intricacy and the timeless styling. Many of our pieces also cross over in ready-to-wear slips, camisoles, lace and silk blouses.

Email Michelle directly on [email protected]

Follow Shell Belle Couture on Instagram at @shellbellecouture

Save 15% on all orders over £150, using code LOVEMYDRESS at checkout – offer ends midnight on 31st August 2026.