Got a girl gang that comes in a variety of shapes and sizes? Planning a wedding aesthetic with a colour scheme? Look no further than Rewritten. Launched by friends Katie Arnott and Frances Cookson in 2016, the brand offers a chic and minimal edit of different dress styles (all designed and handmade in London) which come in different jewel-hued colours. So your girls can all don an exactly matching hue, but find a shape and cut to suit their figure – everyone’s a winner.
We caught up the ladies behind the uber-cool bridesmaid brand this week in the midst of the madness of London Bridal Fashion Week where they were showcasing their brand new collection, to find out a little bit more about the brand and the story behind their fashion-forward bridesmaid designs.
How did Rewritten start?
We created our brand in 2016 when Katie got married and couldn’t find any fashion-forward, chic, contemporary dresses for her bridesmaids. Fran’s background is fashion design and marketing and Katie is a retail guru so between us we were able to create Rewritten. Our dresses are designed for all of those uber cool bridesmaids out there, they are chic, sophisticated and take an entirely modern approach to bridal wear. The entire collection is hand-designed in London by Fran where we create contemporary designs in the most beautiful fabric and colour combinations.
How long does it take to order a Rewritten dress?
Our ‘buy it now’ collection of five of our best-selling styles across 10 colours are available to buy online on either next day delivery or standard delivery – you can have a full set of Rewritten dresses as soon as tomorrow!
The rest of our collection is made-to-order and takes 6-8 weeks from the time that our lovely bridesmaids place their order – all of our made-to-order collection are hand-crafted in London in our beautiful crepe and satin fabrics.
Which is your favourite style in the collection?
Fran; The Soho jumpsuit without a doubt – I wore it to a party at NYC Bridal Market and I felt absolutely fabulous in it.
Katie; I am in love with the Kyoto top and have ordered it for myself in three colours – I am going to style it up with our Amalfi trousers and down with a pair of jeans and ankle boots. Also our Mykonos is such a classic and I never tire of seeing girls rocking it out on the big day.
When you start to design a new collection, what is the process? Do you start with an overview of what you want to collection to be or a mood board with the elements you want to include?
Fran; We are inspired by so many influences! When we are creating a new collection we will put together a mood board that might have anything from architecture to Pantone references to flowers and photographs from a particular decade. For example, the 70’s was a key inspiration for some of our new styles like the Soho Jumpsuit, Kyoto top and Amalfi trousers. Then I will go away and design like crazy. I free-hand design and will try and come back with at least 50 or 60 designs for every 5 pieces we select.
Katie; Yes, and that’s when the selection process begins, we will sit as a team and look through all of the designs and colour ideas and weigh up which pieces we think are going to not only be beautiful when worn, but that are also practical and will make girls feel good about their bodies. We are very much an all-inclusive brand and believe that whatever your shape or size you should feel comfortable and gorgeous in one of our dresses.
What, in your opinion, sets your brand apart? What are your core values?
These are dresses that you want to wear again and again – they are beautifully cut, flattering and designed with detail and consideration – we like to call it sustainable bridesmaids dressing, no more unworn outfits gathering dust at the back of your wardrobe. Also we like to push the boundaries of bridesmaids dressing, we are constantly challenging the status quo – why not rock out a flowing palazzo trouser or jumpsuit on your best mates big day?
And finally we are proud to make our pieces in London where we have a local workshop, a big focus for us is sustainability, we use offcuts of fabric for pocket squares and smaller garments, and we are striving to become even more sustainable in 2019 with a number of projects that will hopefully allow us to achieve this.
What are your thoughts on mix-match bridesmaid dresses
We LOVE mix and match bridesmaids; it is one of our key brand identifiers and 99% of our brides put their girls in the same colour (or tonal colours) but different styles. We are big believers in the idea that not one style suits all, ultimately you want your bridesmaids to feel super comfortable and confident on your big day and so that’s why we are championing the mix and match trend – why not have one of your girls in our Soho jumpsuit, another in our Provence top & Siciliy skirt combo and the last in our classic Florence wrap dress? It makes for a much more modern, fresh look.
What is your number one piece of advice that you give to brides about choosing dresses for their bridesmaids?
When it comes to bridesmaids shopping, try not to have a very specific colour or style in mind. If there is one shade that you are searching high and low for you are sure to be disappointed and you may find it an almost impossible task – instead try to be a little more open minded and have a colour palette in mind – for instance our Heather, Oyster and Blackcurrant colours look amazing together. Similarly when it comes to style, your dream dress may be another girls hell and so it’s unusual that your band of best girls will feel happy all in the same style! Trust us, a bit of flexibility will go a long way when picking bridesmaids dresses.
Lastly, what are your favourite designers?
When it comes to bridal, we are of course big fans of all of the designers that the Mews carry – Delphine Manivet and Rime Arodaky are particular favourites.
Fashion wise, we are OBSESSED with the sequins and patterns that Temperley are currently rocking, for faux fur fun Charlotte Simone is always top of our list, Ganni for quirky Scandi cool girl style and Olivia Rubin for rainbow everything.
BOOK!
If you like what you see as much as we do, the Rewritten pieces will be exclusively available at our Clifton studio from 20th-27th April limited spots available so book fast – www.themewsclifton.co.uk/book
See the full Rewritten collection here.
