We won "Wedding Dress Specialist of the Year".

Thank You for this very special recognition. It was absolutely unexpected. Entitled "Singapore Prestige Award" I went to their official website to find out more. This award is all about giving recognition to small and medium-sized businesses that have proven to be the best in their market over the past 12 months!

I mean for at least half the time we have been on partial lockdown in Singapore and our international retailers too!

All shortlisted companies are asked to support their nomination with evidence of their work, positive feedback from their clients, information on previous accreditation’s and recognition as well as highlighting the most outstanding parts of their businesses.

We have done alot of work but I not too sure if those could be under innovative practises.

And the criteria read:

The judging panel base their decisions upon areas such as service excellence, quality of the product/ service provided, innovative practices, value, ethical or sustainable methods of working, as well as consistency in performance. The winners selected are those who can best demonstrate their strengths in these areas.

Okay. I was thrilled to be nominated for sure.

As a designer who has no formal education on fashion design, this is definitely one of the best thing that happened to me since my journey with weddings and bridal design.

While I have spent my ten thousand hours in front of the piano since I was a child, I was nowhere close to winning an award for piano.

We got on a call with the award team. This guy named Andre has emailed me 4 times through the month between 23 June and 17 July. I owe it to him for being relentless at contacting us.

So I was told that customer reviews and feedback on our services will play an important role in the judging process. Of course! I was secretly delighted that we have been conscientious in asking for reviews from our clients. You know, clients don't reply immediately for such requests because they are busy with their life. Some do revert immediately upon receiving the link but not everyone does. And we have accumulated quite numerous reviews over the years!

We have also accumulated quite many media features from our past endeavours, pre-covid.

We just need to submit these links in the questionaire and that's about all.

For the haters out there (just kidding), one interesting thing is that in Andre's email, (and maybe due to our no reply since they landed in our spam inbox,) he highlighted specifically that there is no cost involved. (Aka the award team do not allow bribery! lol. Yeah, great we don't have budget for that too!)

And approximately one month after we confirmed our participation, I received an email from Chris, the other guy who processed our questionaire, that they wish to speak to me. He has some news for me.

Oh exciting!

Yes, indeed. We have been successful in winning the award.

Thank you!

One of the best news so far since Post-Covid lockdown!

The other best news is we are gonna continue UK trunkshow this year because it has been requested by our stockists partners!

Thank you for the love!

It's back to the 20's

I know... How often do we get to say we are back to the 20's, like literally!

The age of influence in the arts including music, paintings, architecture and fashion! The 1920's was a Golden Era for exuberance, flamboyance and artistic. Welcome back!

In Giorgia Couture, we love the vintage. Especially Baroque and Roccoco style from the vintage vibes.

But we want to stay true to catering for the modern, chic and fashion forward brides. So we have compiled a set of themes that are trendy and inspirational (I hope) for all brides-to-be for 2020. Right from our designer's sketchpad to your screen!

We give you a glimpes of Baroque and Rococo Styling.

Baroque and Rococo Styling

Makeup and Hair by Aviva Sign

For that, we have complied wedding dress trends from 2020 right off our designer's digital sketchpad for your inspiration!

Here is the link: shorturl.at/aDGKR

On this date last month, we got a shoutout from Singapore High Commission in London.

On the morning of 23 March 2019, I got a reply from the high commissioner of Singapore in London.

"Dear Vienna

Thank you for your email, and congratulations on exhibiting at the London Bridal Fashion Week.  It is exciting that you will be bringing the Jewel and your other bridal collection here.

Unfortunately, my schedule is already fully booked, and I will not be able to visit your booth at Excel.  We will, however, be happy to cross-post your creation on our own social media presence.

I wish you every success.

With best wishes

FOO Chi Hsia"

I didn't realize the post on their Facebook page was published almost immediately after she sent this email. But they did.

Being the first Singaporean bridal label to showcase in London's major event in the bridal industry gave us a kind of pressure that was very real.

I didn't want to present just wedding dresses. PLAIN WHITE, or ivory for that matter. I wanted to do so much more. I have ideas of creating an OVER the TOP couture piece using recycled materials because sustainability is in our Mission and Vision. Again, I am faced with so many options because there were literally tonnes of possible recycled resources out there. We need to narrow things down.

"Old violin strings, used drum skin, the mouth pieces made of reed from the clarinets or oboes..."

Because of my professional background in music, I have easy access to such resources.

Without designing background, putting these together was a big issue

I needed more than just recycled materials, I need also the ideas and technicality on how to fix these onto the dress without them falling off.

Then I thought I wanted more than just telling the world about myself being a musician and reminding our audience of sustainability. It's about me representing Singapore!

I thought we should bring something of our Singaporean heritage to London, which is also a city full of culture and heritage. Time was running out, we had barely less than 60 days to the show.

I was still stuck at the beginning stage of ideas, without actual action into making it.

The urge to bring 'Singapore' with me got stronger by the day. Surely there must be something that's feasible, without getting out of being tasteful. No, I didn't want to create anything controversial, like the gown Miss Singapore Universe wore during the pageant last year.

It has to be a work of art, yet of haute couture standards, representing our Singaporean identity.

The idea of creating the Jewel Gown struck me after sending my husband to the airport one afternoon and the entire vision became crystal clear after watching the Grammy award in Feb.

Cardi B in the Mugler dress might have gotten most of the attention, but Jennifer Lopez's highly ornamented Ralph and Russo's number resonated so much.

*** TBC +Coming Up tomorrow

How the I put the Jewel Gown together - piece by piece