Sebastyne Designs, Tasmania, Australia
Phone: +61447545120
Email: Sebastyne@Sebastyne.com
Cotton bridal gowns – trendy, traditional, elegant and green
When a Finnish dress maker Riina Rinkineva-Young got engaged to an Australian electrician in 2005, she was faced with a problem. She did not want a satin gown. Not silk satin any more than cotton satin, and definitely not polyester satin. Silk noil (raw silk) was a beautiful fabric, but it still felt rather boring to her. Suddenly she thought of a corset she’d made a few years earlier with a calico cotton lining. At the time, she kept admired the lining over the right side. That was a start of what is now known as Sebastyne Designs, and that is how the Finnish dress maker turned into an Australian designer.
Calico cotton isn’t the most used fabric for bridal gowns. In fact, Riina Rinkineva-Young has never heard of anyone else make finished gowns out of it. “It’s crazy. The fabric is absolutely gorgeous!” She declares. ‘Calico’ has a little different meaning depending on which part of the world you live in. In Australia, it means an unbleached, uncoloured plain weave fabric. “The fabric is a challenge.” The designer admits: “It gives you certain limitations to what you can do with it, but if you really understand the fabric, no amount of silk and diamonds will beat its natural simple beauty.” She continues. “With calico, you have the opportunity to make the gown quite elaborate without making it look like a doll’s dress. That is one of the things I love about it. I don’t like candy floss bridal gowns, but I love crinolines, trains and corsets. You can actually have quite a simple wedding and still get away with having a ridiculously fantastic gown!” Riina Rinkineva-Young giggles. “But on the other hand, calico can easily handle being the centre of attention in a simple design as well. In fact, I haven’t trusted any other fabric to handle simple elegance like that. Elegance is so easily boring.”
Boredom is one of the reasons why Riina Rinkineva-Young got into fashion in the first place. She was sick and tired of shopping for clothes that were just the same in every store with a different brand name stuck on them. “The differences are minimal.” She says. “I wanted to make clothes for myself that nobody else had. I wanted my own style that was independent of current trends. I want to carry that over to my bridal design. I don’t want to be the next Vera Wang, with all due respect to her; I want to be the first Riina Rinkineva-Young.”
Being born and raised in Finland, she has an inborn respect for natural materials and tradition. “I love the fact I can combine contemporary ideas with the traditional feel. Calico has that country home charm to it. It forces you to think about mothers, homes and hard work. Everything marriage is about is weaved into that fabric.” If that wasn’t enough, 100% calico cotton, being untreated, unbleached and uncoloured natural fibre, throws one more top card on the table: It is more environmentally friendly than a whole lot of other materials. It is not the most green material out there, but it is up there with the best. Green ideals are going to be a top priority in the future. “I am still starting out, so I haven’t found the perfect set of suppliers quite yet. But as I will expand the business, environmental issues will be a major factor in what I choose and use.” Riina Rinkineva-Young promises.
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