FASHION: Ulster Bridal show at the titanic

Who would have thought so much work goes into standing at a stall handing out leaflets eh?

To begin with we had to have everything ready, new dresses (I lost count of the number of buttons i've sewn onto dresses by hand!) everything pressed and cleaned. Lace and net curtains made for styling the cubicle 6 mannequins, and lots and lots of leaflets. It was like Tetris trying to get it all into the car, all done in stages, up and down the stairs repeatedly.

Once ready, I walked with the Dutch girl Renee, to the Titanic building, luckily enough it was a dry pleasant day in Belfast for early easter. Once there we went straight to the 5th floor and had to search for an empty cubicle with "Lizzie Agnew" on it. Once found, it was then time to get everything from the, unpacked and get the stall set up. Thank goodness we were early and were able to find a cage to bring the majority of things up! The car park was on level -2!
Mannequins were delicately dressed, lace covered foam heads were graced with delicate veils, poles were raised with net and lace curtains hung from them along with the sign, and everything needed to be juxtaposed to their best feature. Phew! Thank goodness we'd come early so we could get it all done and have a break!

Having briefly gloried at the famous +Titanic replica staircase I took Renee on a brief tour outdoors and told her some facts about the titanic and the surrounding area of +Harland and Wolf before heading to the very top floor and marvelling at the beautiful surrounding area of Queens island and the Belfast skyline with the famous Belfast cranes Samson and Goliath.

The show opened at 3pm, a Friday there were not too many customers, but we still had a few interested clients, we watched the fashion show (unfortunately  there was only 1 male model and the females, although pretty were too small for some dresses, particularly the mother of the bride dresses) and took turns looking at some of the nearby stalls, we had great fun getting some funny photo booths photos and free sweets (the young men stall owners seemed quite talking with us, then again we were the youngest girls working there). We left early about 6pm as it was quite quiet and our boss felt fine managing it on her own.

The next day was another sunny one, Renee and I were on our own until 2.30 as our boss was dealing with a client from Dublin who was picking up her dress from the studio.  It was busier, and we had a lot more interest. I dealt with the customers mainly as Renee didnt feel as confident approaching them. We chatted in between and the show's photographer took a few snaps as well. The day seemed to go in quicker, again we were able to leave early.

The final day went in the quickest. Renee and I didnt go in until after 2. My walk to the titanic building was fresh and filled with sunshine. I passed a charity run that was being set up on Queens island, a couple hundred must have been taking part, luckily enough getting a nice day for it too. Beautiful bridal cars remained outside the Titanic building, open top and retro 50s along with limos. We chatted to customers and highlighted the shops uniqueness due to the hand designed and made in Belfast, therefore a tailored fit. I watched the final show, browsed and chatted once more before we finally began packing up.


Packing up goes in a lot quicker than setting up! However, there were a lot more trips  to the car in the staff elevator. At one point we took the stairs only to find out at the bottom we couldn't get out. We had to go up a floor again, and walk out through the building taking the escalators down to the car. Disaster! But it was our last trip thankfully (my arm was very sore actually from holding the dresses up too!)

Renee and I returned to where are stall was and finally took some pictures on the famous Titanic staircase before saying goodbye. A great experience and a unique weekend indeed!

FASHION: Bridal intern beginings

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  My first month as a Bridal Intern

  I started my first day as an intern in Lizzie Agnew bridal design in March having previously come in to show her some of my work, some formal dresses and a hand sewn and hand embroidered cardigan I had made. Lizzies designs are all couture hand made pieces, bridal, mother of the bride and sometimes bridesmaids and flowergirls. Her styles are vintage, usually 50s, sometimes 20s, she also often does one-off red carpet pieces for local events, such as one she is currently working on for former Miss Ireland for the IN awards in Belfast.

  The first couple days she had me using my first rotary cutter, cutting net strips for huge underskirts (moisturiser or fine gloves are needed, the net really irritates the skin!!) I moved on to hand sewing lace strips to working on remodelling an old dress using only the skirt as a base, sewing on lace embellishements on the skirt and newly designed top. having just finished a bow for it it should hopefully be finished in the next week or so (pics will follow!) yesterday was spent binding some net for an underskirt for a client (mother of the bride in a navy blue, 50s style, different eh?) The Dutch student is currently hastily finishing a dress for the IN awards (i must say, it IS fabulous!) while I’ve to make more belts, buckles and bows, finishing odd jobs for the oncoming weeks before we do a bridal show at the Titanic building at the start of April. 

  Even though i've only been working here a short while, my creative juices are flowing, i've designed lots more dresses to make, have nearly finished one (a princess floaty style dress in white for summer) and have already purchased material for my next!!

  
  
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