Sarah Janks Couture flagship store in Sydney. Image by Sarah Janks Couture.

Looking out of my workroom at home in Cremorne, I can see the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Thinking back, it was more than 6 years ago that I was living in Shoreditch in the shadow of Tower Bridge. Several of the dresses in this collection were conceived a stone’s throw away in my London Bridge studio.

I had rented a space in London Bridge, a tiny workroom where I’d hole up and work on my own projects every moment I had spare when I wasn’t freelancing for other designers. Squeezed for time, I’d sometimes sleep on a sofa couch in the corner and get a couple of hours in before heading out to work a full day in the rag trade. I remember buying my first piece of French lace for the collection and thinking “I have no idea what I’m doing! How do I design a collection, what’s my signature? What’s my style?” I didn’t know much then, but I did know that I wanted to create a brand with a strong signature, something you would look at and say that’s a Sarah Janks.

One of my best career moves was the move to Australia and getting out of London’s fashion scene. At the time, it was definitely a lifestyle choice over a career move, but it afforded me the breathing space to really find what I wanted to say as a designer. I felt like I was almost in a vacuum, without the external influences of trends that would filter through from other designers for whom I’d been working.

It’s been a long road getting our debut collection together and as London shaped my taste and style in many respects, it feels like a homecoming in fashion terms.

So after almost 5 years away from London, I can’t think of a better homecoming for the “girls” than showing alongside some serious industry heavyweights at the White Gallery, which is an international trade event exclusive to bridal designers. It is the only designer bridal trade show in the UK and is held annually in May in London to slot in between the Barcelona and Milan bridal trade shows and attracts some of the biggest names in the bridal industry from all over the world. We were honoured to be accepted to show as one of only five new talents at this invitation only event. I wasn’t able to be there, as I’ve got an 18 month old and we were getting ready to open our flagship store. The gowns have done so much travelling in the last few months. Around ten of them arrived back in Australia and London respectively from gorgeous summer shoots happening in Hawaii, the Maldives and Mexico, and it was a real white knuckle moment trying to get them all to the White gallery in time!

Our UK team Wendy, Cat and Carolyn took delivery of the dresses and manned the stand at the White Gallery. Vivien Sheriff loved our gowns so much that she asked Wendy if she could dress our models on the ramp and showing in the halls and we were thrilled, after all if she’s good enough for Kate … (Middleton, she’s her favourite hat designer!!!). We were super excited to see her stuff with our dresses as they worked so well together. Another highlight was meeting the marketing and PR team from Kleinfeld, New York, who were very enthusiastic about the collection.

As a result we’ve secured pieces exclusively from Vivien’s bridal collection to stock at our flagship store, which opened on the 27th of June in Neutral Bay, Sydney and we’re thrilled to bring these beautiful pieces to Australia to share with our brides here. On a side note, I had so much fun doing the store windows! Our first window displays are all paper flowers, tying in with paper being the traditional first anniversary gift.  We’re going to keep them interesting with our next theme due in a couple of weeks – a Christmas in July window.

Image by Sarah Janks Couture

Breaking into the highly competitive UK/European markets is a fantastic achievement, and we can confirm that we have secured our first stockist in the UK, Les Trois Soeurs in Canary Wharf. We are also waiting with great anticipation for the publication of several UK photo shoots, the first  in the July/August edition of Conde Nast Brides, the biggest selling UK bridal magazine, as well as You & Your Wedding and Cosmo Brides, who have been incredibly supportive of the collection.

We’re now in development for 2013 which will debut at the Designer Wedding Show for UK brides in October, at Battersea Park London. We’re very much looking forward to it as we’ll showcase our collection to brides alongside names such as Vivenne Westwood, Matthew Williamson, Sassi Holford, David Fielden, Temperley London, Annette Carey Couture, Maria Grachvogel, Emma Hunt, Heirloom Couture and Ritva Westenius.

White Gallery runway photography courtesy of Ocean Media Group UK

Ms Gingham says: What an amazing achievement! This is such a lovely story and we thank Sarah for taking the time to share her journey with us! Sarah will also be showing her gorgeous dresses a little closer to home at the Ultimate Wedding Planning Party in Sydney in August.

About Sarah Janks: Sarah runs her own fashion house Sarah Janks Couture specializing in designer bridal wear in Sydney, Australia. Born in South Africa, she moved to London after her studies where she worked for almost a decade with some of the top names showing in London, Paris and New York. She still has close ties with the UK and her designer bridal collection launched in London in March 2011.