Pleats are becoming the latest trend in Bridal Fashion and Design. Many designers and brides are going towards pleats to add the details and textures their wedding gowns are missing. A fun style from the past making a return with a modern twist.
A brief history of pleating takes us back to ancient Egypt where this technique originated. The pleated fabric was used to decorate the garments of very high class, royal, or wealthy people. The pleats were all completed by hand and when the fabric was washed the pleats would come out, so the process would need to be repeated again and again each time. The demanding process of pleating fabric resulted in pleats becoming a symbol of power and wealth.
In modern pleating, new techniques have been developed to keep pleats from washing out. ‘Permanent Pleats’ were created after World War II. By using chemicals and heat setting methods the pleats can continue to remain in a fabric. Ultimately, this new process has allowed pleating to become accessible to everyday people, not just royalty.
At the atelier, we recently worked together with Bride Holly on a custom wedding gown. For now we can only share some behind-the-scenes photos but in the coming months we will share the final design. The bride was very interested in having a gown with pleating in it. We worked through several design ideas with her and settled on a silk organza to create the pleating.
We reached out to several pleating companies in Los Angeles to get samples made of the silk organza. We wanted to make sure that it was exactly what the Bride was looking for. We ordered a couple of 3 yard panels, one in an accordion pleat and the other in a sunburst pleat. We all fell in love with the sunburst pleat, because it was so flexible in creating different shapes and designs.
The JOA team then continued to work on the gown to create the Bride’s custom pleated wedding gown. There was no way to do the traditional mockup process with cotton muslin on this dress. So we ordered extra pleated panels to work with as the mockup. Below you can see some work-in-progress photos when we received the first round of pleated fabric and started draping it on the dress form. Stay tuned for more photos where we will reveal the final design of the wedding gown!
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