FASHION DESIGNER Louise Kennedy is to open a bridal boutique in her Merrion Square headquarters at the end of next month.
“I hope it will be every young bride’s dream when they come into this room”, she said yesterday at an installation presentation of her current spring/summer collection.
The new boutique will offer 16 different options for bespoke bridal wear along with shoes and other accessories. “We will also offer a wedding list service as well as crystal and table top decorations,” she said.
It’s a logical development for a designer who says that 70 per cent of her recent sales have been for wedding and special occasions and whose lavish hand embroideries carried out by craft workers in India have become a feature of her recent collections.
At yesterday’s presentation on tailors’ dummies, one of the showpiece items was a bronze, gold and mother-of-pearl sequined knee-length dress with a price tag of €5,000 which took some 400-500 hours to make and has already been sold for a wedding abroad.
Despite the credit crunch, Ms Kennedy refuses to drop prices and says she has not come up against price resistance.
“We can’t bring prices down because I won’t drop quality,” she says, arguing that her second line jersey programme has expanded with €450-€500 pricetags for a dress.
“After 26 years we now have a small niche in the market. You have to hold your nerve,” she said.
The current collection is a familiar mix of unfussy shapes in plain fabrics enriched with a lot of décor or in luxurious Linton tweeds and Italian silks that need no additional adornment.
For summer, boxy navy or gold jackets embellished with crystal and beading are designed to be teamed with close-fitting dresses or informally with jeans.
A winning evening wear item was a simple fitted navy dress, its boat neck a sweeping crescent of navy jewelling.