Designer Jenny Packham's Tips on Shopping for a Wedding Dress

This year, designer Jenny Packham celebrates 25 years in the bridal and ready-to-wear industries, so when we got the chance to talk to the British designer at an event co-hosted by TRESemme and makeup artist Laura Mercier, we couldn’t help but ask her to share her advice to brides in search of the perfect wedding dress.

For starters, know that planning a wedding is a stressful time, and you don’t want your dress to be part of that. “I was saying earlier that some people feel like they’ve got to be the most beautiful they’re ever going to be and it’s the most important day of their life,” she says. “And I think that that’s very difficult, if you give yourself that sort of pressure.”

To that same end, she advises brides just be natural, much like how Keira Knightley was on her wedding day-possibly even recycling a dress from the red carpet! “Don’t try and turn yourself into something else,” Packham says. “I always think of the groom, turning around and seeing somebody with curly hair who’s always got straight hair, you know? Must be a bit of a shock.”

“I feel like the sort of strapless, big dress has maybe had its day,” she says. In fact, the dresses she’s designing these days have more of a slimline silhouette, much like the ones you see on Downton Abbey. “I’ve always really loved the ‘20s and the whole Art Deco time,” she says. “I just think it was just the most amazing era for style and design.”

(L-R) Jenny Packham 2012; 2010; 2011

Finally, Packham offers this ultimate stress-less advice: “A lot of people say, ‘I want a dress that I’m going to be happy looking at in 10 years. I don't want it to look dated.’ But the bad news is, it will,” she says. “So just live in the moment and choose something that suits you.”