“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could she ask? A few flowers at her feet and above her the stars.”

“A garden to walk in and immensity to dream in--what more could she ask? A few flowers at her feet and above her the stars.” ...after Victor Hugo

In this inspiration shoot featuring some of the designs from the most recent JFD collection I wanted to work with a few favourite wedding vendors and service providers to showcase some of the non-traditional bridal looks that I love. Whether it is the sophisticated silver screen siren look of the gold guipure lace 'Orlagh', or the elegant Art-Nouveau twining botanical detailing of 'Gabrielle-Ray', I like to think all JFD gowns share a similar aesthetic. A seductive glamour, a touch of Bohemia, an artful and artless playfulness, all mixed up with a frisson of fin de siecle decadence. 

Rather than use a grand venue for the shoot, I deliberately chose the pretty little studio courtyard of the JFD atelier in Brighton as the location. This was just a bare and barren square of concrete when I relocated the studio and showroom here 4 years ago, and now it is a veritable tiny oasis, filled with flowers and busy with bees and birds. I wanted to give people unfamiliar with the label a little glimpse into the life of the studio with our accompanying film, and show how with the help of some beautiful accessories and some wonderful styling creatives a real transformation occurs.....

The still images  (more of those in a later post!) are the work of long time friend and collaborator Jacqui McSweeney, who has shot a number of my previous collections, and who always manages to get exactly what I am hoping to achieve. Similarly, Jeni Dodson, hair and make-up genius, has a knack of coming up with precisely the right look for the shoots we have worked on together before I have even imagined it myself. The way she styled our beautiful model Louise Rothstein for each dress design struck exactly the right note.

Miss Mole emerged from her glorious Flower Emporium to create the delicious bouquets and arrangements, and also styled the garden to perfection.....it needed some extra floral injection on the rather damp June day of the shoot!

Milliners Lomax and Skinner were kind enough to design a number of dramatic hats to go with specific designs, and I was thrilled with how they added another dimension again to the overall look. In addition I was lucky enough to borrow some of the intricate hair accessories and jewellery of HF Couture which perfectly complemented the botanical themes in many of the dresses. The exquisite hand made and tinted silk roses are by the wonderful Diana of Rose Garden Accessories....and you'll find many of her painstakingly created organza and dupion blooms adorning JFD gowns.

JFD studio assistant Danielle helped out as dresser on the day, and it's her nimble fingers you can see doing up all those buttons in the film....

Finally, the whole day was imaginatively filmed and edited by cinematographer Jodi of Idoje Studios, who created a lovely narrative arc running through the film encapsulating the mood of the collection, with the adorable Alexis epitomising that sense of childhood wonder we'd all love to recapture....

I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures and film as much as we enjoyed creating them!