I Wore My Wedding Dress To London Fashion Week And This Is How It Went

Stylist and author Zeena Shah shares her experience of recycling her wedding dress for Ashish's SS24 LFW show

19 Sept 2023

If there’s ever an occasion to wear your wedding dress again, it's to the designers' show at London Fashion Week.

My tiered bridal gown was designed by Ashish Gupta, the visionary behind the eponymous fashion label Ashish. Since I was fortunate enough to be invited to the brand's SS24 show, it was only fitting to pull out my wedding dress from the back of my wardrobe for the first time in over a year.

I only want to wear pieces that bring me happiness and make me feel fabulous and that is exactly what this dress did the first time I spotted it on the runway. I was on a mission to hunt it down but it was a season ahead of my wedding date. I loved the idea of re-wearing my wedding dress, especially at an event like LFW where 'what you wear is everything' and the focus is so often on 'newness.'

zeena shah ashish wedding dress london fashion week

Garments shouldn’t just have one life and this dress is far too fabulous to be kept in the wardrobe. The dress went viral on my Instagram last summer so I had anticipated some love for it again at LFW. Digging it back out actually made me feel very emotional about our wedding day, the dress has given me some incredible memories.

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I hadn’t looked at it since I got married last August so wasn’t sure what state it would be in. Thankfully, it was still pristine. I’ve always been a huge fan of the Ashish collection. As an ardent dopamine dresser myself, I'm of the belief that colour and sequins really do bring joy... plus getting dressed (especially on your wedding day) should always be uplifting.

I wanted to style the dress differently for the occasion - so instead of heels I opted for metallic trainers from Cecilie Bahnsen's collaboration with Asics. Much more comfortable walking to shows in these than the platforms I wore on my big day, I must admit. I paired it with one of my favourite bags by Lulu Guinness - a very fun tiny house, and to finish the look a pink Gucci hair clip - everything was already in my wardrobe.

Zeena paired the look with a novelty bag from Lulu Guinness

Getting dressed should be about expressing your identity and sharing creativity, making a cyclical wardrobe far more interesting in my opinion. I hope my experience encourages people to wear pieces in their wardrobe again and again, we don’t need new things all the time and of course... it’s much better for the planet.