Who is the JB Bride?

JB Bride, Hannah, wearing the Ayla dress

I’ve been thinking about her a lot lately.

I’m away at the moment, and perhaps it’s being somewhere different, seeing different women, different clothes, different ways of dressing and living, but I’ve found myself thinking about the woman I have in my head when I design.

Because I realised recently that I’ve never really written her down.

I’ve always known her. I can spot her when she walks into the studio. I know the bride I get particularly excited about dressing and, more importantly, I know the woman I’m designing for.

She isn’t defined by her age, her job or the kind of wedding she’s having. She’s defined by her taste.

She’s probably always been interested in clothes. She might work in fashion, design, marketing, buying, publishing or something creative. She might have studied fashion herself. Or she might simply be the person amongst her friends who has always had really good style - the one who finds things nobody else has found, whose outfit looks effortless but you know she’s thought about every detail.

She doesn’t necessarily follow fashion, but she understands it. She notices proportion. She notices fabric. She notices when something fits beautifully. She knows when something is well made and I think that’s important, because those are the things I think about when I’m designing a dress.

I’m thinking about how the fabric moves, how it feels against the skin, where a seam sits, how something is going to fit a real body. What happens when you walk, what happens when you sit down, what happens when you stop thinking about your dress and start enjoying your wedding.

She doesn’t want to look like a ‘bride’. At least, not in the traditional sense.

She wants to look like herself. The best, most beautiful version of herself, but still herself.

She might be minimal and very chic, or she might have tattoos and wear something a little more unexpected. She might love beautiful, pared-back things, or she might have a slightly more eclectic wardrobe. She likes things that have a point of view.

And she loves that little bit of ambiguity where something feels modern but also as though it could have existed twenty, thirty or fifty years ago.

I love that too. That feeling of ‘is it vintage? Or is it new?’ Something that doesn’t feel completely of the moment.

Because I don’t want to design dresses that scream the year they were made. I want to design dresses that feel like they could become part of someone’s story.

She cares about how things are made.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently too. Perhaps because when you’re designing and making clothes every day, you can sometimes forget that not everyone sees what you see. But I see the fabric. I see the construction. I see the hours that go into getting a fit right. I see the tiny decisions that make something feel expensive.

And I think my bride notices those things too. She likes the idea that her dress is being made for her. She enjoys coming into the studio. She likes fittings. She likes bringing her mum or her friends. She likes trying different ways of styling it and seeing the dress change as it comes together.

She likes to document the process. She likes having a story behind what she is wearing. And I think that’s one of the most special things about having something made.

Years from now, it isn’t just the dress I wore on my wedding day. It’s my dress was made for me. I’m so lucky that my Mum made my wedding dress for me, we made my sister’s wedding dress together (Mum & I) and my Mum made her own wedding dress. Having a story and a memory attached to your wedding dress is really special, and I don’t take that for granted when brides shop with us.

Her wedding probably isn’t completely traditional either.

It might be a town hall followed by dinner in a brilliant restaurant. An art gallery. A beautiful hotel in Italy. A villa in Mallorca. A destination wedding in Greece with everyone staying for four days. Or perhaps a London pub after the ceremony.

It could be tiny. It could be grand. But it will feel like her.

There might be a margarita tower instead of champagne. The flowers might be slightly wild. The tables might look more like a beautiful dinner party than a wedding.

She isn’t interested in ticking boxes because that’s what you’re supposed to do. She wants the whole thing to feel considered, but never overworked. Her wedding will feel like an extension of her, her life, her home, her style.

I suppose ultimately, that’s who I’m designing for.

A woman who has a really strong sense of herself. Who doesn’t need to be told what is fashionable. Who can appreciate beautiful things without needing them to shout. Who wants something that feels personal, who values craftsmanship, who cares about fabric and fit, who wants to be involved in the process and who wants to feel completely, effortlessly herself on her wedding day.

Fashion, but not fashion-y. Luxury, but not flashy. Vintage, but not vintage. Romantic, but not traditional. Cool but not try hard. Special but effortless.

That’s the woman I have in my head when I’m designing. She’s the reason I make the decisions I make. She’s the reason I care so much about the fabric, the fit, the construction and the little details.

And she’s the woman I want to keep coming back to whenever I start designing something new.

So perhaps this is really a note to myself as much as anything else to not lose sight of.

Jessica x