rainbow bride
BRITISH KNITWEAR DESIGNER KATIE
JONES TURNED HER WEDDING INTO
A KALEIDOSCOPE OF COLOUR.Tell us a little about yourself. I’m a colour, craft and crochet
enthusiast! I studied fashion knitwear at Central Saint Martins in
London, but have always loved making things – I’m really influenced
by the women in my family.
What’s the story behind this bridal range? I suppose it’s less
of a range, and more of a project for my own wedding. I knew
I would make everything; I just wanted to put all my favourite
things together in one massive celebration. When you spend hours
making something for someone you care about, you’re thinking
about them as you do it, and I really treasure that side of making.
Plus, I’m a massive control freak, so doing everything myself
meant I could control it all!Why did you choose to steer away from the typical bridal style?
I love colour – I couldn’t imagine wearing just white! In some ways,
our wedding was really traditional: it was in a church; the reception
was in our small local village hall; I wore my mum’s veil (though
I did pimp it a bit). We just added way more colour to the equation!
Did that style spread to the rest of your wedding, too? We mainly
DIY-ed everything to keep a tight budget. It basically became an
homage to craft – we had drawing, macramé, crochet, paper work
for giant flower arches, weaving and mini piñatas for the tables. We
were engaged for two years, so I had lots of time to build stuff up!
How does this fit in with the rest of your collections? Some
elements are super-typical of my label – all the bridesmaids’ tops
are just finer versions of a previous collection, for instance. In a
way, my dress is, too: the skirt is trimmed in a similar way and the
embroidered flowers are like a dainty, refined patch, which we use
a lot. I think all the pieces contain my signature details, but are just
a bit more dressy than usual.
Talk us through the colour palette. I always say, if you use all the
colours, nothing clashes! I’m a massive rainbow lover. I wanted a
really bright and happy palette – the bridesmaids’ tops were made
to match the colours in their beautiful Romance Was Born skirts,
and I then used elements from this.Where do you find inspiration? Folk, tribal and traditional textiles,
mainly – I’m obsessed! I like how they’re embellished for the sake of
being beautiful; that the craftsmanship is truly valued.
What were you watching or listening to while designing this
range?I watched a lot of shit bridal TV, like Don’t Tell the Bride,
Bridezillas and Bride Wars. I really revelled in the wedding thing for
a good year! Crochet is pretty slow – my dress must have taken over
300 hours – so that’s a lot of TV time. A bit of ’80s radio in the sun is
a great way to work, too.
What was the trickiest part of putting the collection together?
I had too many ideas for my dress! Plus, I’m really tall and not
model-thin, so it was a really different silhouette than I’m used
to working with. One of my bridesmaids dragged me to my mum’s
house for the weekend and told me in no uncertain terms that
we weren’t leaving till we finished my dress, because I was
stressing her out!
Where can we see more of your stuff? katiejonesknit.co.uklooks we like