TDT Interviews

On the sofa with The Mews Bridal

BRINGING THAT 'JE NE SAIS QUOI' TO BRIDES AT THEIR BRISTOL, LONDON AND NEW YORK BOUTIQUES

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Lead by Mother and Daughter team Gail and Lauren, The Mews Bridal has brought a breath of fresh air to the wedding industry with their keen eye for detail and a love of fashion. We had the chance to catch up with Lauren quite some time ago on a summers day at their Notting Hill Bridal Boutique and we were keen to find out more about why this boutique is so many brides go-to for their gown.

Upon walking in to the boutique, I was immediately hit by a beautiful scent, think summer with a hint of baby! The curation of gowns is second to none, an incredible mixture of French Lace and cool designs for fashionista brides. The stylists are warm, friendly and the space immediately invited me to have a cuppa (or glass of champers!) and get browsing.

The Mews carries TDT designers Margaux TarditsCaroline TakvorianMademoiselle de Guise and Isabella Boutin as well as other French designers, Rime Arodaky and Laure de Sagazan.

THE MEWS BRIDAL IS A FAMILY RUN BUSINESS SPECIALISING IN FRENCH DESIGNERS

Bringing fashion and Bridal together in a combination that Brides crave, The Mews provides that certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ for the bride that is looking for something unique yet effortlessly beautiful.

Lauren, tell us how The Mews got started!

My Mum Gail, has a background in fashion and she opened the Mews Bristol store almost 12 years ago now. The Mews originally started out with only British designers but I was living and working in France at the time which is where I discovered amazing French bridal designers like Delphine Manivet who actually was the first French designer we decided to carry. We then found Laure de Sagazan and Rime Arodaky back in 2012 when these brands had little or not worldwide stockists. We had a lot of brides travelling from London to the Bristol boutique which is when we decided to expand and open up shop in London. In Autumn of 2016, we took French bridal couture state-side with our third boutique in New York.

Pourquoi do you carry mostly French designers?

The style of the French designers is chic, timeless but also modern and you can't beat French silk or lace. We don't carry many designers as we want to keep the selection quite small, we want to make sure there isn't any cross over in terms of style. Each of our designers has their own pockets of style, Margaux Tardits is more romantic and floaty, Rime Arodaky is Edgy, Laure de Sagazan is Boho and soft, Delphine Manivet is couture and our newer designers like Caroline Takvorian has beautiful embroidered gowns, Mademoiselle de Guise has A line gowns which are not fitted but still has the modern edge and Isabella Boutin is feminine and contemporary.

My Mum and I luckily share the same vision for the store, what's important to us is that we want to make our brides feel different hence why we also don't display a dress in our windows as we dont want brides seeing a dress they have bought available for all eyes to see, it doesn't feel as special.

What is the secret in having such a great brand?

I think the fact we are exclusive and we are well known for being friendly and approachable. I absolutely love running this business and if I'm honest we have never really had a fixed plan, we have just gone with it and loved every minute of it. We have grown with our designers and I think that people like we're a family business.

What trends do you see emerging in bridal?

Brides seem to be going in the more simple direction perhaps seeing a bit of a less is more movement however bridal is so personal that I think brides go for more what they love and I think thats the best way to do it.

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Lauren: We want our brides to feel special, we're known for being more fashion forward so all of our stylists have worked in fashion before so we want our brides to feel like their in safe hands. We let brides pick their dresses but we say to our brides, you don't pick dresses every day so we let them choose what they want as well as some wild cards and in most cases the brides go for options that the stylists choose. We do a lot of styling days when we first get the dresses so the stylist knows what works best for each body shape.

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Lauren: At The Mews, we receive brides from all over the world as far even as Australia, we love meeting our brides as they're from all walks of life, have different jobs and each and every bride is unique, we love our jobs here! We get to know brides over a long period of time so we get to know family members etc which is so nice!

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