Rasbery Pavlova, bridal wear combining craftsmanship and the contemporary, confirmed for Most Curious 2019
Rasbery Pavlova is a bridal brand built on passion, skill and the idea of your wedding dress being a free spirited reflection of not just you but you and your love.
‘I am a terrible romantic and totally believe in finding your soul mate,’ describes creative director Dawn Freeman. ‘I feel strongly that true love sets you free, allowing you to pursue your dreams whilst still being yourself. So this was the starting point for Rasbery Pavlova. I wanted to create a brand that wasn't just about one person, that dress; I wanted the brand to be about marriage, the whole deal. I design thinking about the individual getting married and what that means to them.’
Rasbery Pavlova and their beautifully made separates and bespoke offering will be joining us at the 2019 London show, picked to show in the bridalNEXT section of the event. They will be there with the current collection RELEASE that can be combined to create 9 unique bridal looks and even some teasers of the new TOUCH capsule collection first to be seen at Most Curious, not set for launch until later in 2019. Aaand they will even have some exclusive designs available only to Most Curious attendees!
Read on to see and hear more about this relatively new name on the block, that expertly straddles a fresh, modern, innovative outlook as well as a solid, trained and traditional crafts(wo)manship foundation. Our favourite combination.
Dawn has a huge love for pattern cutting and couture techniques and graduated with a 1st in Fashion Design Dawn opened a tailoring studio where she honed her skills in pattern cutting, working with top high-street names including Phase Eight, Coast, Jaeger & Moss Bross to name a few, as well as working on producing collections for students at Central Saint Martins, & many start-up fashion businesses. We also love that Dawn’s story is one of an enduring sense of love after adversity, with the irony being that she started Rasbery Pavlova after her own divorce. ‘Yes it’s odd,’ says Dawn, ‘but deciding to follow my heart has restored my faith in love.’ A beautiful phoenix from the ashes, a notion we’re sure in part inspired the name RELEASE and its designs.
Dawn designs on the dress stand rather than by sketching, finding this a more natural way for a design to evolve and work well with the body.
‘I never related to starting with a sketch, I'm more visual - and I believe that if you understand the principles of pattern cutting and making a garment, you can understand how a women's body reacts to a silhouette’ she describes. This, along side her love of Japanese pattern cutting and its architectural and minimalist lines, has merged to create the Rasbery Pavlova look.
‘I also purposely took every job I could in order to develop my skill set for design. So from making samples for Central Saint Martins degree shows, designing line sheets for independent companies, and even making bee keeping outfits!’
After a few years working from her home studio she opened my own tailoring shop CHALLK. With a small makers team they offered mens tailoring, and bespoke commissions. It was here that the seed for Rasbery Pavlova was planted. Many clients came in for their wedding dresses to be designed by us because they couldn't find anything that suited their individual style. Some ladies had never worn a dress and dreaded the idea of walking down the aisle in a big meringue.
The overriding experience of her customers were that options on the high street were limited for those who didn’t want a big white wedding. And so, Rasbery Pavlova was born! Seeing a gap in the market for a bridal separates, and designs that catered for a modern bride, Dawn took the first steps and launched a separates range from Barcelona in 2016. At first available exclusively online with bespoke options for every design.
RP continue to make everything in-house, with a team of artisan seamstresses, which is why they can offer tweaks and changes to all our designs (RELEASE and then soon to include TOUCH), as well as bespoke fit, from adjusting our current designs to suit each brides taste and body shape, changing the colour, fabric, adding a train, sleeves, altering the neckline..
‘If that’s not enough we can design you a unique piece,’ says Dawn. ‘We’ve had brides from all over the world asking for bespoke pieces, our favourite being a bespoke veil for a bride in Nashville. We called it ‘random hearts’ and featured hand painted hearts all over it we loved it, and the feedback was even better - “y’all keep killing it”.
‘Our goal is to allow each bride to develop their own signature look on their wedding day. We believe our brides are more than the dress,’ describes Dawn. ‘We’ve really thought about our customer and wanted to create looks and silhouettes that would make each bride feel comfortable whilst still look amazing and very importantly, a dress they can dance in!’
Some more great feedback from their real brides totally illustrate this.
Rebecca & Tim got married in Cincinnati / Ohio
“Thank you so much, its everything I wanted and more, I can’t believe I get to wear something that suits me personally & still makes me feel like a bride – I can’t wait to wear it!”
Alex and Cody
Married in Colorado on top of a mountain which she had to hike to! We designed a light weight stylish outfit to fit her tiny frame and allow her to trek the mountain whilst looking like a bride.
“It was comfortable beyond words, everything fitted fantastically. We hiked a mountain for our wedding & this outfit was flexible, but so stylish.”
Rasbery Pavlova remains mainly an online buying experience, but even this shows how forward thinking Dawn is she’s not a follower, she’s carving her own path which of course has caught our eye.
‘Of course it can be daunting for some brides,’ Dawn explains of the way it works, ‘but offering skype consultations, style advice and free samples all adds to the experience. We wanted to make the whole process as special as possible, every piece is made-to-order and every element is designed to make our brides feel unique.”
However, they are expanding as we speak with a big plan in the pipeline that is taking shape. As of September this year they are now stocked in three boutiques St. Ives Bridal Room, Flamingo Boulevard Bridal Salon a fashion forward boutique in Liverpool and most recently the super cool German boutique everyone wants to be seen in, White Concepts.
So what can you see at the show?
Come along to see RELEASE - the first RP capsule collection, celebrating modern romance and traditional craftsmanship, from the clean Barcelona silhouette to our ultra-romantic Belleza tulle skirt with lace overlay. Every piece can be mixed and matched to create your own unique style.
You will also get a first hand look at the brand new capsule collection TOUCH for 2020, launching later in the new year and available to stockist from August 2019. Select pieces will be available for pre-orders online from the end of March.
“TOUCH is an exploration in embellishment and texture. Its inspired by sensory memories that evoke a place in time. For us it’s the next step in our design journey, pushing the boundaries of bridal separates whilst still retaining our accessible price point.”
“We are over the moon to be selected for bridalNEXT at Most Curious. Yep, we’ll be bringing pieces from the collections but we are most excited to be bringing some limited edition designs with us that will only be available for brides who visit the show.”
You heard it here first guys! Rasbery Pavlova a brand for those who want quality and craftsmanship and a truly bespoke outlook but with no hint of the stuffiness that you might associate with those terms. Instead comfort, pushing the idea of bridal, playfulness and femininity abound, we can’t wait to see Rasbery Pavlova fly further at Most Curious 2019.
Get your tickets here!
London Show dates 1st-3rd March at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London.
Find more on Rasbery Pavlova and see all the latest on their insta.
Email Dawn herself to enquire about anything RP on dawn@rasberypavlova.com