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Beautiful models, tall and slender, gorgeous clothes, exquisite wedding and evening gowns, all set against luxurious backdrops – a visual feast for the customer. It sounds like everything a fashion magazine needs, the standard look of any bridal and eveningwear website, or a high-end catwalk show for trade buyers. I have never been against any of this. Quite the opposite, I am drawn to it, because everyone loves beautiful things – all the more so someone who has worked in the fashion industry for so many years.

But many years in retail have taught me something: people are diverse, and only what is real, and the unexpected, truly lasts. Apart from a lucky few, most of us have ordinary figures. Tall, short, slim, curvy… Yet we all share one wish: when that important day arrives, we want to be the one who stands out. That is why I wholeheartedly agree with the British idea of dressing for the occasion.

On many of today’s mainstream bridal and eveningwear websites, the choice is dazzling. Customers happily choose the dress they have fallen in love with, however well or badly it actually suits them. Then the parcel arrives, and disappointment, complaints, returns and disputes follow, again and again. I put the responsibility for this on the retailer, because products online are presented too perfectly: high-definition detail, exaggerated colour, flawless images. But remember, your customer might be petite, or fuller-figured, and the same dress can look very different once it is on her body. Market research shows that return rates for bridal and eveningwear websites are very high.

That is why I call on retailers to show their products as they look in real life. Being real is the most beautiful thing of all. Perfect retouching and tall models only lead, once the parcel is opened, to a poor match and disappointment.

So in our recent website upgrade, we have used many photos of our real customers. A large number of our product images were taken on the day our customers tried their dresses on, or on the day their bespoke outfit was finished. Close to real life – nothing is more beautiful than the truth.

David
30 September 2026