Q&A Fashion & Beauty Local experts offer advice on how to look your big-day best THE PERFECT FIT How long before the wedding should I book my alterations and what should I expect from my first appointment? It’s best to contact a seamstress as soon as you’ve bought your dress – even if it is going to take a full 12 months to arrive into the store. Bridal seamstresses can get booked up to a year in advance, so it’s best to be ahead of the game with your appointments. You can also ask for a rough price so you can budget this into your costs. You may find that seamstresses work in different timescales and various ways. Generally, I recommend having your first fitting around eight to 12 weeks before your wedding date. This fitting will allow you to discuss any design changes you’d like to make (adding belts, sleeves etc), and we will also pin and measure the work that needs to be done to create the perfect fit. We will then book your check fitting, which generally takes place around two weeks before the big day. We will check everything fits perfectly, and if it does, your dress will be steamed and ready to take away. If there are still adjustments to be made, we have time before the wedding date to make them. If you have opted for some design changes, you may find that you require a couple of extra fittings to make sure everything is perfect. If you’re looking to create something custom, it’s best to let your seamstress know during your first enquiry, so they can schedule enough time ahead of your wedding to create any custom pieces. Rebecca Ferguson www.facebook.com/bitsxbobbins LIFT OFF My long hair is generally quite flat and lifeless, but I love the idea of wearing my hair down on my wedding day. What can I do to give it more volume? One of the easiest ways is to get some layers put in it. If you’ve got collarbone-length locks or longer, then longish layers are best with the shortest being chin or jaw length. This way, you take weight out of the hair but keep the length while creating body. Having a fringe put in is also a great way of achieving more volume. Because a fringe is made up of hair taken from the top of the head, you’re removing weight there and pushing it to the front. Blow-drying your hair properly is a good idea too. So, dry using a small, round brush dry from roots upwards. People think a big brush is the best way to create body, but actually a smaller size is better as you can get right in at the root lifting from the scalp. Blow-drying hair with your head upside down is also a good trick. Remember, you’re trying to defy gravity, getting the hair away from the head. The MDLondon Blow with a large nozzle and a really good bristle brush will give you a fantastic blow-dry with flyaway- and frizz-free shine and lots of volume! You’ll want to look for resin-based blow-dry products containing PDP VA core polymers such as mousse, blow-dry sprays, and hair protection sprays. These can go hard or a bit crispy but as long as you’re constantly moving the brush while you’re drying you’ll avoid the worst of this. But bear in mind that you do need some of that crunchiness as it’s this texture that supports the volume. I love a product called Sugarlift by Wella EIMI. Dry shampoos and texturising sprays are good at supporting volume too. I use Umberto Giannini Texture Boost on myself and on my clients. You can use it throughout the day, so if you feel your hair getting a bit flat, just flip your head forward and spray it in at the roots whenever you need to. Above all, you don’t want anything oily on the hair – no oils, no serums, nothing greasy as they’re heavy. Another good method for creating body is adding waves. If you put a curling tong through sections of your hair, it creates push against other sections and that in turn creates volume. But if you don’t put enough wave in at the roots, the hair sits a bit flat, so make sure you concentrate the tongs at the root, which is where you want the lift. On the big day, put medium Velcro rollers in your hair and leave them while you have your make-up done. Try a bit of backcombing at the roots too, teasing the hair with a wide-toothed comb. You could do one of these things or all of them and it will help you. I guess what you don’t want is unrealistic volume so that it looks like a parody. You want to find a happy medium where the hair is healthy looking, so I’d recommend experimenting before the wedding until you find that sweet spot. Michael Douglas www.mdlondon.co.uk Getty Images www.peter-photography.com 72
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