Style shoot: Chantal Mallet’s Mystic Autumn

Finding ourselves in the midst of a dusky, autumnal season, these images were just such a lovely autumn treat as they dropped into our inbox this week. Alternative wedding dresses are gaining in popularity, and in our 2018 trend alert, we saw that black was going to feature heavily in bridal design. Chantal Mallett is a UK couture bridal wear designer, specialising on one-of-a-kind, corseted gowns. She let us know how the shoot came about.

“We love brides that see their wedding as an expression of their personal style and embrace the concept of doing their day, their way. When I design gowns for my collection I design for ladies who are looking for the best, most perfectly ‘them’ dress they will ever wear, which is every bit as individual as they are. In the world of 21st century weddings, you can wear any colour, any style, indeed you don’t even have to wear a dress or marry a man.

“Our gown collection consists of a fairly even split between coloured and traditional shades but it was our black and gold dresses we recently shot with a fabulously creative fashion photographer that we couldn’t wait to show off. This shoot shows how you can style black with gorgeous autumnal florals and capture the magic of the season and fun of Halloween without straying into being too gothic or costumed.

“The high fashion styling was inspired by the amazing Dolce and Gabbana show at Lake Como that has been dazzling us on Instagram over the last few months where rich colours and black played against sumptuous florals. We also paid homage to Frida Kahlo with statement blooms in the model’s hair and looked to photographer Tim Walker to give the shoot its theatrical and romantic vibe.

“Dahlia flower beds and Virginia Creepers in the gardens of Rousham delivered the beauty of nature’s autumn colour palette. We created accessories to really style our dresses to our theme and when we saw the edits we loved how this shoot really captures a theme that brides can take and make their own and shows how brides can rock dramatic coloured wedding gowns.”

Suppliers

Gowns & Accessories and Styling – Chantal Mallett / Photography & Art Direction – Magic Owen / Hair & Make-up – Hallimah Abubacker of H Beauty / Model – Lita Flores Garcia / Boots – House of Elliot