A Look Back At My Year In Occasionwear - 2025 Review & What's Next
3rd January 2026
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A LOOK BACK AT MY YEAR IN ETHICAL LUXURY OCCASION WEAR- 2025 REVIEW & WHATS NEXT
This year has been a defining one for my business in limited edition ethical luxury occasion wear. In a year of celebrations, statement dressing & a return to meaningful fashion I feel very much in the right place & feel like the my brand has become more than just dressing up for that special occasion but wearing something rare, considered & beautifully made. My designs are created for moments worth remembering & hopefully garments to be treasured for time to come. In this review I look back at some of my most loved pieces & some events that made my year, plus whats next for my exclusive occasion wear.
The year started with the creation of my new collection Sunset Boulevard which I showed in the City of London in February for London Fashion Week. I kicked off the event held by a third party organiser, with my ethical occasion wear collection. I love the platform of in person fashion shows to create a real impact for my creations. See my blog February 2025 Ethical Fashion Show | Caroline Bruce
Also in the spring I attended a local girls school who were holding a job fair with a range of different businesses & further education participating. I took along items of clothing I had designed & made plus a portfolio of some of my other previous work. The aim of the day was to open conversations about different career paths & for me to inspire budding young designers & creatives.
During spring I created the first of my bespoke red carpet looks for the year. This custom made outfit was for Samie Elishi & the occasion was The Brit Awards. This black bralette & skirt made a stunning look.
This year I celebrated 40 years in my career as a designer & dressmaker which sounds a long time but I don’t feel like it has been that long. I love what I do which means I never get bored especially now I am working for myself. This is also my eleventh year in business since I started my own passion project. I have worked for many different people & other brands over the years but my main passion is designing & creating my own unique ethical occasion wear pieces.
After a lot of planning & finding the right people to assist me, I was lucky enough to have a photoshoot on location at Lullingstone Castle & The World Gardens in Kent. My little team was able to have free roam of the grounds & gardens for the shoot on which was a perfectly sunny day. We had a good day & I am planning to add more photos of this than just the one below on my website soon.
August was a great month for my ethical occasion wear in the media. Working with a great stylist really helps obviously, so many thanks to Jeff Mehmet for using several of my collection pieces for this lovely shoot with Billie Shepherd from The Mummy Diaries, Sister Act & of course TOWIE. I had front cover on Notebook Magazine which is part of the Sunday Mirror newspaper & a four page spread using mine as well as other dresses in Okay Magazine.
Most of summer was spent working on my daughter’s wedding dress which is finished now but unfortunately pictures will have to wait until after the wedding in 2026!
I was also featured in another shoot with Jeff Mehmet for Okay Magazine for Katya Jones from Strictly when one of my ethical scarves was used in the styling.
During the year I have also been altering dresses & outfits for many different people from all walks of life, some of which were for special red carpet events. Below is one of the dresses I worked on & it was for Amy Hart from Love Islands’ After Sun for this year’s Pride of Britain.
The Autumn saw more awards & film premiers as this is more the season for red carpet events. I was really pleased to be creating a sparkling sequin dress for Princess Andre for her red carpet debut at the National Television Awards NTAs.
I loved creating this glamorous two piece outfit for Lucinda Stafford winner of Love Island Games 2025. The high gloss heavy satin fabric is just perfect for this design to create the structure needed for this silhouette & the beautiful bronze brown colour is very on trend right now.
Another great piece of media coverage for my ethical occasion wear brand was The Notebook Magazine & OK Magazine article with Pete Wicks wearing a tweed tailored jacket I had from my archive pieces.
I finished 2025 by working on some bridal wear alterations for a unique designer wedding dress brand in Knightsbridge. Making garments fit properly is so important , especially for bridal wear. The right fit, proportions & length of a dress can make such a big difference in looking amazing or not. Equally how you style your dress with shoes, accessories & hair & make up are so important.
Looking ahead to 2026 I have a few new projects already in the pipeline, I’m working on some special one off pieces & I have some media opportunities lined up too. I also want to start my online shop to start selling some of my designs, so watch this space… Finally but not least, I just want to thank everyone who has been a part of my fabulous year, whether I have worked for you, with you or you for me, or you support me by following me & liking my posts, it’s been a good one & I’m looking forward to all the possibilities of 2026 to come. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy & prosperous new year.
Links https://carolinebruce.co.uk https://instagram.co.uk/caroline.bruce.designs