When searching for a suit, the body binary of wedding fashion that’s forced on us by the mainstream really comes out to play. Men’s suits here. Women’s suits there. What never makes sense is how gender bendy a lot of fashion designers have been in the past, and how seemingly little of that has come into wedding fashion. That’s why we exist.
One of my favorite things is mixing styles with different fabrics, and making it fit that one person perfectly. It helped with Sarah to have their input on how things felt on. I made sure the fit was balanced from the outside. This design dialogue, as I’ll call it, needs both client and designer to work together, not only for fabric choices, but for the fit.
Making a Suit for Them
Sometimes I’ll get a request that I just can’t fulfill, which is really disappointing, but with time and dedication I was able to fulfill Sarah’s request to have fabric like they found in a photo for their vest. I did image searches, mixed I don’t know how many words to try and find this fabric, until maybe 3 or 4 months later, I found it! The vest fabric is from Motif Handmade, a company that offers hand woven fabric, made ethically and sustainably. That was an exciting text to send.
Fabric sourcing can be one of the longest parts of the process. I work with deadstock, and short runs of fabric, and only have a couple of companies I buy from in bulk- and that bulk is only, at max, 20-25 yards. To keep my studio sustainable, I choose to only buy what I need, or what I know I will be able to use. In contrast, bigger studios will buy in the hundreds and thousands of each fabric, in order to make hundreds, if not thousands, of any one garment.
My studio, and my mindset, doesn’t make room for that. For instance, I bought just enough lining for Sarah’s suit. No more. No less. If someone came to me and asked for that same lining, I’d probably be able to find something similar, but the exact fabric? Not necessarily.
The beauty of custom
With a custom suit, everything is a decision. Yes, I could make all the decisions, and I do for the clients who want that, but I will always make sure that everyone has an opportunity to see what options I can find, and make choices based on things they’ve said they liked, not just the same choices offered to everyone. Yes. Especially buttons.
I love searching for vintage buttons, and I tend to look for things that aren’t your normal, run of the mill button. Sure I have some that are standard button sets, but I also have fun ones. I never know who’s going to fall in love with them.
Watching Sarah slip on their suit once everything was set was really exciting. There’s something about the confidence of someone who knows they look good that can’t be compared. No one can shake you when you feel that good. And you know you look good because you’re the most critical of yourself.
Thank you for this amazing team who worked on Sarah and Kylee’s wedding:
Lens: @abbeyelainephoto
Venue: @indyhostel
Decor/design: @copperjadeevents
Floral: @copperjadeevents
Catering: @citybbq
Videographer: @reploglestudios
Custom Suit: @thehouseofbreton
Dress: @lovecurvycincinnati
Makeup: @thatonebillyguy
Hair: @dolled_by_dani Mack Owens
