Behind the creation of my custom-made wedding dress is Annabé Créations Singulières, whose pretty story I explained in a previous article about this sewing workshop located between Paris and Laval, in France.
Today, I would like to tell you in detail about the whole process of creating my wedding dress that we went through together with Johanna Benuszak, the talented seamstress behind the Annabé brand. In my case, this process lasted nine months in total.
Johanna Benuszak
So, at the very beginning of the creative process, Johanna first asked me if I already had models, ideas, inspirations, a universe, for my future wedding dress... I then explained to her that I dreamed of a dress with simple, pure and elegant lines, without lace.
© Sassi Holford, Vivian Dress
I told her about a dress design I had spotted at the British designer Sassi Holford: the Vivian Dress. Indeed, I had a crush on the top of this dress which was in a thick fabric, with long sleeves and a plunging V neckline. This dress was also belted at the waist. However, I didn't like the bare back on this dress, nor the tulle skirt, so I had no other ideas about the back and the bottom of the dress.
Johanna then helped me a lot in my reflection by submitting several sketches, which respected the spirit of the dress I wanted and also my morphology. Thus, concerning the back of the dress, she suggested me to create a light natural slit, closed by three buttons in the top of the back, and to add also a row of buttons in the bottom of the back. She also suggested that I close each of the two sleeves with four buttons.
Concerning the bottom of the dress, she advised me a silk fabric, doubled with a tulle petticoat, in order to give fullness to the whole. We also imagined a relatively short train in order to have this essential marker of the wedding dress, but without it being a hindrance on the big day. Johanna had planned a button in my petticoat so that I could hang my train for the evening. Finally, she naturally adjusted the length of my dress to the height of the shoes I was wearing at the wedding.
All these reflections and suggestions that Johanna made to me were born from the muslins she made. For the novices like me, you are probably wondering: what is a muslin? Because, yes, the process of creating a wedding dress is rich in discoveries of a world quite fascinating and with its own vocabulary: that of the couture.
Thus, a muslin allows to reproduce our body envelope in a cotton fabric, in order to take in consideration each characteristic of our body so that the final garment is perfectly adjusted to our measures. It is also the muslin that allows to work directly on all the details present on the dress (neckline, opening, etc.).
From the first... To the second muslin!
In my case, Johanna first made two muslins on a thick cotton, then another muslin on a fabric closer to the rendering of the "final" fabrics from the sublime Belgian fabric store Stragier, which I explained in this other article how we had selected and purchased during an appointment in their store, near Brussels.
The last muslin before sewing the dress in the "final" fabrics!
You will have understood, each muslin leads to new fittings. For me, as the fittings went on, the emotion was more and more palpable for both of us because we were getting closer each time to the final result so dreamed and imagined during months. So, what can we say about the emotion of the dress worn during the final fitting and the emotion felt on the big day, when all this creative work is finally revealed to the eyes of your future partner for life and to those of all your relatives! Thank you Johanna.
The dress in its "final" Stragier fabrics (scroll to the side)!
So, if you can, choose Annabé Creations Singulières to have the chance to live this magnificent experience, both humanly rich and in discoveries, and be sure to be sublimated and unique in YOUR wedding dress for one of the most beautiful days of your life!
