Minimal & Modern Bridalwear From Designer Charlie Brear

Charlie Brear is a designer whose experience and creativity shines through in everything she does. Today we're sharing her gorgeous new collection of minimal bridalwear, Day For Night. This collection is definitely for the stylish brides out there, who want their wedding dress to be sleek, elegant and fashion forward. Sound like your thing? Read on for my interview with Charlie, for more pictures of gorgeous CB bride Jessie, who looked utterly gorgeous in her wedding gown and the campaign images for Day For Night. I have a feeling you're going to love these dresses...

Hi Charlie! We all love your latest collection of minimal bridalwear, the simplicity is so refreshing. Was this intentional, or did it happen naturally?

Our gowns are identified by a fashion-led aesthetic that’s clean and contemporary with a feminine edge, so our collections tend to be fairly understated in style. Our brides have a strong sense of self and are typically modern in their style, preferring a beautifully simple dress that can be customised with our Styling Additions pieces to create their own individual look.

This collection has a real focus on beautiful fabrics - were there any you particularly loved working with?

Fabrics are really important to us and we source amazing, luxurious fabrics from all over the world – many of which can provide the inspiration for our designs. I personally love the embroidered pieces for the Onilie dress and Thebe and Tora tops, our light as-a-feather silk crepe de chine in blush, and the super shiny metallic rose gold leather for the Zeke cape is my absolute favourite! It’s really for the coolest most directional of brides - of which we tend to attract a few!

You’ve always used colour in such a lovely way, why were you drawn to pastel shades this season?

I’ve not used pastels much in the past as I tend to love really strong statement colours for eveningwear but the softer shades felt really fresh and new this year. I fell in love with the muted floral that we used and the other colours in the palette really took their lead from that fabric.

Tell us about dressing Jessie - she looked incredible and feels like such a genuine Charlie Brear bride!

Jessie (from We The People) had a really strong idea of how she wanted to look - we went through quite a few bodice options but the sleeves were something that she had a concept for. She had fallen in love with our Beaton skirt which is an addition that came from a previous dress that I designed a few years ago. Little touches like the folded organza on the front line of the bodice were very last minute. The sleeve and skirt additions are now both available to order so that any bride can create that look. We are launching a styling dress that will echo her neckline but can be used across the board with any of our additions. She also wore the Nyika dress from our new Day for Night collection for her ceremony in New Zealand - she looked stunning in both.

What can a bride expect from a visit to your flagship store?

Our flagship studio is a beautiful, private and intimate space which our brides love visiting. We have a dedicated CB Style Team based there, whose job it is to guide brides as much or as little as necessary. Some women are very confident in their style and need little or no advice, whereas others need more reassurance. We advise all brides to choose a look they feel totally at ease in – both physically and emotionally. We’ll talk them through the collections and then show how to style their look with the styling additions. A beautiful bride is one who appears relaxed and comfortable, and so it is important to pick a wedding day look that’s in keeping with your signature style – whether that’s romantic and floaty or pared back and minimal.

We love the glamour evoked by the name ‘Day For Night.’ How did the concept for this collection come about?

For 2019 we wanted to take the brand back to its roots with a strong focus on the styling additions pieces, which is what we’re best known for. I drew inspiration from the 1970s French film ‘Day for Night’ starring Jacqueline Bisset to create a collection that features minimalistic draped gowns, wrap and kimono shapes alongside sheer, intricately embroidered creations - all sharing a strikingly stylish aesthetic for women. The film is named after the filmmaking process referred to in French as la nuit américaine ("American night"), whereby sequences filmed outdoors in daylight are shot using film stock balanced for tungsten (indoor) light and underexposed (or adjusted during post production) to appear as if they are taking place at night. In English, the technique is called day for night, which is the film's English title.

The Zeke cape is INCREDIBLE - we want to know details, the fabric, the cut, the colour and when will we see brides wearing it?

We love it too! It’s made from a stunning rose-gold metallic leather and can be worn over a number of our dresses for a really striking, fashion-forward look. The Spring collection – which Zeke is part of – lands in stores from July onwards so hopefully we’ll be seeing brides wearing it over the coming months!

For brides based outside of London, where are your stockists?

We have over 50 stockists nationwide and internationally. Details of all stockists can be found on our website.