Phillipa Lepley bride Vanessa

For her winter wedding, Phillipa Lepley bride Vanessa wore a couture, corseted ivory duchess satin gown with statement satin organza long sleeves.

Travelling to London from Hong Kong for her wedding dress search, Vanessa fell in love with Phillipa’s ‘Christobal’ design – a timeless, yet modern bridal gown crafted from sumptuous heavy-weight Italian duchess satin.

Phillipa works with only the highest luxury quality of silk satin. Sourced from mills near Lake Como, she chooses to design with the fabric for its sumptuous mouldable quality and rich golden ivory tone that reflects the light beautifully. When in the skilled hands of our Atelier team, our heavyweight duchess satin can be sculpted into drapes and folds that look completely untouched. 

The bodice of Vanessa’s dress – featuring an internal signature corset – had a softly draped, framing square neckline that flowed into long satin organza sleeves. 

Expertly engineered, the statement sleeves were lined with origami-like pleats that perched just on top of the shoulders. Each sleeve opening was adorned with satin organza buttons and loops placed at the cuff. 

A dramatic and fluid circular skirt crafted from the same satin flowed out at the high hip to create a feminine silhouette when contrasted with the corseted waist. Timeless duchess satin buttons and loops cascaded down the centre back neckline as the perfect finishing touch to the ensemble.  

As part of the Phillipa Lepley couture journey, Vanessa attended a series of fittings in the serene space of Phillipa’s iconic Victorian glass conservatory. During her visits, each drape and line were refined to Vanessa’s frame by Phillipa’s expert team of fitters in a one-of-a-kind couture experience. True sophisticated simplicity, the design of Vanessa’s wedding dress celebrates the skill required to create such minimalist precision in clean lines and drapery. 

Photography: Joel Skingle Photography

Phillipa Lepley is recognised globally as a leading British wedding dress and eveningwear designer, renowned for bespoke couture dresses of the utmost luxury. Her wedding dress shop in London, Chelsea, has over 50 dresses, all of which have been made in England from start to finish at her Atelier.