Bridal Bells & Whistles

If you go to a traditional bridal fair today, you’ll likely be told about all the bells and whistles you’re expected to sport with your wedding day look. 

We’re thinking updo, 

we’re thinking crystal hair embellishment, 

we’re thinking matching crystal bracelet, 

we’re thinking pearl earrings, 

we’re thinking chapel veil. 

Now, before you get us wrong, we’re not saying that any of these things are bad, wrong, incorrect or otherwise, but what we are saying is that there’s another way to do bridal in 2018. In all areas of fashion in the past couple of years, we’ve loved watching the resurgence of simplicity in style. The muses filling up our Instagram feeds have steered away from embellishments and gone simply over to the light side of linen dresses and slip on sandals. The women of the modern world are saying, “We have enough on our plates to deal with — let’s make our fashion simply elegant, in a way we don’t have to fuss about it anymore.”

Hear, hear, ladies!

So, back to bridal. Flash forward to following your visit the Mrs Fray pop up you attend (ahem), and you’ve found the perfect dress from an Australian designer you hadn’t even considered until that frock was perfectly hugging your curves at that serendipitous fitting. Now the question is: how to complete the look? 

With the trend of simple elegance followed in our wedding fashion industry, we’re happy to report that bridal accessories aren’t asking for a lot of ‘fluff’ either. To complete a look, we’d suggest a pair of killer earrings, some banging shoes, and that effortless, Carrie Bradshaw-esque hair that says, “Oh, this old thing? I haven’t even considered it.” (Even if not considering it takes a pro a fair amount of work on the morning of a wedding day) Regardless, it’s the final result that counts!

We’ve stocked the Mrs Fray shelves with an abundance of gowns from designers who help us do exactly that — simple, statement style that let’s the dress do the work for us. 

Images supplied by L’eto Bridal

Take L’eto Bridal’s new Palm Springs ’18 collection, for example. These frocks range from timeless shapes to daring design, all of which do all the talking for themselves. They don’t require lengthy veils, hoards of jewellery, stiletto heels, or bold lipstick choices. From here, all a girl’s gotta do is decide what shoes to rock and if she wants to wear any earrings alongside. Less fuss, more effortless beauty: Yes, please.

[Side Note: we’re strong advocates of not doing anything that doesn’t feel like ‘you’ on your wedding day, so if you wouldn’t normally wear earrings under any other life circumstance, feel free to not feel pressured to wear them on your wedding day! Truly. You can still get married and feel like yourselves. Promise.]

Images by Dan O’Day

Legend of the field, Karen Willis Holmes designs timeless gowns perfectly, always lending themselves to simplistic beauty and elegance for a bride. Pairing a more traditional dress shape with some funky accessories like those from our friends at BY NYE Jewellery, and you got yourself a bangin’ bridal motif. 

Images by: Scott Surplice, This Day Forward Weddings, & Willow & Co.

Not all of us like to try to pull of dainty shoulder straps, so, for us and for our fashions’ sake: the world rejoices at the return of the statement sleeve. Few do it better than Prea James. Real brides photographed here in Prea’s work are rocking sleeves in their own unique ways. Note the cleanly pulled back hair, next to the free spirit lengthy do, next to a more manicured and stunning curled look for hair. 

Point is, loves, that the gloves have come off for bridal rules in fashion and style. Today, in 2018, we suggest a dress that helps make a bold and beautiful statement about who you are —maybe a flashy earring or two— then call it good from there.

All of these beautiful designer’s wares can be found at our upcoming October 2018 pop up at Nishi Gallery. See you there!