4 minute read
First Person
Laura Daly Owner of Bellissima Weddings in Chelmsford
Laura Daly says a whole new mindset is needed now to understand what brides of today – and tomorrow – really really want, and what influences those choices
It’s 2023 already - Happy New Year! But where have the last three years gone, please?
Customers, with their fluctuating expectations, and our suppliers with their oftentimes surprising take on the market and how many samples it’s possible to buy after three stagnant years, have both conspired to make for a very ‘interesting’ trading period. We’ve all had to react quickly in order best to adapt to the situation, rather than proactively planning and making things happen, as we’d normally like to do.
On top of all of this, there’s that age-old question; what will the next wave of brides want? What will they be looking for and what on earth will we all be buying in a couple of months for our shops? Gone are the days when we’d wait anxiously for the next collections, eager to see what original ideas, fabrics or shapes would be presented to us. The mission for all of us then was to buy correctly for our specific bridal tribes, knowing that whatever trend we picked up for our stores, it needed to be correct specifically for our area and for our bride. Once we’d done that, it was, to a greater degree, we bridal shops who dictated the fashions and trends; what brides would actually see, and ultimately buy.
Long before Covid reared its ugly head, it has to be said (and said with a good deal of regret) that things
were moving very swiftly away form this formula and firmly towards a more ‘homogenous’ bridal shopping experience with fewer unique designs and more ‘cookiecutter’ dresses.
Now, post Covid, with war in Europe, and a topsy-turvy world, there’s an awful lot of ‘same-same’ out there and it’s becoming increasingly rare to find much original thought in mainstream bridal at all.
So, how are we supposed to buy for our brides? How do we remain as unique as possible, when unique for a bride really means ‘perfect for me’ and not ‘completely different to everyone else’?
I think the answer lies in what our customer is looking at and searching for online - what she’s got on her wedding inspiration board on Pinterest, for example, and what her friends are tagging her in on Facebook (and her comments and responses), or what she’s being force-fed by certain labels on Instagram.
Get inside the bride’s head I think it’s wise to get all the information you can from your bride when she’s booking in - importantly, her Insta handle, Pinterest and Facebook, too. Then it’s worthwhile checking out her accounts, so that you can see what styles she likes or dislikes.
If her wedding date is coming up soon, with the lead times on gowns being what they are, there obviously isn’t time for you to take any great inspiration for your next buying trip. But there is still likely to be plenty of information to be gleaned from her social media activities, which could be very useful in helping her enjoy a seamless journey from her first visit through to finding her gown with you.
However, if her wedding is further away, this is where you can help yourself see where future trends may lie. You may notice that these brides aren’t all taking inspiration from lace sheath gowns with very long trains or A-line dresses with illusion necklines... they’ve seen thousands of them already on models online, not to mention the ones they’ve seen in person at the weddings of their friends or relatives.
Perhaps these girls are on the look-out for something a bit different. Most likely, gowns from expensive couture labels, and often they are either international labels with huge price tags but little or no representation in the UK, or the images are of older gowns no longer in production. But these are the dresses you should take notice of and keep in mind when you are next buying.
Most mainstream labels will have done similar research, they may well have developed something in their next collections already to show you - but, unless you recognise that ‘different’ dress as something that’s all over your bride’s feed, it’s easy to dismiss it as too much of a gamble.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about buying copies here; far from it. Mainstream fashion (albeit at a very much faster pace) does exactly the same - it’s not unusual to find a very similar garment at four or five different price points. It’s no longer the case that, by the time a style made it down the ladder to Primark, it was a dead trend - these days that style is everywhere at the same time.
Our customers understand this. After all, that’s how they take inspiration with their regular clothes, so I think it makes sense to tap into this mindset and make sure you’re playing the long game.
And, when you do see originality, if it’s wearable and commercial enough, snap it up - give it a go - live a little - because, yes, you’re worth it and, no, we don’t want a nice safe lace A-line to take over the world... How boring would that be?
SOPHIA TOLLI
AUSTRALI A www.sophiatolli.com
