Jenny Packham launches new collection in Dubai

“I haven’t seen Downton Abbey,” admits Jenny Packham. “I don’t know why, but you know when you don’t get into it and you’ve gone past understanding who’s who? That just sort of happened.” Admittedly, I’m surprised at this revelation. Not only because of the show’s ever-growing popularity, but because of the considerable influence that it has had on fashion in recent years, especially on bridal wear. There is a Downton-esque feel to some of Packham’s wedding dresses, particularly in her spring/summer 2015 collection, with its straight-lined, chemise-like dresses, shorter hemlines and intricate beading. She admits that customers have asked if she was using Downton as an inspiration, but the answer, it appears, is a resounding no.

We are sitting in a cramped room filled with cream-coloured couches and plush wing-backed chairs, in Bloomingdale’s Dubai. Packham is in town to show her most recent collections, now available at The Dubai Mall store. There are people moving frantically around the room as we chat, but amid all the chaos, the British designer is the very essence of calm. And her ease is neither a facade nor a front. Having been a part of the upper echelons of the fashion industry for the best part of three decades, Packham has all the credentials of a well-established designer, with none of the pretentiousness. In fact, she’s uncommonly warm for a designer whose client list includes the likes of Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and (perhaps most famously) the Duchess of Cambridge.

Packham attended Saint Martin’s School of Art in London (now Central Saint Martins) and launched her label in 1988 with a collection of 12 short black-and-white silk evening gowns. She now designs ready-to-wear, lingerie and accessories, but is perhaps best known for her bridal collections. “From the time that we started doing bridal wear to now it’s been an amazing transition in the style,” she explains. “I think the red carpet has really sort of influenced what people are wearing on their wedding days. This is how it used to be in the early part of the last century. In the 20s, they’d wear a 20s dress, and then they’d wear a really long veil with it or style it differently. Then it all went a bit historical during the Lady Di time, with the slightly Victorian look. And then everything went towards strapless. I think women used to think that they had to go into this whole other sort of world to get married. I don’t know; it’s not like that anymore. It’s much more contemporary.”

Original article by Ashley Lane

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Jenny Packham launches new collection in Dubai