From Pre-Loved to Bespoke Bridal: Swans Bridal Founder Lucy Brown on Upcycled Wedding Fashion
Meet the Swans Bridal designer bringing sustainable, build-your-own bridal wear to Make New Traditions: Live on 4 October
Interview by Melissa Woods
I knew straight away that Swans Bridal were a natural fit for the MNT’s Book of Love, and Make New Traditions: Live this October — not least because the designs are absolutely stunning, but for a much bigger reason.
Founder, Lucy Brown, takes pre-loved and heirloom wedding gowns — dresses that would otherwise sit unsold in a boutique back room or, worse, end up in landfill — and transforms them into modern, interchangeable bridal separates. Think a corset, a skirt, and layered overpieces to mix, match and rebuild long after the big day is over. It's sustainable. It's sentimental. And very unique.
Lucy talked me through her process, her Vivienne Westwood obsession, the shocking truth about polyester in wedding dresses, and what a studio appointment with her actually looks like.
Up-cycling heirloom and pre-loved dresses into new pieces is becoming more popular — but what makes Swans Bridal different?
Lucy: the Swans Bridal Collection is designed to be interchangeable pieces which allows brides to choose the components of their wedding day outfit, making it completely bespoke. The pieces are created as separates rather than stitched together as a static, single dress. The bride then has the option to style the chosen pieces back with their existing wardrobe after the Big Day. I was also interested in creating more contemporary designs with preloved fabrics - so often reworked pre-loved dresses look antique or vintage, Swans aspires to a more modern couture vibe.
What inspired you to build the collection as separates instead of single finished dresses?
Lucy: I got the idea from visiting Build-a-bear with my daughter when she was little! After years of working with brides and selling finished, I began to see that most brides like to have some design input in their final look. they wanted to change the neckline, the sleeves or the legth. The interchangeable aspect of the range allows the bride to build their own bespoke look. Everything starts with the corset, and the skirt, overpieces and accessories are added in stages for the perfect end result.
How do you source your fabrics? Is it possible for people to provide their own?
Lucy: I buy bundles of wedding dress samples from bridal boutiques that are difficult to sell due to age, style or condition. I also use brides' heirloom dresses, for example their Mum's beloved wedding dress to recreate a new look. This gives the dress extra special meaning for the bride, alongside contemporary design and a perfect fit.
You can also dye the fabrics any colour, right? Are the dyes natural?
Lucy: Many brides might be surprised to learn that most modern wedding dresses are made from polyester, polyester blends or nylon. This means that unless a fabric is a natural fibre, for synthetics generally only pastel shades are achievable. The dyes have to be synthetic to dye man-made fibres, but they are completely non-toxic.
You're heavily inspired by Vivienne Westwood — is there a piece of hers (or a moment in her career) that's shaped how you design your pieces?
Lucy: It's without doubt the corset - when I was a teenager I used to hang around in the World's End store at the King's Road, staring longingly at the amazing corsets I could never afford. I loved how Westwood took this very historical piece and made it wearable, relevant and sexy. I also love her use of volume and drape, again inspired by historical costume. There's something truly regal about her work, which speaks to how I would like a bride to feel on her wedding day.
Customers can style your pieces back into their everyday wardrobe after the wedding — has anyone come back and shown you how they've re-worn a piece?
Lucy: Not as yet as SB was launched in 2026, so currently working with brides mainly on the actual wedding day outfit. I did take a bride's wedding gown from 9 years ago and rework for this year for a party she organised with her BFFs, where the dress code was "your wedding dress". She was so happy with the result she's now contemplating renewing her vows just so she can wear the Swans Bridal rework again!
The stats on polyester and microplastics are genuinely alarming — what do you wish every bride understood before she buys her dress?
Lucy: I’d love to see brides opting for 100% silks, viscose or cottons which biodegrade after disposal. However even this is an issue, as all virgin fabric is ultimately wasteful. It's estimated there is already enough clothing on the planet to dress the next six generations without producing a single new item.
Roughly half of all wedding dresses globally are made of polyester or polyester blends. This means unsold dresses that end up in landfill take around 20-200+ years to biodegrade. In many real-world conditions, it may take longer (or basically never fully biodegrade in the normal sense) Instead of breaking down like natural fibres, polyester fragments into microplastics over time. When you consider 5-10 metres are used to make a single wedding dress, that's a horrible amount of microplastics ending up in our oceans and environment.
This is why finding new uses for synthetic fabrics, rewearing and reusing is ultimately the best way forward. We need to look at landfill as a huge amount of unused fabric, and use our design imaginations to create new clothing.
Walk us through what happens to a dress between "pre-loved wedding gown" and "brand new Swans piece"
Lucy: The pre-loved dress is carefully laundered to remove marks, and steamed to bring the fabric back to it's best self. I will then carefully unpick all seams to deconstruct the dress and assess fabric amount. I ensure all layers are removed, all trims are kept, even down to zips and buttons. I will then select a suitable swans Bridal Pattern, for example if a bride has ordered a satin Corset and mini skirt, I can generally cut both pieces from the same carefully selected pre-loved dress.
The corset pattern is altered to fit the bride, and the new pattern pieces are cut from the pre-loved fabric.
All stitching takes place in the Swans Bridal studio, and made to order, so no excess stock.
All items are hand finished and carefully packed and sent to the bride. Alternatively we love to meet bride's in the West Sussex Studio for consulations and fittings - we're around 10 minutes outside Brighton, so a pretty easy journey from London if that's preferred.
What does a studio appointment actually involve? Talk us through it for someone discovering you for the first time online, in the Book of Love, or at Make New Traditions: Live?
Lucy: The best thing to do is come and try on some pieces from the swans Bridal Collection - We have samples in size 10/12 at the SB studio in West Sussex, so brides can book a consultation to come and have a try on session with all the different pieces. This is a good way to get a better idea of fabrics and how the shapes look on the body.
Alternatively, if you have a few pieces you're keen to try on we can bring them for a fitting & consultation in your home if you're in London or West Sussex.
What made Make New Traditions: Live stand out to you as the event to showcase your collection at?
Lucy: I love the idea that MNT caters for couples who aren't happy with the usual one size fits all style of wedding planning - somewhere along the line weddings became so formulaic, and don't reflect the couple's style or POV. Social media has made it worse, creating a checklist of things couples seemingly have to have or they've failed (who actually cares about wedding favours or monogrammed bridesmaid's dressing gowns?). My Mum and Dad had a wedding at church, a reception in the village hall with a buffet and trestle tables and trifle for after. They did it to fit their budget and family and had the best day ever. It showed me how important it was to have No Rules around the planning of your wedding day and MNT really align with these values.
Meet Swans Bridal at Make New Traditions: Live
Lucy will be showcasing the Swans Bridal Collection at MNT: Live, our flagship immersive wedding event at Kachette, Shoreditch on 4 October 2026.
Come see (and touch) the separates in person, ask Lucy your fitting questions face to face, and get a feel for how a bespoke, sustainable bridal look actually comes together before you commit to anything.
I love the idea that a wedding dress doesn't have to be one static, precious, single-use thing you wear for six hours and then hang in a bag forever. It can be built, rebuilt, and lived in again. That's such a stylish, personal way to think about the biggest outfit of your life — and it's exactly the kind of independent, values-led supplier that MNT loves to represent.
If you're planning a wedding and you've never really loved the idea of a "one and done" dress, go and say hello to Lucy — either in her West Sussex studio, or in person at MNT: Live this October. You can browse her full profile, and the other independent suppliers we've hand-picked for the same reasons, over in the Book of Love.