Q+A: BOWIE RAE

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Bowie Rae is a ready-to-make bridal label that offers choice to brides. "We have refined our bridal collection based on set styles we love and offer most styles in a variation of fabric selections. More than this though, the collection is made up primarily of separates giving our brides the final decision of how to wear their Bowie Rae." Director, Mannie tells.

Essentially, you choose your favourite bodice and skirt in the fabric selection that best represents you and your day. No two Bowie Brides need look the same since they have so many variations at their fingertips.

An all Australian, all new, primal kind of bridal

how and when was b o w i e r a e born?
Bowie Rae was born five years ago when one of my best friends and I were on the search for our own wedding dress. We recognised the severe disconnect between fashion and bridal and felt that the market needed some new life injected into it. I have personally always loved fashion and designing, practically growing up designing couture fashion with my sister. She went into fashion design and I went into teaching! got a lot out of those 10 years of teaching, but I was always itching at the seams to get back into my creative hub. When I was looking for my wedding dress, I just felt it all surge back and was spilling with designs after I had seen just how limited the bridal market was back then. We started Bowie Rae right then and there and I have never looked back. Modern bridal has come a long way in the last few years and I’m really honoured to be a part of that world, bringing the fashion runway to the aisle.

is there a story you would like to share from your experiences?

It’s so much easier to give up on yourself and talk yourself out of things. New things, exciting things and potentially the most rewarding experiences are somehow the scariest. We don’t like to back ourselves and I felt like quitting so many times over. I started Bowie Rae five years ago just as my life was getting more complicated and I was torn between wife, mother and woman duties. In the end, I did back myself no matter how hard it was because I had failed in life, many times over. In the end, the more you fail at something the less afraid you are of failing again. You realise it isn’t the end of something just because you didn’t get it right and it stops manifesting into such a monster. Failure is a necessary step for growth and success. The more things that went wrong, the easier it became to work out how to get things right the next time. So to stop waffling on, I guess I’m just saying the commitment is essential. If you really want it and really love it and know the eventual rewards would be worth it, then put it all in and be prepared to get it back ten fold.

what advice would you offer to brides about to choose their bridal gown?
Don’t overcomplicate it. I find so many brides are apologetic and so self conscious through the process because it has become an actual ideal in itself. To be a bride… it’s a noun and an adjective; you must become the bride. I want to shake things up and say you don’t need to become anyone… You need to do you! Today more than ever before, there are so many different ways to do bridal. Close your eyes, block the world out and visualise yourself and your love story in its most authentic form. Now go out and find the best way to bring THAT to life.

do you have a prediction for any upcoming 2020 bridal gown styles?
I think as always, it just keeps going back to basics for inspo. There’s no real “new” in fashion or art, it’s all borrowed. I see the 80s and 90s still playing their part with statement silhouettes and accessories; statement sleeves, belts, veils and the beloved outfit change (that’s my favourite new trend because, how can you just choose one!?).

I think we are slowly becoming more comfortable with ditching the big gown and hopefully getting cosier with the idea of ditching white. I love tradition and there’s nothing wrong at all with the traditional big, white dress… I just think there’s something wrong where anyone and everyone who is getting married is basically choosing their version of a big, white dress. That doesn’t make any sense to me and I think it’s starting to make less sense to the bridal industry and brides all over the world.

where do you find your inspiration?
Fashion, music and the landscape around me. I love fashion; the runway is always the catalyst for much of my designs. I love bringing my favourite runway styles into the bridal world, and watching the traditional world of bridal be infused with more specific fashion trends.

tell us about the best part about what you do:
Creative freedom. It’s like Pandora’s box! I get carried away so often because this is what I have been doing since I was a little girl. I love designing and never thought I would get into designing wedding dresses, but it excited me when I try to reimagine that wedding dress… What else can she wear as she walks down “the aisle”? I think brides to be are getting excited by the different possibilities finally opening up to them, and it’s really inspiring being a part of this revolution.