Roots Collection

Today, my new wedding gown collection will be revealed. Roots-collection is my first large collection, of which 3 looks will be revealed already now. I am taking part in the Wedding Dress Designer of the year 2020-award. The competition takes place here: Häät.fi I would be thrilled to get your vote. There are 14 looks in total in my collection, 3 of which are revealed already now. Remaining looks will be revealed gradually every 3rd month leading up to the summer 2021. Be sure to follow my social media channels: Instagram & Facebook to stay updated.

As the name of the collection may suggest, Roots is a part of me. Roots tells my story, a story of my roots. I grew up in Finland. My father is a Swedish Finn. My grandmother lived in the USA for as long, as I can remember. All this has affected my life and I feel that my childhood was largely spent in between the three cultures. Finland is my homeland. The Finnish-Swedish culture is filled with its own old and strong traditions. American culture in its turn is largely about believing in the future, about daring to do things, about being international and very optimistic, which I find very important especially in our times.

The dresses in this collection have been designed for big church weddings, as well as small and intimate weddings at the City Hall. The fabrics of all gowns are of premium quality, which makes them reusable. I have used luxurious silks, and now, for the first time also viscose.

Why do I use silk in my creations? Because silk has a unique and rare shine to it, it feels wonderful on your skin, it breathes in hot temperatures and warms you in cool weather. Personally, I do not know of any other fabric that would be of as excellent quality as silk; simply the best for one's most important day in life. A gown made of silk can also be died after the wedding day, and thus be used more than just once.

Why viscose then? - you may ask. Because I was on a lookout for an alternative for my clients. Something that would be as close to silk in texture, as possible, but would offer my clients a less expensive option. Viscose is a regenerated fiber made of cellulose. It is also a breathable fabric, it shines beautifully and in my opinion is the best alternative for a wedding day gown, alongside with silk.

There are 3 different looks in this collection, which is a part of the competition. The first look consists shirt jacket and trousers. Second look has a dress and a detachable train. Third look has a long wedding gown. The outfits are all inter mixable and the detachable train from look 2 can for example be used with trousers from look 1. The gowns can be ordered in 4 different colours and from two different price ranges. The gowns made of silk come in one colour-natural white and black. The gowns made of viscose can be ordered in natural white, rose, mustard-yellow and black colours. This makes the outfits suitable also for other occasions, and makes them a perfect choice also for wedding guests. The entire collection has been designed in Finland and every single piece of this collection is handmade in Finland. Delivery time for these gowns is 11 weeks from placing the order.

This competition collection was done in collaboration with a jewellery designer Gina Bulgamin-Salo. Gina designed a magnificent flower-themed jewellery set for these gowns. The jewellery set consists of a ring, earrings and an outstanding dress adornment. All jewellery is made of silver together with semi-precious white stones. All jewellery can also be ordered with black stones, which would look gorgeous worn with an evening dress for example. The dress adornment is fully detachable and thus can be used with other dresses on variety of occasions.

The photo shoot took place in Espoo's Keilaniemi, in a restaurant called Lucy in the Sky. It is a place situated 80 meters above the ground with absolutely magnificent views of Helsinki and Espoo in all four directions. There is a cabinet which is avalbale for reservations to be used for weddings or other special occasions.

Thank you to all parties participating in this photo shoot. We had a superb team and you all did an incredible job!

Million thanks!

Photos: Susanna Nordvall https://www.susannanordvall.com & Instagram

Video: Valofilms https://www.valofilms.fi & Instagram

Jewelry: Gina Bulgamin https://www.ginabulgamin.com & Instagram

Muah: Miia Ollula https://www.miiaollula.fi & Instagram

Model: Amanda Hakalax Instagram Paparazzi https://www.paparazzi.fi & Instagram

Flowers: Pinja Drufva https://www.pinjadrufva.com & Instagram

Fabrics: Villisilkki Helsinki https://www.villisilkki.fi & Instagram

Venue: Lucy in the Sky https://en.lucyinthesky.fi & Instagram

All help: Kukka-Maaria Heikkinen

Lovely Autumn everyone!

Love,

Anna

Temptations Collection

I participated in Wedding Gown Design Competition for the Love Me Do Fair 2019. With my Temptations collection I made it to the finals of the competition. The name of the collection represents the bride`s wish to be as beautiful and as seductive as possible on her wedding day. The collection consists of 3 different gowns for three different body types.

The theme of the competition was body positivity. With this collection I wanted to serve women of different sizes, both smaller and bigger. The dresses were designed to highlight the best sides of each target group. We all have parts in our bodies that we do not like that much, but luckily it is the overall appearance that counts. Other people view us as a whole and they see our best parts. The target of this collection is to get the bride to feel as beautiful, sexy and as self-confident as possible on her wedding day.

Each gown is designed to bring out the best parts of each body type. All dresses are meant to get the bride feel absolutely perfect on her wedding day, focusing on beautiful face and bringing out the overall appearance in the best possible light.

