While event styling is second nature to Leila, deciding what to wear was a different story. Describing her fashion sense as “boyish and minimal - you’d never get me in a dress,” she knew she wanted to wear lace and worked closely with The OWN Studio founder Rosie on a completely bespoke creation. “I use lace so much from a design perspective, and so I had lots of references that I went in with,” she explains. “Rosie then came up with five or six sketches and then, in every fitting, we added to it or took away from it, we’d put a flower here and then move it, add a ruffle. They were so patient with me.”
In the end, Leila walked down the aisle in a design built entirely around her, complete with elegant corsetry, sheer panels, delicate ties and ruffles. While a slower and somewhat more nerve-racking process than buying off the rack, she felt the end result was beyond worth it.
“With something bespoke, you have to trust the process” she says. “You're creating a dress from scratch - you don’t get to picture the finished vision for months. But it's the most rewarding experience, seeing how it’s made and being a part of the experience - watching it come to life makes you incredibly attached to it.”
Rosie, designer and co-founder of The OWN Studio said, "Leila's dress truly was a vidual masterpiece that so perfectly suited her creative and fun personality. There are so many interesting design elements that make this piece so striking and unique, we added a little lace flower to the middle of the neckline in the last fitting which really added something special."
"It was a labour of love, taking over 175 hours to develop and make the final piece. Our amazingly talented atelier team hand stitched over 25 metres of lace to create the multi-layered look. Leila looked incredible and styled everything to perfection with her lace shoes and sculptural earrings."
