Behind the brand: The Modiste, the wedding dress atelier driving sustainable fashion

“The world is too full of one-time wear garments,” says Jennifer Crooks, founder and managing director of bridal company The Modiste. “Let's try and value our clothes a bit more and not just use and then leave them.”

So much so that the British seamstress atelier has pioneered the ‘Modify Movement’, which aims to tackle the last frontier of slow fashion: weddings.

Trained in period costume design, it was Crooks’ grandmother who first taught her to sew embroidery squares. She later went to the London College of Fashion and started out by herself in 2016, working in a windowless cellar making wedding dress alterations.

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Seven years on — bar for one year with no weddings during the pandemic — The Modiste now has two premises in High Wycombe, a two-storey workshop and a converted townhouse dedicated to wedding dress fittings. “People get nervous about wedding dress fittings, it’s about taking it back and focusing on them,” says Crooks.

Her team of 11 expert seamstresses design each bespoke creation, repurposing lace and silk from the wedding dress and adding personal embroidery touches. They also attend to around 700 brides every year.

“We always found that as brides were leaving our studio, as we were the last people they would speak to before their wedding day, they thought about what they would do with their wedding dress after the big day and we never really had an answer for them,” adds Crooks. “The dress would be dry cleaned and then either kept or sold.”

The Modiste conceived not only a product line but their self-styled movement, which encourages consumers to turn luxury items, such as wedding dresses, into new garments that can be "re-worn and re-loved".

“The wedding market is unsustainable,” says Crooks. “Only 4% of brides wear a second-hand dress and we wanted to bridge that market, rather than them being kept under the bed.

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"As skilled seamstresses, there is so much that we can do with a wedding dress. If you’re not ready to cut it up or change it completely, we can unpick the lace and use that for a new garment. We can look to rehem the dress or alter the shape to make it something new and ready-to-wear. It’s about enjoying the art of dressmaking and keeping that going.

“We see customers in the moment wearing their wedding dress and want to give them the chance to have that moment forever. There is so much craftsmanship, it's a shame that there is this fast fashion idea of a wedding dress never being used again.”

The Modiste can use up to 99% of the lace without damaging the dress. Crooks and her team offer different ranges with sustainable silk, reimagining glamorous gowns, christening heirloom pieces or miniature displays.

“We can dye or shorten the dress, make it into a jumpsuit or dressing gown, we can be as inventive as the customer wants us to be,” says Crooks.

“We are seeing interest from people in our unique designs and how we create things. As seamstresses, I think people are genuinely interested in the construction. It’s taking things back to true craftsmanship and valuing it properly.”

From £100 hem changes to redesigns worth thousands, Crooks has hit upon a business product that aims to stop silks and lace waste.

The Modiste name — meaning a fashionable dressmaker for women — is also prevalent given the popularity of Bridgerton, the hit Netflix show.

“At that time you would have your local butcher, bakery and local modiste," adds Crooks. "It was a trade that was everywhere but has now moved abroad and we wanted to bring that back.”

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“We’re not a shop selling something, we are a service selling something personal. Especially with alterations, a bride comes in and immediately she is standing basically naked in front of me. That barrier is broken straight away and it becomes a level of trust and companionship. It’s about listening and helping someone, instead of trying to sell to someone. That is how we feel towards our customers.”

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