Shop of the week: Clifton Brides

While other shops at the top of Whiteladies Road have come and gone, Clifton Brides has been a fixture in a beautiful Grade II-listed shop overlooking the Downs since 1994. Inside, potential clients are greeted by owner and director Michaela Gair and sit to discuss their dream wedding dress at a desk decorated with photographs, letters and postcards from bride after happy bride, beaming on her wedding day.

“We ask everyone for a photo,” Michaela says, gesturing at even more images framed up on the wall of the boutique. “It’s lovely to look back after a busy year and think, ‘we put that together’. I still remember some of the brides that we met 15 or 20 years ago – they’ll walk past the shop and I’ll invite them in and see how they are. This isn’t cash and wrap: we build a rapport with people here. It’s the icing on the cake, if you’ll pardon the pun.”

Michaela stocks around 60 sample dresses in the boutique in a variety of bridal styles

A personal service is at the heart of the business Michaela runs. When women book an appointment at her boutique, she’ll talk through the collection of around 60 samples that she stocks and hear about what they have in mind. “It’s about tuning in to what they want, because sometimes they can’t really describe it,” she says. “It’s a two-way thing with us saying ‘you’d look lovely in this’, and often they end up going with a dress they wouldn’t have expected.”

After the initial consultation, Michaela will lead brides through to the calm boutique at the back of the shop, decorated in shades of ivory and champagne. Dresses hang on rails, accompanied by a small range of shoes, headpieces, veils, tiaras and jewellery. “I love all of our dresses – soft, floaty, sexy, lacy,” Michaela says, picking up a white strapless gown with a full skirt decorated with subtle polkadots.

Dresses are altered to fit every bride by a talented team of seamstresses

“All wedding dresses are variations on a theme, but there is a good mix here and something for everyone,” she continues. Michaela personally selects every dress in the shop, working with her favourite designers including Alan Hannah and attending wedding fairs all over the world – she’s just returned from Barcelona with a new sample dress designed by Rosa Clará that three brides are booked in to try in one day alone. There’s also the option for brides to commission their own design to be made up for them, or to order in other samples.

To add to the personal touches, every dress in the shop is christened with a name, rather than just a barcode number. There’s even an exclusive dress that Michaela worked with the designer to create, which is named after her daughter. “She’s only six, but she was chuffed!” she laughs. “I’ve got to do one for my other daughter now!”

Michaela also sells a range of accessories at the boutique

Wedding dresses have been Michaela’s livelihood since she was 17. After leaving school and doing a management course, she and her seamstress mum opened a shop in her hometown of Weston-Super-Mare with four wedding dresses. “It wasn’t a natural choice, but it was an informed decision,” Michaela says.

“We both had a lot of creativity in us, and that flows into bridal wear.” With Michaela selling the dresses and her mum making the adjustments to help them fit each bride perfectly, they took the plunge and moved to their Clifton premises, where they now have a team of three who make the alterations.

A new purchase from Michaela’s recent buying trip in Barcelona

“It’s a lovely location – people come to us as a bit of a destination day,” Michaela says. “Brides come from all over – London, Devon, Somerset, Cardiff – wanting to find a dress in Bristol. They have brunch in Clifton, wander around the Downs, go to the art galleries – we’re perfectly positioned. I’ve thought about expanding but I don’t want to move from here. Intimacy works for us.”

As Michaela talks, her own engagement and wedding rings sparkle on her finger. “I got married in 1998,” she says. “People are still getting married these days – they just change how they do it. We get a lot more people coming in who are having civil ceremonies or same sex weddings, which is really nice. I still believe in marriage – I’m a hopeless romantic.”

Clifton Brides, 186 Whiteladies Road, Clifton, Bristol, BS8 2XU
www.cliftonbrides.co.uk
0117 923 7928