Press, media and PR enquiries to: press@carolinearthur.com 01428 681727
Links to socials: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube
This page has details of the designer’s new book: RELOVABLE – What to do with your old wedding dress, released on 9th September 2024. Also included: Caroline’s bio, headshot, TV & radio media experience and links to articles, as well as background information covering a glimpse at her 20 year career and experience as a wedding dress designer, as well as her work in education and sustainability.
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British bespoke bridal gown designer Caroline Arthur studied Couture Bridal Wear at the London College of Fashion. She featured in the BBC hit TV show “Don’t tell the Bride” and commentated LIVE for The Independent, at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry at Windsor, talking about Meghan’s dress. Having designed, made and remodelled sustainable wedding dresses for over 20 years, she is known for having created the ground-breaking dress designer app CoutureKit. She grew up in a family of dressmakers and has a degree in Italian from Lancaster University. She spent a year in Florence and enjoyed 10 years working for Monsoon as an area manager in the 1990s.
As a member of Toastmasters International, the designer is an accomplished public speaker and YouTuber, and supports and mentors fashion design students and aspiring wedding dress designers, working closely with fashion colleges. Caroline recently set up her own independent creative online bookshop and has just written her first book: RELOVABLE, about upcycling your old wedding dress, which will be launched at British Bridal Week in Harrogate. She lives with her young family near Guildford in Surrey, UK. More about Caroline HERE.
JUST PUBLISHED: UK Fashion and Textiles Association, Wedding Trader , Bridal Buyer pgs 146-148
THE 10 IMAGES THAT FOLLOW ARE UPCYCLED OLD WEDDING DRESSES FEATURING IN RELOVABLE: the book
Vital statistics
Relovable – What to do with Your Old Wedding Dress by Caroline Arthur. Publication 9th September 2024, Hardback 240 pages, full colour photography with illustrations. Publisher: Wildacre Press, ISBN 9781399986304. Published in the United Kingdom, Country of Origin: GB. Availability: Worldwide. Dimensions 29.7 x 2.5 x 21.0cm.
Relovable is a sustainably produced charity fundraiser for the Fashion and Textile Children’s Trust.
Synopsis
Relovable takes the reader on a journey that begins with retrieving their old wedding dress from the loft, assessing its potential and exploring aspirational ideas for repurposing it. These ideas are demonstrated by transforming old wedding dress samples donated by designer bridal boutiques for this project, with practical inspiration for dyeing, painting, restyling or crafting, whether or not you can sew. Featuring stories from celebrities such as HRH Princess Beatrice, Livia Firth and Amelia Murs, the book is packed with quotes from real brides. It includes a unique wedding dress upcycling collaboration between the author and the London College of Fashion and shares insider tips from industry experts, and contributions from many designers and bridal brands, Relovable lifts the veil on how the bridal industry works and gives the reader a peek behind the scenes, explaining how bridal gowns are made and why they cost what they do, all the while demonstrating ways they can shed their reputation for only being worn once. This is a story about creativity, connection and circularity, with breathtaking illustrations and stunning editorial fashion images by Andrea and Eloise Verenini, of Verenini photography, taken at Burningfold wedding venue in Surrey, as well as contributions from several other distinguished photographers.
FLIPBOOK
Why Relovable was written
There are an estimated 10 million once-worn old wedding dresses out of circulation, tucked away in lofts in the UK alone * , and the question most environmentally-conscious brides ask at some point during their fitting is “What do people do with their wedding dress after the wedding?” . This is what sparked the making of this book. Brides-to-be sometimes ask out of curiosity, some feel a sense of waste at only wearing it once, and some because they’ve overspent and are wondering if they can sell or rent it afterwards. Many wouldn’t DREAM of parting with it, but they WOULD like to store it properly and to know what the other options are, and this book covers the topic from every angle.
“Lots of brides are interested in dyeing their dress so they can wear it again and there is precious little practical information available, particularly if your dress is synthetic, which the majority are. So I began some research, put my marigolds on and plunged into my dye bath,” says Author, Caroline.
The topic of dyeing opened up a whole new line of enquiry related to the environmental effect of using dyes, and sustainable solutions are offered throughout the book. Many of the author’s bespoke dresses in the past have been made from new polyester, and the packaging the fabric arrived in was plastic. She wanted to connect with and learn from the growing tribe of sustainably-minded brides who were asking her to make them a dress. Taking a step back and looking at the bigger picture, Caroline was struck by the reaction of her peers: “I put feelers out in the industry to see if there was anyone interested in exploring this with me. Momentum for the book grew as I was inundated with offers of help for the project from boutique owners, photographers and other suppliers across the industry”
Some brides visit multiple bridal boutiques, inspired by the extravagant celebrity weddings they see on social media, and often set unrealistic budgets. The pressure on boutiques and designers to meet their demand by producing more and more, cheaper and cheaper, illustrates the lack of awareness of many of the impact of their wedding dress choices. Meanwhile, more brides are now choosing ethically-made gowns with transparent supply chains, or pre-loved dresses, often with the intention of selling or renting them after the wedding. But there is a gap that needs to be plugged between the two brides. There is still huge demand for the affordable, mainstream brands, and many brands are trying to adjust their production methods in line with ethical and environmental ideals. But all of this takes time, and the author hopes Relovable will help to get things moving, just by giving visibility to the topic.