The dresses from this collection are all made of the high quality silk, starting from the outer fabric all the way to the linings of the dresses. I have also used embroidered fabrics of the highest quality. The dresses are all hand-tailored and thus unique.

Dress 1 was designed for petite woman with smaller chest. The dress is a full length wedding gown. The idea behind the dress was to make the bride appear taller. This dress does not have any horizontal seams, on the contrary, all seams are vertical as to enhance the tall appearance. The dress has a deep neckline in the front and an open back, which make the dress quite sexy. The gown has short lacy sleeves as to draw the attention from the slim arms to the beautiful lace.

Dress 2 was designed to fit size 38. The top part of the dress is close-fitting, and it has embroidered fabric on top of the silk. The hem of the dress is straight and has a deep slit. Shoulder straps are thin and elegant. This gown has a long, detachable train.

The 3rd dress was designed to fit plus size woman. This dress highlights the best parts of the body-the bust, the décolleté area and the narrow waist. The gown has beautiful detailing at the bust, a low décolleté, and horisontal cut right under the chest area at the most narrow line of the body. Beautiful bust and the gorgeous, deep décolleté naturally draw attention towards themselves and the beautiful face of the bride. This gown has 3/4 sleeves, which is how it is possible to draw the attention to the most narrow parts of the arm.

The fabric of all the dresses is silk. Silk is known to be a high quality fabric, which breathes well and feels pleasant against the skin. Silk fabric can be dyed, which means that later on it is possible to remake these wedding gowns for example into evening dresses. The linings of the dresses, as well as the thread used for sewing are all made of silk, so that the possible dyeing of the gown later on would be as successful, as possible. Silk lining of the dresses also enables the clients to feel luxurious on the most important day of their lives. The lace parts of the dresses are possible to dye with special fabric colorants.

This collection was primarily designed keeping in mind body positivity. The idea behind the collection is to highlight female beauty in all its shapes and sizes. Personally, I think that body positivity means accepting your own body regardless of it's size-big or small. When the best parts of the body are reconised, it is possible to highlight them. It is important to feel confident on one's wedding day, and forget all the self-critique one may have. After all, your spouse has chosen you just the way you are.

Big thanks to

Models Ellen, Heidi and Elisa!

Antti Rintala for photos https://www.anttirintalaphoto.com !

Anne Rautio for make-ups !

Pinja Drufva for flowers https://www.pinjadrufva.com !

Gina Bulgamin-Salo for jewellery https://www.ginabulgamin.com !

Seurasaaren Kruunu for beautiful photo shooting place https://seurasaarenkruunu.fi !

With love, Anna

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The modernising of the vintage dress

In my work, I create completely new dresses, as well as create new dresses out of old ones. This time, I would like to tell you about modernizing of a vintage dress.

When a dress is being fixed or remodeled, you may create anything at all. You may apply only small corrections, or you may use the fabric from the entire dress, or only a part of it. Usually I request my clients to pay me a visit with the dress. Together we can see what can be possibly done with it. Usually only your imagination is the limit to what can be done. Oftentimes, modernizing of a vintage dress is also cheaper than creating a new dress altogether.

The fabrics from old dresses are often of a very good quality, sometimes even better quality than the new fabrics. The linings, on the other hand are oftentimes poor and made of unbreathable fabrics, so it is recommended to change them. A professional can create a model of a dress just from the pieces of the dress itself, this way it is easy to change the lining, if needed. Also zippers have changed and developed along the years, so it is recommended to change those as well. Vintage buttons and decorations on the other hand are unique to their time, so I would really recommend keeping and reusing them.

In the photos you can see an old dress of my client’s grandmother, which has been modernized. Initially this dress was too big for my client, a little too long, and a little too baggy. At first the dress was slimmed in accordance with my client’s measurements. The hemline of the dress was changed from a straight line into a trendy tulip shape. We also wanted to add a little sexy edge into the dress, so we shortened it. At the same time we shortened the lining, making the hem of the gown appear just that tiny bit transparent.

The fabric of this dress was in a good condition. The lining was made out of silk, and was also in a good condition so we definitely wanted to keep it. The zipper was changed. We removed the lining from the sleeves, thus making the dress a little lighter. The lace on sleeves end hem of the skirt was cut according to the shape of the lace and treated with lacquer to prevent fraying.

Here you can see the result of my work. Grandmother’s old dress was like new again and a client got a beautiful dress for her friend’s wedding.

These photos were taken in a beautiful Finlandia hall, where it is possible to arrange weddings and other celebrations.

Thank you to my client for remodeling this gown with me, and for modeling at this beautiful photoshoot!

Thanks to Finlandia hall http://www.finlandiatalo.fi for letting us use this gorgeous set!

Thanks to Niki Strbian https://www.nikistrbian.com for beautiful photos!

Thanks to Miia Ollulla https://www.miiaollula.fi for the lovely make up & hair!

PS. If you are planning a wedding, I really recommend taking a look at Finlandia hall’s wedding package. The building is quite majestic, with absolutely gorgeous views onto Töölö bay.

Wishing you all a lovely day!

With love, Anna

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