Couturier Annalise Harvey will design the showpiece bridal gown that will close the fashion show at this year’s Jane Austen Festival. 

The festival, now in its thirteenth year, is an annual celebration of the ever-popular novelist and her work. More than eighty events are held over nine days, with the world-famous costumed promenade, a masked ball and a fashion show amongst the highlights of the busy schedule.

Taking inspiration from Pride & Prejudice, Austen’s most loved novel, the catwalk show will trace a history of fashion throughout the 200 years since the novel’s publication before breathing life into the story with a parade of costumes inspired by its much-loved characters.

In keeping with tradition of fashion shows throughout the decades, the event will conclude with a wedding gown, designed by award winning bridal designer Annalise Harvey and inspired by Elizabeth Bennet, the protagonist of Austen’s most enduring work.

 A 200-year old literary heroine makes an unlikely muse for a bridal designer but this commission is custom-made for Cornwall based Annalise. A graduate from Central St Martin’s with an MA from the London College of Fashion, Annie’s unusual CV boasts ten years as a theatre costume designer, most recently at internationally acclaimed dance house Sadlers Wells.

But alongside her lifelong love of Jane Austen’s work, Annalise’s true and most enduring passion is reserved for fashion heritage, exploring the history and the significance of clothing throughout the centuries. 

“Every piece of clothing has multiple personal history stories,” says Annalise. “Clothing is not just an expression of our own personalities but of the social conventions of the time.

 “Regency England, which Pride & Prejudice depicts, was a society largely defined by class and sexual inequality – a woman’s financial security was almost entirely dictated by her ability to secure herself a husband of means and position and making a personal choice or marrying for love were privileges very few could afford. 

“Her refusal to adhere to those conventions is what makes Lizzie Bennet one of literature’s most popular heroines – instead of allowing herself to be dictated to she shows herself the equal to any man of her acquaintance with her intelligence, wit and courage.

 “The force of character that Lizzie displays is what makes designing this gown for the festival such a fascinating project. Before beginning the design process for any gown, whether for a fashion show for a character such as Lizzie or for a modern bride for her own wedding day, I make sure I have a good understanding of my ‘source material’ – the personality, the likes and dislikes and the aspirations of the wearer. By regularly returning to those key factors throughout the process I am able to create a gown that is beautiful, entirely unique and so natural to the bride that for her to wear any other gown on her wedding day would become unthinkable.”

Part of the Prince’s House collective of bridal creatives based in Truro, Cornwall, Annalise began designing wedding dresses in 2001. Having moved to the area from London three years ago, she was named Cornish Brides magazine’s Designer of the Year for 2013 and the South West Regional Winner in the 2013 Wedding Industry Awards. 

Alongside her bespoke bridal designs, Annalise also offers the Nostalgia Collection, a range of exquisite heritage inspired bridal gowns hand-made to order. The collection captures the essence of 20th century design throughout the decades, reclaiming ‘vintage’ fashion by combining period inspired designs with contemporary couture techniques.

Following the Jane Austen Festival, Annalise will be holding a series of events in and around Bath to showcase her collections. Prices start at £850 for the Nostalgia Collection and from £1,500 for a bespoke gown. For further information regarding these events or to book a consultation please visit www.annaliseharvey.com

 ‘The Regency Fashion Show – Pride & Prejudice at 200’ will take place on Saturday 14th September at the Guildhall in Bath. Tickets for this and all events at the Jane Austen Festival are now available online at www.bathboxoffice.org.uk 

I've been working on some exciting bespoke invitation design projects recently and thought I'd do a little round-up to share with you all.

I had a London client call me up after some digital Save the Date invitations that she could drop into an email. Her partner and herself are having an Indian wedding on a coffee plantation in Nairobi. The wedding is on Christmas eve and they are supporting a charity which saves orphaned baby elephants. 

I had a couple of days to turn the design around and the challenge was to incorporate the elephant and coffee theme using the colours red and green, also referencing their Indian heritage.

I produced a few ideas for my client to have a look at:

and then progressed onto the final design stage once I had got some feedback from her about what she had pictured for her Save the Date e-cards.

A client from St. Austell came in to Princes House to see me. Her daughter had bought some blank butterfly invitations from a craft store to print at home and then realised afterwards that she needed matching reply cards and a menu options card to send out with the invitations. Her daughter also wanted to send out a mini card with a poem on which is a really sweet and polite way of requesting wedding gifts or money.  I designed some stationery to tie-in with the butterfly theme and printed it on luxury thick textured white card with white hammer textured envelopes. They looked stunning in the end and my client was really happy to get something which matched her theme! 

And last but not least, I designed some beautiful headed letter paper for Princes House's very own wedding coordinator Helena Giles! 

Helena's logo features a lovely purple peacock feather and has an art deco feel to it so I reflected this in my choice of font for her contact details on the bottom. I teamed the lovely thick paper up with some strong black envelopes for that real sense of luxury.

If you would like something bespoke designed for you, whether it's for a wedding, business or other important event/ function please get in touch with me about my service - Natalie Fox Bespoke Stationery. I also have lots of wedding invitation designs that can be personalised and ordered through my company The Wedding Stationery Co which is based at Princes House and can also be found online at www.weddingstationeryco.com


Call or email Natalie today to to find out more - 07838 778 553 or [email protected]! 

Last time I freelanced for Jane it was a snowy January and we were making the spring summer collection ready to go into the department stores.

This time in the heat of summer we were producing couture one off hats for celebrity clients and members of the Royal family for Royal Ascot.

Everything we made was completely had crafted from scratch. This included ‘blocking’ the shapes on specially hand carved wooden hat blocks, re-enforcing each shape with wire,  hand dying feathers, curling feathers, stitching in linings, sewing on sparkles, making custom bows, lace trims, flowers and fabric swirls to name but a few of our daily tasks. 

I have included some behind the scenes shots to give you an idea of the process and the time invested in making each hat.

It was a very busy time and our work was only interrupted by intermittent shrieks of excitement as we all huddled round the TV and spotted various people wearing the hats that we had made, sometimes just the day before.

Some of the women Jane designed for included:

Emma Spencer, who wore three of Jane's hats whilst presenting on channel four, The Countess of Wessex, who wore three of Jane’s creations during the course of the week,  Danielle Liniker, who wore an elegant large brimmed hat in mint on day one,  Amanda Wakeley, who rocked a modern take on the classic straw boater on day two and a dramatic pleasant feather head piece on  ladies day (seen in the Vogue online photo)

Jane Taylor’s style is very elegant and flattering. She takes inspiration from vintage styles and makes them her own by using contemporary materials and techniques.  She is not afraid to make dramatic show pieces (such at the hat she made for Amanda Wakeley) and equally intricately beautiful smaller accessories (such as the Ivory beaded cocktail hat for Emma Spencer.)

Ascot is such a great occasion for hats and fashion, it is a perfect excuse to dress to impress, at an event that is quintessentially British!

Colours that were well represented at Ascot this year were nude, coral, black, mint, purple, teal, Navy and a touch of neon.

Anything goes at Royal Ascot and it is a brilliant celebration of creativity, style and humor and of course fantastic for British Millinery.

More of Jane Taylor’s hats can be seen at www.janetaylormillinery.com

Holly Young’s work can be seen at  www.hollyyoungboutique.com  and available to view at her Truro studio in Prince’s House Cornwall.  Email her today today find out more about having a bespoke headpiece or buying from her collection.