Short 'n' Sweet

If I had my time over, I wish I had the guts to go for a short wedding dress. A vintage style probably would have suited me best and would have given the perfect excuse to go all out on the shoes!

More and more wedding dress designers are adding short dresses to their collections and there is a huge range of short styles now available.


This dress by award winning designer Ian Stuart has a really cute bubble hem and has great crystal detailing under the bustline which draws the eye in to the smallest part of the figure, making it really flattering.


This David Fielden dress is really sexy and glamourous and is less about structure and more about the movement and draping of the fabric. It has gorgeous sequin detail and is working the shoulder detail look that is very now.


Alan Hannah's dresses are all about structure and sculpture and this sexy number is no different! The bodices of these dresses are nothing short of amazing and can create a miracle waist on anyone-the tulle and crystal detailing along the top of the bodice is brought down to the skirt which flows with flamenco fabulousness!!


And finally to my most favourite short dress designer-Candy Anthony. Her designs are just the most amazing vintage style, feminine and pretty dresses! They immediately whisk you off to a bygone era, one where every girl is graceful, elegant and fun. There are also so many ways to accessorise these dresses-vines, cuff bracelets, huge flower combs, bird cage veils and of course pearls, pearls, pearls!

Each Candy Anthony dress is made to measure and she has a beautiful range of fabrics and colours. For the very brave she's even made a magnificent leopard print dress with a gorgeous bright red tulle underskirt-defintely not for the faint hearted!!

Now stocked in Frilly Frocks, Drogheda!

Kingston Design is delighted to announce that it is now being stocked in Frilly Frocks, Drogheda! I visited Frilly's on Tuesday and met the lovely Dara who has an amazing selection of wedding dresses that made me wish I was getting married again! The store has a nice balance between the traditional style and design of dress such as the Pronovias range and then there's also a fantastic selection of vintage inspired dresses such as Luci Di Belli and Geisha Designs. Dara also is fortunate to stock dresses that are exclusive to her store so brides can be sure of getting that 'wow' factor.

I was in Heaven looking at all the beautiful corded lace and beaded detailing, so, so pretty! What I liked about the vintage-look dresses is their quiet sense of drama, even though they don't have the big, traditional wedding dress silhoutte, they just ooze sexy glamour and reminded me of the kind of dresses worn by 1920s -30s Hollywood starlets!

Feathers and lace headpiece

Looking through the Monique L'Huillier Fall 2010 collection I saw that the headpieces used were very similar in shape to a Kingston Design comb called Feathers and Lace. This comb is based on a 'pad' of feathers which is layered up with corded lace and then accented with Swarovski crystals and pearls and also some really pretty genuine vintage 1950s gold glass pearls. The whole effect is really soft, feminine and pretty. It lends itself quite well to the vintage 1930s style but also looks great as a statement piece with more modern styled bridal dresses.