I’m so very excited to announce a new partnership between Bella Bridesmaid and myself!  Beginning in a few short months,  the Carol Hannah collection for bridesmaids will be carried exclusively by Bella Bridesmaid stores!

With 36 stores across the country, Bella Bridesmaid is known for having the best customer service and bridesmaid shopping experience around, and I feel honored to be a part of it.  See bellabridesmaid.com for a store location near you!

Happily (and excitedly!) Yours,

Carol Hannah

Raise your hand if you like having your picture taken.  Yeah, that’s what I thought.  Even after being on camera so much for the show (which is different- believe me), I still get uncomfortable.

Our photographer, Carsten Fleck, was a blast!  A true talent and a genuine human being. Check out his work at www.carstenfleck.com.

Here are a few behind the scenes shots from the day:

Makeup artist Shane Terenzi touches up Lauren for the next shot.

The Fashion Journal is also hosting a fashion week event on Tuesday and made me the guest of honor (yay!), so I’ll have more photos to share soon. In the meantime, check out the issue and the article at thefashionjournal.com.

A big thanks to the whole team!

Happily Yours,

CH

One of the more frustrating things about design is the crazy number of things that I want to make at any given moment.  Sometimes I feel like there are a thousand dresses rolling around in my brain and they are all fighting to get out at once.  I can see them oh-so-clearly and am annoyed that they don’t magically appear in reality as fast as they float into my head.

Add to that situation the fact that I have spent the past six years making custom wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses, working as a bridal stylist in both Charleston and Manhattan,  and scheming on my own bridal line, and then you can imagine how excited I am about my new Wedding Collection!

There are a lot of reasons why I love wedding gowns so much, the main one being that I think they so fully represent the transformative power inherent in fashion.   This one dress takes an otherwise normal day and normal woman and turns her into a bride.  There are not many things that make me happier than to see the look on one of my brides’ faces when they find that perfect dress or have their final fitting.

Yes, I suppose it sounds cheesy and trite, and yes, that may make me a romantic sap, but it is so true.  I got into fashion because of that feeling that a great garment can give you…it should make you feel secure, beautiful, more yourself.    I learned how to create gowns and dresses that do that from working directly with real women of all silhouettes who have all manner of insecurites (myself included),  not from a school where you make everything in a “perfect” model size….and I am really looking forward to sharing the culmination of all those experiences with you!

The collection in its entirety won’t be finished until March, and I’m very excited to announce that I’ve been invited to debut it at Charleston Fashion Week on March 20th, 2010!  That’s less than two months away!  It’s so exciting to be able to take the line back home to where I started.

In the meantime, for the many of you that have inquired, I have set up a separate etsy shop with a small offering of bridal gowns and dresses for maids.

Check it out here:

www.TheWeddingCollection.etsy.com

We also have the very first trunk show set for March 21st (the day after the runway show) at Maddison Row in Charleston. To make an appointment:

(843) 720.7979
info@maddisonrow.com

I can’t wait!!

Happily Yours,

CH

This has been a really fun project so far, and one that still strikes me as being a bit surreal. It’s not something I would have ever expected to do.   As each day seems to bring something exciting and new, I’m glad that I can still dork out about things like this.

My People blog (versus the one on mylifetime.com) is more focused on behind the scenes of Project Runway and what it’s really like to be on the show.  Plus, there’s a question and answer section, so feel free to ask questions by commenting!

You can see the most recent post by clicking here.

Happily Yours,

Carol Hannah

Winter has many good traits.  It’s a great excuse to:

-wear all of your clothes at once

-drink loads of hot chocolate

-cozy up with a good book all day

-act like a little kid when it snows

-put on a hat without feeling silly

…buuuut sometimes I wish it was shorter.  What’s your favorite way to beat the winter blues?

Happily Yours,

CH

]]> http://carol-hannah.com/winter/feed/ 13 http://carol-hannah.com/the-process/ http://carol-hannah.com/the-process/#comments Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:02:51 +0000 carolhannah http://carol-hannah.com/?p=1207 Here’s a little peek at what I’ve been working on this week…I’ve been filling lots of orders for this dress, which is a fun one, but very labor intensive.

This part takes forever.  After making each strip individually, they are carefully placed on the dress’s base and woven at the bust.

Once all the strips are pinned on, I play a fun game called “Does that look symmetrical to you?”  (In reality, this game is actually…not fun.)  Then I sew them each on one at a time while making sure the stitching is directly in the center of each meandering line.

The next step is to make and attach the hidden bustier, which gives the dress its structured, va-va-voom fit.

The finished product!  Ta-daaaaa!

There you have it!

Happily Yours,

CH

Less rushing, more pauses for quiet moments. Seems pretty feasible.

What’s yours?

Happily Yours,

CH

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