*Deduced from Office of National Statistics estimation that just under 30 million people are currently married, divorced or widowed in the UK. Some will no longer have their dress, some won’t have worn one, but most people who did, seem to have kept it.
Where to buy Relovable
Relovable is available to buy from author’s own independent online creative BOOKSHOP , set up for this very purpose, as well as from AMAZON, and a selection of bridal boutiques. Caroline was lucky enough to get three publishing offers but none quite hit the sustainability spot. So she set up her own imprint: Wildacre Press and self-published, printing in the UK and distributing sustainably, and directly from the printer to the reader. The bookshop is a cosy little digital nook, containting a curated selection of beatufiul creative books, handpicked by Caroline.
Relovable makes the perfect wedding gift for the bride-to-be and is designed to sit on the coffee table of every luxury bridal boutique. It will be loved by anyone who loves wedding dresses, or enjoys upcycling, or wants to live more sustainably..
The creation of CoutureKit, a unique and exciting design tool, was a career defining moment for Caroline. Every bespoke gown is unique, but at the start of her career as a designer in 2002, she quickly noticed the identifying features of the most popular styles, and the demand for simple, affordable wedding dresses. She distilled the most popular silhouettes into a small collection of separates, and created CoutureKit, a revolutionary digital dress designer app which allows the user to design their own dress online and then have it made. This was featured on stage by Caryn Franklin at the National Wedding Show in 2016 and was hugely popular, inspiring other designers to offer similar “pick and mix” collections.
How it works
Brides can have their unique and luxury couture vision created following the traditional bespoke route, from a sketch, a toile and a series of fittings as they work with the designer to reach the perfect design. Or, they can select from a gallery of CoutureKit styles, all as separates, and then come and try on physical samples in a variety of sizes, to help them choose their own unique combination, which is made in their choice of sustainbly sourced fabric. Caroline has built an enviable reputation for creating meticulously crafted wedding dresses with and without CoutureKit, and happy brides, as borne out by over 100 five-star reviews.
Sustainability
Having made new gowns from new fabrics for over 20 years, the Caroline Arthur Bridal brand is evolving, as the designer steps into a new era with the writing of the book Relovable. She now makes gowns from only from sustainably sourced fabrics, often woven from recycled fibres, deadstock or material harvested from existing gowns. She also specialises in remodelling pre-loved, ex-sample or heirloom gowns.
SPEAKING SOON at British Bridal Week, in Harrogate on 8th September, The Good Clothes Show NEC on 20th September, and Somerset House on 25th September 2024. Caroline is an active member of Toastmaster International, and passionate advocate of upcycling old wedding dresses, and she has become known for her engaging, funny and inspiring presentation style. She speaks regularly at schools and colleges about her creative career, sustainability in fashion and bridal wear, most recently at London College of Fashion, Farnborough College of technology and Guildford High School. She spoke at Thread, the textile festival in Farnham this summer, about upycling wedding dresses, and is booked to talk at a number of craft groups such as the Guildford Quilters later in the year.
Caroline is often approached by college tutors who are looking for someone from industry to bring some valuable insight to a project, and she also approaches colleges and encourages them to take old unwanted bridal gown samples and use them instead of new fabric, for teaching. She is passionate about using up what is currently redundant and sowing the sustainable, zero waste seed very early on in students’ minds. Thankfully, most tutors are already building sustainable modules into fashion courses, so they’re very receptive.
Caroline has a number of speaking events around and following the launch of her book Relovable, starting with a live interview at the British Bridal Show. She is starting to be asked to speak at some business events and would love to share her experience of writing a book, producing it independently and sustainably, and doing it as a charity fundraiser.
Within the bridal industry, a lot of the learning gets done “on the job” and a lot of the work involved is a solo pursuit. Guidance, advice, inspiration and the sharing of ideas is vital, and Caroline is often approached by designers and dressmakers who are either starting out, or have been running their businesses for a while. Some find they are either not making a living, or they’re finding the isolation and business side of things really tough. “..I coach them to understand more about branding, marketing and pricing as well as the nitty gritty of sewing and fittings. Frequently a dressmaker will be faced with a technical problem or fabric which is difficult to handle, and we share tips and solutions freely. It’s a lovely community and we’re all at different stages. I always welcome enquiries from other designers and dressmakers.”
Book Caroline to speak at your event or podcast HERE or call 01428 681727.
Press, media and PR enquiries to: press@carolinearthur.com 01428 681727
Links to socials: LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube
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“…I FELT ABSOLUTELY AMAZING ON MY WEDDING DAY AND SO CONFIDENT IN MY WEDDING DRESS. CAROLINE CREATED THE MOST STUNNING DRESS THAT WAS TOTALLY “ME” AND MY DRESS WAS BETTER THAN I COULD HAVE EVER IMAGINED…”
“…WORKING WITH CAROLINE WAS ONE OF THE MOST AMAZING EXPERIENCES, AND SHE MAKES YOU FEEL SECURE EVERY STEP OF THE WAY…”
“…I ABSOLUTELY LOVED MY DRESS! CAROLINE AND LOUISE BROUGHT TO LIFE THE VISION I HAD OF MY DREAM DRESS. IT WAS SO NICE TO BE ABLE TO TWEAK AND CHANGE IT TO MAKE IT COMPLETELY MY OWN!…”
I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line with your thoughts and questions – I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!
© Copyright Caroline Arthur 2020