While looking for options for your trousseau shopping, look beyond home shores for choices aplenty and from the best available. Be inspired by Indian royalty who commissioned special pieces from international designer houses before weddings, and stock up on luxury trousseau essentials which will mark your own style and also stand you in good stead
In her biography of the celebrated Rajmata Gayatri Devi of Jaipur, author Dharmendar Kanwar writes, “When Gayatri Devi wed her Prince charming; the entire township was out to celebrate. A lot of shopping for the trousseau had already been done in Europe; her family had ordered towels and sheets in Florence, shoes and matching bags from Ferragamo.” And this, of course, was not the extent of the trousseau shopping done for the royal bride, but it sure hints at the time-revered tradition of shopping for one’s wedding finery from international locales. While destination weddings have become a raging trend all over, destination shopping for the bridal trousseau continues to be the pursuit of the truly cultivated and suave sensibilities of today’s well-heeled, well-traveled brides-to-be.
The Indian brides-to-be are a fastidious lot given the splendour and abundance of choices before them in their own country. So, while the likes of Wallis Simpson, famed American socialite and wife of Prince Edward of England, filled 66 trunks with clothes and accessories by Chanel and Schiaparelli, there are those like steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal’s daughter, Vanisha Mittal, with her much talked about all-designer trousseau. The romantic tradition of putting together a wedding trousseau, full of attires, china, linen and other accoutrements, is as much symptomatic of the anticipation and excitement for a new chapter in the bride’s life, as it is for the bride’s family to shower her with all the love and attention.
While India offers a grand range of options for trousseau shopping, there are still some things which the bride-to-be would love to buy abroad, going by the fact that in-season trends, international designers and intense variety to choose from. If one ponders over what to buy from abroad, then lingerie, perfumes, make-up, accessories come to the mind instantly. Also, what is another very important part of this shopping is fashion wear for the bride-to-be, from designers who are not available yet in India. So, with these in mind, we come to the important question of where to shop from? And for that we have some indisputably chic suggestions below.
While one is looking at trousseau shopping abroad, there is a certain premium attached to our perennial favourite – London. While Harrods and Self ridges will offer you a plethora of options from linen, to make-up to jewellery and whatnot, there are also other havens of boutique luxury, So, there is Les TroisSoeurs in Canary Wharf with their bridal team buying the best available from designers like Temperley, Amanda Wakeley, Lazaro, Caroline Castigliano, Sarah Janks, Bagley Mischka, Jenny Packham and more. You can buy your fill of dresses to wear at parties, gowns for occasions and still have some to lust after.
Then there is Luella’s Boudoir in Wimbledon which is aone-stop bridal shop for dress, lingerie, shoes and accessories from designers like Shane Ryding, Charlotte Casadejus, KatjaNuutinen. For lingerie and night-wear buying, there are high-street staples like TopShop [with a lingerie department] and Ann Summers [with a section devoted to kinky goodies]. TopShop’s range includes vintage bralets, cut-out flirty and frilly knickers, lace thongs,boypants and dream negligees. For make-up you can visit the flagship stores or just pop into Selfridges and stock up on NARS, Cover Girl, Urban Decay and more of the professional cosmetic brands.
You can also follow in the royal style icon, Kate Middleton’s footsteps and chart her trousseau-wear shopping course on London’s King’s Road where she visited Warehouse [clothing store], Whistles, Nicole Farhi store, the Ralph Lauren section at Peter Jones and finished up at Ted Baker. So, while exquisite silk underwear from La Perla, Elle Macpherson or quirkier brands such as Frankly Darling and Pussy Glamore, are must haves for your wedding lingerie collections, elegantly packaged toiletries by Annick Goutal [at namesake store in Motcomb Street, London] are also indispensable.
