The Behind the Scenes of the making of the ‘Antonia’ Bridal Gown
Come Behind The Scenes with Ange, the designer and founder of We Are Mancini, as she uncovers her inspiration and design process when creating the Antonia Bridal Gown.
An Introduction To The Antonia Bridal Gown
The Antonia Dress is one of our favourite dresses within our collection, with its understated charm yet striking silhouette, making it the perfect dress for any wedding occasion. Designed with a delicate crepe draped neckline, it’s timeless features make it perfect for an engagement party, welcome dinner, ceremony or reception.
The Inspiration
Once Ange has an initial idea for a dress, but before beginning the design process, she creates a mood board of images, encompassing pictures of the feeling she wants the dress to create, to the fabric and design elements included within it. This is a critical stage of the process of creating any of the We Are Mancini collection, as we design with the intention that each piece goes beyond an outfit, but also is a feeling and atmosphere. From architecture to iconic runway moments, inspiration for the Antonia Gown came from so many different places. See below a snapshot of Ange’s mood board.
Time To Design
Once Ange has formed a collection of key inspiration sources, she begins sketching out the dress to begin the pattern making process. As Ange says, the pattern making stage is the most important aspect of creating a bridal gown, as it brings the sketches to life, and enables her to get the perfect fit through many sample stages. Once the first sample of the Antonia Gown arrived, Ange took time to ensure it was comfortable, easy to move in, and flattering on all body shapes.
Perfecting The Details
The Antonia Gown has statement features, particularly its gathered one shoulder detail that drapes into a soft asymmetrical cowl neckline, and then flows to a rouleaux strap. Ange had many iterations of this within the design process, wanting to ensure it sat perfectly for all brides of different bust sizes. Its full length bias cut sits slightly longer at the back to give the illusion of a small train, another design feature that she spent time perfecting, ensuring it was still moveable, yet draped nicely off the body’s natural curves.
How To Style
The versatility and simplicity of the Antonia Gown means it can be styled in so many different ways, with no real limitations to hair, jewellery or shoes. Our favourite way to style it is through natural, wavy hair, and jewellery that accentuates the draping neckline and elegant long skirt.
