I love something about the brides of yesteryear – the history, the emotion, the feelings. It’s so similar to today, yet so different and something about it enchants me. This gorgeous vintage bride inspiration shoot at Era Vintage Bride  with a team of Kalimna Mohamed, Vanessa Barney, Caitlin Quick and model Lauren Johansen-Bell set about to keep the vintage spirit alive by creating three vintage looks inspired by three completely different vintage outfits.

Of the Era Vintage Bride boutique, owner Lucy explains, “The idea behind Era Vintage Bride came from my joint love of wedding dresses, which got when I worked for a Brisbane couturier Paul Hunt, and vintage, which I first fell in love with my grandmother’s clothes that my mother had kept. Vintage dresses offer some incredible fabrics that are really well made and often unique for a bride that is thinking outside of the box. The store itself offers a range of hand picked styles from the US dating from the 30’s through to the 70’s in both wedding dresses and evening wear.

We also ofter a unique remade service whereby the dresses can be made again in new fabric to your measurements should the dress of your dreams be the wrong size, colour or length.”

Stylist Caitlin Quick leads us through each of the vintage styles “I love the idea of vintage bridal wear and each of the three looks featured in our shoot has their own unique charm. The idea that each piece has its own unknown story was what influenced me to style such individual looks. Firstly old time Hollywood glamour where the dress is a statement of pure elegance and the look is finished with a touch of pearls.”

Hair and makeup artist Vanessa Barney notes, “The first dress has a beautiful high neck line which needed to be seen, hair down would detract from the dress so the only way to go was up. To keep with the elegant Hollywood glamour I used Grace Kelly as inspiration and swept Lauren’s hair into a one sided bob with a soft lifted wave. A bride’s makeup needs to compliment her and the theme of the wedding.

With Lauren’s makeup I keep it very minimal, the skin was evened out using Makeup Forever HD foundation, a foundation which photographs perfectly, her brows were filled in where necessary and the eyes were contoured and a slightly bolder than usual, eyeliner was applied.

A peach tone was applied to the cheek to compliment her coral/peach toned lipstick in full grace style. A bridal makeup wouldn’t be complete without some false lashes, I choose individual lashes to add volume and length to the lash while maintaining a natural feel.”

Gold sparkles were up next. “Next the Chinese Bride inspired look featuring the regal gold beading of the dress with hints of traditional red in the accessories.”

For look number two hair and makeup artist, Vanessa tells, “The gold dress was a statement in itself, not needing a lot of fuss. The hairstyle needed to be predominantly up due to the incredible gold neck line. To add a bit of drama I did a soft wave into a beautiful soft curl and added a red lip, this works perfectly with red flowers and shoes.”

I love the third look for a fun pre wedding celebration. “Finally the much less traditional quirky floral pants and bodice which encapsulates how much fun a wedding day should be through all the bright colours, the amazing florals and overall playful vibe. The variation of styles in this shoot demonstrates how every vintage bridal piece can be reinvented to suit a beautiful bride on her special day, all she has to do is make it her own.”

Vanessa remarking, ” The last look was a lot of fun, bright colourful playful pants with a sheer blouse. I loved this playful fun vibe and drew inspiration from the pin up victory roll-up, I altered it slightly leaving one side out. To compliment the colours in the pants I added a pink lip to Lauren.”