While in London, one cannot forget a visit to Marylebone High Street where there is a personal favourite residing – Cologne & Cotton. While the shop windows hint at silk nightwear and nursery linen, you will be surprised to discover high-end towels, bedding, cushions, china, ladies’ nightwear, home fragrance, bath and body products inside. But what is really noticeable about this shop is its collection of hard-to-find perfumery brands like Coudray, Fragonard.
Another time-revered stop in your Continental shopping tour is Paris. The city is more known to honeymooners for being the ‘city of love’ but relatively lesser known to pre-wedding shoppers. If we were to take up the cause of perfumes further, it is worth the while to pay a visit to the MaisonGuerlain at 68 Champs-Élysées, where one can sample vintage scents like Mitsouko and Vol de Nuit,[apart from the famous Shalimar], which holds pride of place among otherfamous scent bottles by Prada, Chanel or Penhaligon.
Right across the street from the Musée du Louvre on the Place du Palais Royal, is the Louvre des Antiquaireshousing 250 galleries showcasing everything from classical antiquities to objet d ’arts, most of it displayed in the shop windows. This is place to hunt for one-off pieces of jewellery, be it Art Deco engagement rings, restored vintage collectable watches, or even unique signed pieces from iconic brands like Van Cleef&Arpels being sold at the Bruno Pepin showroom.For accessories and jewellery, also worth a try is Au Grenier de Lucie [Marché Vernaison, Allée 1 stand 25] with a collection as varied as vintage costume jewellery from Christian Lacroix, Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Schiaparelli, Miriam Haskell, Joseff, Bijoux Heart, Deluxe, owners Heidi or Jason can also show you their collection of antique crowns!
Lest you forget to pick the fabled French lace, we have at about 5 minutes from Palais Royale [8, Rue de la Vrillière in the 1st arrondissement], the chic vintage boutique called Fr/Jp Design and Vintage, owned by Nobuko Nishimura. Her stock ranges from the 1900’s to the 1980’s and you can find French handmade lace and Art Deco dresses along with an eclectic mix of bags, shoes and accessories. Once your bags are overflowing, you can head over to MaisonGoyard, famous Parisian trunk-makers, on 233 Rue Saint Honoré, to get your very own set of personalized vanity cases, luggage pieces, totes and more to put away the spoils of your trip.
Closer home and a short flight away is a much overlooked destination for trousseau shopping – Singapore. Here, plush shopping complexes and stores like Takashimaya, Robinsons, Metro, and John Little and Tangs, along with theoft-frequented Orchard Road boast of the latest international selections from major international fashion houses. But then, the Arab Street holds its own for the trousseau shopperwith its amplitude of shops selling fabrics — from French Chantilly lace& chiffons, gossamer lace from Holland and Scotland, to gold-embroidered organzas.
The Lingerie Galleria at the Raffles Hotel Shopping Arcade offers a wide selection of lingerie, sleepwear and resort and swimwear from brands like La Perla, Cotton Club, Eres, Triumph, Marvel, LiseCharmel and Exilia. For beachwear and swim wear there is Tannlines in Paragon and Wisma Atria with Wahine swimwear label, Aztec Rose surf-inspired apparel, Running Bare active wear and more.
Moving on to jewellery, Marina Bay Sands area in Singapore houses many luxurious jewellery houses like Chopard, Van Cleef&Arpels, Tiffany & Co.while Orchard Road has Cartier and Bulgari. For value-for-money jewellery options there are outlets of Larry, Mondial and also local jewellery labels likeSooKee, KeeJwa and TainPo which add a distinct ethnic Singaporean touch to your everyday wedding jewellery collection.
Then there is the specialist perfumery, Sentuers in Raffles Boulevard, allows you to build your own personalised scent with more than 80 perfume raw materials and have it blended into anything from oil based scents to shower gels. Similar wedding personalization needs can be met with at My Dream Wedding on Tras Street where they offer bridal services like customisation, themes among others.
If you have been through the above and have the maps of these cities popping up in your dreams, don’t blame us as we have only tried and pitched in with the best available for our brides-to-be! So, go ahead and shop till the bags drop!
