TO mark the start of the festive period, Lakeside commissioned fashion student Katherine Massey to create a dress that would help any fashionista stand out from the crowd this Christmas. The couture dress, designed and created by Katherine in conjunction with Lakeside, is made from over 5,000 fresh holly leaves and certainly has the wow factor.
Katherine approached Lakeside with her concept and designs back in August, and it wowed the team at the Essex-based shopping centre so much that they decided to use the dress to front its Christmas campaign.
The Christmas design features a floor length gown with over 5,000 real holly leaves hand-stitched into the skirt. The holly leaves will wilt after a couple of weeks, giving the dress a limited period of wear and adding to its exclusivity. The top and belt of the dress features red diamante beading to reflect holly berries.
Katherine explains; “I was over the moon when Lakeside decided to use my dress design as the pinnacle of its 2012 Christmas campaign. I love a creative brief and, although challenging, making this dress out of real holly leaves (and hand-stitching 5,000 of them to the dress!) was one of the best projects I’ve worked on. I wanted to create a piece that was both beautiful but original, and I don’t believe a dress made with so many holly leaves has been done before!”
Kylie Minor, Lakeside’s Marketing Manager, comments, “Right from the start we were impressed with Katherine’s enthusiasm. When she approached us with such an original and creative idea, it captured the imagination of the whole team. As a company, Lakeside is all for nurturing young talent and I am confident we will be seeing some of Katherine’s designs in our stores in the future.”
The dress has proved so popular that Louise Thompson, from hit E4 show Made in Chelsea, showcased it at a high profile celebrity Christmas party last week – something that was beyond Katherine’s wildest dreams.
