Carol Hannah

One of the more frustrating things about design is the crazy number of things that I want to make at any given moment.  Sometimes I feel like there are a thousand dresses rolling around in my brain and they are all fighting to get out at once.  I can see them oh-so-clearly and am annoyed that they don’t magically appear in reality as fast as they float into my head.

Add to that situation the fact that I have spent the past six years making custom wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses, working as a bridal stylist in both Charleston and Manhattan,  and scheming on my own bridal line, and then you can imagine how excited I am about my new Wedding Collection!

There are a lot of reasons why I love wedding gowns so much, the main one being that I think they so fully represent the transformative power inherent in fashion.   This one dress takes an otherwise normal day and normal woman and turns her into a bride.  There are not many things that make me happier than to see the look on one of my brides’ faces when they find that perfect dress or have their final fitting.

Yes, I suppose it sounds cheesy and trite, and yes, that may make me a romantic sap, but it is so true.  I got into fashion because of that feeling that a great garment can give you…it should make you feel secure, beautiful, more yourself.    I learned how to create gowns and dresses that do that from working directly with real women of all silhouettes who have all manner of insecurites (myself included),  not from a school where you make everything in a “perfect” model size….and I am really looking forward to sharing the culmination of all those experiences with you!

The collection in its entirety won’t be finished until March, and I’m very excited to announce that I’ve been invited to debut it at Charleston Fashion Week on March 20th, 2010!  That’s less than two months away!  It’s so exciting to be able to take the line back home to where I started.

In the meantime, for the many of you that have inquired, I have set up a separate etsy shop with a small offering of bridal gowns and dresses for maids.

Check it out here:

www.TheWeddingCollection.etsy.com

We also have the very first trunk show set for March 21st (the day after the runway show) at Maddison Row in Charleston. To make an appointment:

(843) 720.7979
info@maddisonrow.com

I can’t wait!!

Happily Yours,

CH

If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out my new blog for People!

This has been a really fun project so far, and one that still strikes me as being a bit surreal. It’s not something I would have ever expected to do.   As each day seems to bring something exciting and new, I’m glad that I can still dork out about things like this.

My People blog (versus the one on mylifetime.com) is more focused on behind the scenes of Project Runway and what it’s really like to be on the show.  Plus, there’s a question and answer section, so feel free to ask questions by commenting!

You can see the most recent post by clicking here.

Happily Yours,

Carol Hannah

Winter has many good traits.  It’s a great excuse to:

-wear all of your clothes at once

-drink loads of hot chocolate

-cozy up with a good book all day

-act like a little kid when it snows

-put on a hat without feeling silly

…buuuut sometimes I wish it was shorter.  What’s your favorite way to beat the winter blues?

Happily Yours,

CH

Here’s a little peek at what I’ve been working on this week…I’ve been filling lots of orders for this dress, which is a fun one, but very labor intensive.

This part takes forever.  After making each strip individually, they are carefully placed on the dress’s base and woven at the bust.

Once all the strips are pinned on, I play a fun game called “Does that look symmetrical to you?”  (In reality, this game is actually…not fun.)  Then I sew them each on one at a time while making sure the stitching is directly in the center of each meandering line.

The next step is to make and attach the hidden bustier, which gives the dress its structured, va-va-voom fit.

The finished product!  Ta-daaaaa!

There you have it!

Happily Yours,

CH

My New Year’s Resolution is to have more of this:

Less rushing, more pauses for quiet moments. Seems pretty feasible.

What’s yours?

Happily Yours,

CH

So this is a few days late, but during the actual holiday I was far too busy eating excessive amounts of amazing home cooked food and sleeping in the middle of the day to blog.  Having now returned to subsisting on cereal,  pizza by the slice, and much less sleep, I bring you a couple of my favorite Christmas photos!

Oh hello, most giant nutcracker in the world.  Nice to meet you.

This is someone’s house on Sullivans Island. Where do they store that thing?  They must have a very large attic.

Please also note the scary cat to the right, who proceeded to make scary cat noises at us as we trespassed to take this treasure of a  photo.

This is classic.  My sis Rachel and best friend Pearls….when we lived together in college a few years ago.

You know those cheesy posed family photos you are forced take when you’re a kid?  We brought ‘em back!  Don’t worry- this was one of a rather long series. We have no shame.  Clearly.

I didn’t take this photo, but I think it is amazing.

So Merry Christmas!!!

Happily Yours,

CH

The other night (well, a couple weeks ago I guess!) I came home from a slightly frustrating day of trying to work in my newly moved into studio- think boxes everywhere, mess everywhere, “where on earth did I put that?” and then add no electricity other than an extension cord from the lobby, and trying to cut out a dress by the light of one wimpy lamp. Oh dears!

BUT!  When I finally got home, waiting in my mailbox  was a special little treasure!  It was the vintage ring I’d ordered off of etsy.  (www.laralewis.etsy.com).  The packing was so cute that I stopped to take a photo, even though I really just wanted to rip it open. A note on a library card?  Look at it!

It’s so adorable!

So I immediately put it on and wore it for the rest of the night. So perfectly quirky and vintage…the kind of thing that when you’re wearing it makes activities like making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich feel fabulous.  Which I did.

Little vintage treasures = love.

Happily Yours,

CH