Sometimes you listen to a piece of music that inspires a collection. You listen to the music, which creates the mood, which creates the clothes.
— Jenny Packham
It's funny; in fashion, you can never relax and feel like it's all sorted. Every season, you have to give yourself a challenge and come up with something new and fresh.
All I ever aim to do is make beautiful evening wear.
I always see bridal as a cultural thing: you have to get under the skin to find out what is needed in that market. For instance, the Italians love plain dresses, and the Americans loved beaded ones.
When I'm designing, I'm thinking about what it would be like to wear that piece.
Research the venue and location before outfit shopping, as it helps set the mood and style focus: a traditional wedding in the countryside offers a different set of sartorial rules to a tropical, beach vibe, for instance.
I think it's very important to women what they want to watch. They're looking all the time to the red carpet to see what to wear, and it sets off all sorts of trends.
You should dress so that you feel confident.
I've always really loved the '20s and the whole Art Deco time. I just think it was just the most amazing era for style and design.
I'm certainly not in the business of making anything or anyone seem avant-garde. I make them feel beautiful.
With an evening wear collection, each piece has to be quite individual.
I think, for us, as an evening wear line, anytime someone on the red carpet wears our dress, it's an endorsement.
I realised as a teenager that I was destined for a creative life and found that fashion design was something I enjoyed and was a potentially successful career path.
We don't go to parties much. I am very serious about my work. But I also have two children, and I wanted to do that job well.
Old Hollywood icons such as Marilyn Monroe, Vivien Leigh, and Bette Davis are so inspiring; their style is romantic and feminine and their glamour mesmerizing. I love the idea of channeling that spirit on your wedding day.
With the bridal wear I love the fact that people show me their pictures about what I've done for their special day. It's lovely that I'm a part of someone's history.
When we first started doing bridal, I found the bridal business very archaic; it was very removed from general fashion.
There's nothing standard about a wedding dress or shoes anymore.
Both of my grandmothers were needlewomen, so I grew up around dress design.
In London, I did feel a pressure to be more avant-garde than I wanted.
I love the way that girls turn up at our boutiques knowing all the names of the dresses, and that was happening before we launched our brand Pinterest board.
We've found that the more niche you are, the better off you are.
Think about the style of the occasion before you plan your outfit.
I'm a big Prada fan. I always think that they seem to fit me well.
A dress should never take over someone.
People keep getting married, even when times are tough. They want to keep celebrating. The special days appear to be the times where women are still happy to invest, both in terms of time and money. They want to be told that they look beautiful and be remembered for all the right reasons. They don't want to provoke much more reaction than that.
I felt my design point of view was more welcomed in New York, that I could show my collections in the way I wanted to show them.
I like the challenge of dressing ladies in lots of different things.
My job is to make sure there's something about each dress that ignites the bride's imagination.
I create fashion that is memorable.
I don't really design for myself. It would be very limiting.
I always design with the occasion in mind, so I particularly enjoy creating bespoke pieces; it's always an exciting challenge for me creatively.
I love it when people who don't normally see fashion shows see them, because they find it so exciting.
We have a wide range of looks that address all the different types of women we cater to in all of the different territories we sell to.
I love the idea that we can dress all sorts of people, and they feel great in the dresses, and that make us feel good.
I don't like things that are uncomfortable - everything we do, however structured or detailed, needs to be made so that when someone wears it, they completely forget about it.
From the 1920s through to the 1970s, bridal was related to the fashion of the times. Then in the 1980s, it became more historical, decadent, and ornate.
Our silhouettes are quite classic, and the fit is very flattering. I just try to create something beautiful that complements the wearer.
With the Bond girls, they've always been these sexy but quite strong women, and that's a nice combination to design for.
It's very nerve-wracking dressing someone because you obviously do everything you can to get them to be interested in something you've done, and then you hear they're wearing it, and then, obviously, they're going to step out in it, and you want to know that it's all going to work and what everybody's going to say about it.
Don't be too influenced by what's 'in fashion.' Just be a bit more individual about it.
Sometimes, when we dress celebrities, there are always loads of Twitters and things like that. When I wake up, I think, 'Oh right, she wore it.' You kind of always know where it's going to be worn.
In America, I can just be glamorous, which is lovely. People are happy and accepting of exactly what it is I do.
I think the evening wear criteria is that they want to walk into the room and get that 'wow' factor.
Our dresses take a long time to make.
I have always aspired to create beautiful designs that make women feel elegant and confident - for me, that is my greatest challenge and inspiration.
With a wedding gown, I have to make sure that people fall in love with it and that the details are very specific and special. There has to be a big story behind it and a great deal of integrity when it comes to the design.
It's always a fantastic moment for me when someone wears one of our designs.
The L. K. Bennett and Jenny Packham bride is confident, feminine, and fashion-forward.
I think it's always wonderful to dress people in the public eye. It's the icing on the cake and such an endorsement of what we do.
