This season the eye travels a little lower. After several years in which the waist, the neckline and the back held all the attention, the bridal silhouette is being built around the hips again. Not theatrically, and never as costume, but through a fold, a seam, a length of fabric that gathers just below the waist and begins to move with a rhythm of its own.
The peplum returns, quietly
Absent from bridal design for years, the peplum is back in a far more refined form. It is rarely the stiff, assertive tier of earlier decades; more often it is a light wave of organza or tulle that breaks over the hip and settles where the skirt begins. On a close-fitting column it gives the softness such a cut needs, and on plain satin it makes the line of the hip look sculptural without a single added ornament.
Alongside it comes the return of the basque waist, dipping into a gentle V at the centre front and lengthening the torso. Paired with visible corset seaming and a run of small covered buttons, the effect is at once very traditional and very much of this moment.
Soft architecture instead of stiffness
Construction is the story, but stiffness is not. Cutters are playing with proportion: a waistline curved into a tulip shape, asymmetric folds crossing one hip, a draped column skirt beneath a sculpted bodice. The result is a silhouette that reads clearly from across a room and still feels soft under the hand.
- A single gathered hip – the subtlest way to add volume without adding a layer.
- A detachable peplum or sash – worn for the ceremony, removed afterwards.
- Heavier satin – holds the shape of the hip with no underskirt at all.
- Fine seams and buttons – detail that leads the eye along the body.
Who wears this line best
An emphasised hip works in two directions. On a narrow frame it creates shape and balance, supplying volume where there is naturally little. On fuller hips the layer should be soft and should begin lower, so that it continues the line of the body rather than interrupting it. Where the peplum ends changes everything, which is why the decision is best made in front of a mirror, unhurried.
Mothers-to-be may prefer the reverse logic: draping that rises above the waist and leaves the hips alone. Cuts of that kind keep growing with you right up to the day.
Trying them without haste
It is worth trying these shapes beside the gowns already on your list, because the difference often comes down to a few centimetres. Fittings with us are private and by appointment, and gowns are available both to rent and to buy, in sizes 34 to 44. For brides coming from Serbia, Croatia or the diaspora, the rental agreement is written to hold across the border, so the gown can travel calmly to wherever the wedding is taking place.
