Before & After
From wedding dress dyeing before and after examples to shortening and full conversions, this gallery shows how thoughtful repurposing can preserve the meaning of a dress while changing its future.
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MEGAN
Megan had a custom silk Andrea Hawkes gown for her special day. Fully silk and made to measure it required the upmost skill and care to create this naturally dyed repurposed dress. We removed the train and shortened the dress to make it more wearable, the perfect dress as a guest at a wedding or a party!
“It’s such a beautiful idea to be able to reinvent your dress to more a more wearable piece in your wardrobe but to also play around with designing something new, too. Giving your dress a new lease of life and knowing it comes with a sentimentality that could never be replicated means it will feel endlessly special every time you wear it. Such a gorgeous concept.
I loved being able to handpick the colours and patterns, and play around with different ways we could look to repurpose my dress. We kept it true to the original design in many ways, but have transformed it into a multi-wear, truly versatile dress that can now be styled up or down. The botanical hand-dyed element is my favourite; we’ve created a look that feels vintage and luxurious."
ELLIE
Ellie came to us with a dress she had worn for an event 15 years ago! With the idea to repurpose for a wedding she was attending..
“I've had this one dress in my wardrobe for over fifteen years. It's a pure silk Jenny Packham dress that I have had long before sustainability became the conversation it is today. It was simply a dress I loved too much to let go of as it was a timeless classic.
Originally a sample I had it shortened into a high-low hem, giving it a completely different feel and making it wearable. Despite that update, it still spent more time hanging in my wardrobe than being worn.
I chose the colour and packaged my dress off to London. A few weeks later it came back in the most incredible shade of yellow.
I absolutely love it, It's gone from being a dress I admired in the wardrobe to one I'm already planning where to wear next. It dyed so beautifully and reminded me that great design doesn't have an expiry date. Whether it's a wedding dress or a favourite evening dress, beautifully made clothes deserve to be worn, adapted and enjoyed for years—not hidden away.
Fifteen years on, my Jenny Packham dress has proved exactly that.”
Ellie