We love contemporary wedding gowns but there’s something extra special about a vintage wedding dress that tells a story with every stitch and seam. In 2025 we were honoured to be tasked with a number of vintage wedding dress transformations, reimagining gowns from the 1980s and 1990s for a new generation of brides who wanted to celebrate their love wearing a treasured piece of their family history.
More complex than designing a wedding dress from scratch, a vintage wedding dress transformation can be a lengthy process for our highly skilled team, but we think it’s well worth the effort to honour the history of each gown and pay tribute to the bride who originally wore it. Plus, there’s no better ‘something old’ for a modern bride than her mum’s much-loved wedding dress!
Hannah
It’s hard to pick a favourite wedding dress transformation of 2025 because they were all so special but Hannah’s hand painted gown was for sure a standout!
A bespoke bridal look three generations in the making, Hannah brought her mum’s 1992 wedding dress to us and we were thrilled to learn that the gown had been designed, sewn and intricately painted by Hannah’s grandmother, Pamela. A former bridal seamstress, Pamela lovingly crafted the gown for her daughter’s wedding, adorning the bodice and skirt with the most exquisite hand painted flowers inspired by her English cottage garden.
Keen to pay tribute to both her mum and her beloved grandmother, Hannah had a vision to modernise the silhouette of her mum’s wedding dress while retaining the essence of the original design. With Hannah’s mum’s blessing, we got to work updating the look of the gown, which included removing the sleeves and oversized bow, changing the placement of the flower details as well raising the waist and reworking the shape of the neckline.
Across multiple appointments we redesigned the gown into a show-stopping look fit for a 2025 bride, with much care taken to preserve the eye-catching floral details that were so lovingly hand painted by Hannah’s grandmother.
Photographs by Westerly. Styling & coordination: Pop Up Planning Co. Venue: Lamonts Bishops House. Florals: Honey Bunch Botanicals. MUA: By Alexandra.
To ensure ease of movement and keep the hand painted details off the floor during the reception, we also added in a ball gown bustle which made dancing and twirling a breeze for stunning Hannah.
“I’d loved mum and dad’s wedding album since I was a kid but I also wanted a dress that felt like my own and I think Ilka did a wonderful job of bringing that to life,” Hannah said of her experience working with us.
Lorna
Beautiful Lorna approached us back in early 2025 to ask whether we would be interested in transforming her mum’s 1983 maxi into a show stopping mini for her second look at her November wedding. Of course we jumped at the opportunity!
From the get-go Lorna had a very clear vision of what she was hoping to achieve with her wedding dress transformation; she loved many of the details, including the frills and bows but felt the silhouette needed a makeover to suit her own style.
Lorna supplied inspiration images of mini dress silhouettes that appealed to her and then it was up to us to determine which approach would work best for the vintage fabric we had available to work with.
We started by experimenting with the bodice of the dress - removing the puff sleeves in favour of straps, as well as bringing down the height of the front and back of the bodice for a more contemporary look. We also added boning to provide more structure and support than the original bodice offered.
Photographs by Stefanie Buma. Planning & styling: Switch Creative. Florals: Natural Art Flowers. Venue: State Buildings. MUA: Emer Rose. Hair: Britt Zinn Hair.
Although Lorna initially considered transforming the tiered maxi skirt into an on-trend bubble skirt, after playing around with calico toiles in different shapes, Lorna ended up opting for more of an A line silhouette for her mini. Once the overall shape was perfected, we moved on to the finishing details - adding a ruffle to the hem while also reinstating the bow details on the front of the bodice.
It was so special for our team to get to know Lorna and her beautiful mum Angela during the redesign of their family heirloom and we’re so happy with how the final dress came together for Lorna’s big day!
Laura
We love a bride who isn’t afraid to make a splash with their second look and Laura certainly did that (literally and figuratively!) with her mum’s redesigned 1990s wedding gown. Featuring a high neck lace bodice, basque waist and floor-grazing hem, Laura’s mum’s wedding dress was gorgeous but wasn’t exactly what she had in mind for her second look, so she came to us for a transformation that we’ll remember for many years to come!
With sleeves and a hem length far too long to be comfortable to wear at a destination wedding in humid Bali, Laura engaged us to modernise her mum’s maxi, substantially shortening the hem as well as rethinking the neckline.
The main feature that Laura wanted to preserve from the original gown was the lace, which we were able to do by deconstructing the bodice and reworking the fabric into a more contemporary shape. For the skirt, we took inspiration from the draping of the fabric on the back of her mum’s original dress, carrying this style across to a mini skirt, which was far better suited to a celebration of love on a tropical island!
Photographs by For Modern Romantics. Styling & coordination by Soiree Society. Florals by Sandat Floral. MUA: Trove Artistry Bali. Furniture hire: The Host Table. Venue: Seseh Beach Villas
“It was truly so special wearing my second dress,” Laura said. “It was so fun working with the talented ladies at Ilka on the new design.” …we feel the same way about working with you Laura!
Thinking about transforming a vintage gown? Here’s what you need to know:
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Redesigning a vintage gown will generally cost more than purchasing a made to measure gown at a bridal store. This is due to how labour intensive it is to rework an existing dress. Often it takes us around 40 hours from start to finish.
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You will need to start the process of redesigning your wedding dress at least six to nine months before your wedding date so that there is ample time to perfect every detail.
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The fabric of your vintage wedding dress must be in good condition for us to be able to work with it. We recommend having the gown professionally drycleaned by an expert (like the team at Cloud Nine or Stannards) prior to commencing the redesign process.
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We strongly encourage you to choose a similar silhouette to the original gown to stay true to the design.
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Bear in mind that we can always shorten vintage dresses but it is very difficult to lengthen them due to limited fabric being available.
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You have to trust your designer during the process as they know what will work and won’t work with the fabric available.
If you’re contemplating redesigning a vintage wedding dress for your wedding, we’d love to hear from you! Please email us with photos of your dress, as well as inspiration photos of what you are hoping the redesign will look like, plus the date of your wedding, and we’ll be happy to draw up a quote for you.