Kate Halfpenny
"Kate has captured you in every stitch of that dress" my best friend said to me on my wedding day. It helps that she is one of my greatest friends, but ever since I met Kate Halfpenny when she turned up on my doorstep five years ago, she immediately understood who I was.
It is just one of the many talents that makes her such a unique and extraordinary designer. She can knock you up the wedding dress of your dreams, hand-make the flowers for your veil, design the sparkler for your engagement, make you a necklace that everyone asks you where you got it from, style you from top-to-toe or simply refresh your wardrobe with a few new key pieces, and this is before we get to her day-to-day jobs which include styling for fashion editorial, commercial advertisements and costume designing.
Where did all this talent, passion and boundless enthusiasm for design come from then? Kate grew up in Derbyshire. Her mum, an extremely talented seamstress herself, was a knitwear designer making batwing 80s mohair jumpers and allowing her daughter to play on the knitting machines. Kate was inspired by visiting the old wool mills in Bradford and remembers going to craft fairs with her mum selling brooches that they had made together out of curtain poles.
Kate's dad also studied graphics and craft design technology so she grew up in a creative environment of artists, making things out of bits of furniture in her Grandad’s garage. It is he I probably have to thank for the furniture that Kate designed for my house - the mdf dresser that she painted to make it look like a French antique, the bed head that she made out of a thrown away bit of wood and some Liberty print material, and the cupboards that she painted and fixed a mixture of vintage handles onto so that I didn't have to buy a whole new kitchen.
It is perhaps he I should also thank for telling Kate that she couldn't use her best "messy writing", but that writing should always be neat. It is perhaps this, which instilled a conscientious and meticulous attention to detail which is infused in all of Kate's work.
Kate studied art and design at Chesterfield college trying her hand at everything from pottery, printing and fine art to jewellery, fashion and textiles. She then studied at Huddersfield University achieving a BA Honors in fashion marketing and manufacture, it is there she specialised in bridal wear. The course culminated in an 8-piece catwalk show of wedding dresses that could easily be turned into evening cocktail numbers with the simple shedding of a full skirt, she then went to further her knowledge of fabrics by studying on the MA Design for Textiles Futures at Central St.Martins.
A two-in-one wedding dress that every bride dreams of as the panic ensues over how many dresses she is allowed to wear on the big day. (I had three - two of which were designed by Kate and then adapted for special occasions! I didn't want to waste their exquisite beauty by leaving them sitting around for years unworn).
Typically of Kate, eager to learn and acquire as many skills as possible, in her 3rd year she did an industrial placement at Vivienne Westwood where she gained good background knowledge of production and PR, she also joined The New Renaissance, a company of costume designers and art directors. She says that it was while working on the fantastical worlds of the Powergen weather adverts and hand embroidering a giant 60 foot cobweb for a Gordon's Gin commercial that she decided she loved and wanted to continue making and adorning stunning and imaginatively creative pieces.
Her knowledge and love of the history of fashion and her incredible ability to make someone's vision come true meant that by early 2000 Kate became permanently in demand as a costume designer on adverts for brand giants such as Pepsi, Playstation, Honda, Swarovski, Ghost, Dove, Moschino and Hugo Boss among others. Elle, Sunday Times and All Access are just a few of the magazines she has done editorial styling for and She has also worked on pop videos for the likes of The Kaiser Chiefs, Stereophonics, George Michael and Miss Dynamite, and has styled Twiggy, Shirley Bassey, Laura Bailey and Elizabeth Jagger for M&S as well as personally styling Charlotte Church, Erin O' Connor, Kate Moss for her 35th birthday and me.
I can safely say that if Kate hadn't styled me for all the events I have been to in the last five years I would probably never have left the house for fear of getting it wrong! She has a fantastic sense of what is in vogue right now, but will always add a twist to it which makes sure the outfit is not only noticed and admired, but makes you feel unique and like no other who may be wearing or have worn that outfit. She will put combinations of clothes together you won't have thought of, dress you to suit your shape and size and give you the confidence in your sense of style and what suits your figure so that you no longer need to shake your head in despair at not having Kate Moss's wardrobe or Elle MacPherson's body. Kate will dress you to suit you, no copying, and if you're lucky she will have handmade an extra detail on your clothes to make them extra individual.
It is Kate's personal touch which makes her so gifted as a wedding dress designer. She understands the importance of getting the dress right for the day. She wants every bride to feel special and stresses the importance of creating it together, making sure the experience is exciting, effortless and enjoyable, never awkward, and always understanding that a dress is a big spend of the wedding budget and so must be completely perfect. She can also make the bridesmaids dresses fit the theme of the bride's and incase the groom feels left out of Kate's talents she offers a personal styling for them for the special day, she can find the perfect suit and all the trimmings.
Kate has also started to make bespoke diamond and precious stone engagement rings, wedding bands and eternity rings. If simply looking for a present for a loved one Kate has also put together a collection of gold and silver charm inspired necklaces, bracelets and earrings using Swarovski crystals and freshwater pearls as well as other treasures to create one-off vintage inspired pieces.
You might well ask where Kate finds time to do all this. She always says it's her "way of relaxing", that she is never happier than when sketching, doing tear-sheets, making mood-boards or filling notebooks with ideas for her next project.
Working from her studio, you can always find Kate surrounded by trims and laces, mannequins adorned with the most beautiful gowns and rails of vintage dresses from the late 1800s to the 70's that Kate renovates, repairs or reworks to make the dress you have dreamed of, a dress that brings a flavour of the past to the present........ Or you can wait and hope that a lucky Halfpenny turns up on your doorstep, but why take the risk?
Written by Emilia Fox