couture – Kosibah

Articles Tagged with: couture

September 1, 2022

TRUST THE PROCESS – KOSIBAH BRIDE SIMI RASHEED.

Today September 1st 2022 marks exactly 31 years Kosibah was established as a business. To celebrate that, I share with you the creation of Kosibah Real Bride Simi’s couture bridal gown from sketch to wedding day.

Designing and creating Simi’s couture bridal gown was very special to me because she is my niece. I went to see her in hospital the day after she was born and I said to her mother I hoped to make her wedding dress whenever she decided to get married.

Simi wore a strapless gown with a trumpet silhouette skirt in duchesse satin with an organza overlay featuring a high hemline in front and a cathedral length train edged with Swarovski embellished beaded scalloped lace. Hand-cut lace appliques were also strategically placed on the bodice and Bothe the underlay and overlay fabrics of the gown.

Simi’s tulle cathedral veil had the same lace appliques running down from the comb and around the edge.

Location: London, UK.

Please play the video to view the process.

Here is the Google review left by Kosibah Bride Simi.

What are your thoughts or questions about the process involved in the creation of this gown? Please leave your comments below.

July 27, 2022

Trust the process….Kosibah couture bridal gown Erato.

From sketch to runway. Years of experience with couture techniques and figure enhancing elements in pattern drafting result in the Kosibah signature hourglass silhouette and fit.

Erato is a trumpet silhouette gown featuring 3/4 length sleeves, silver grey illusion tulle bodice with a bateau neckline and plunging V back. The skirt has an above the knee slit in the centre front and a chapel length train. Hand sewn Lace appliqués embellish the gown on the bodice, sleeves and hemline of the gown.

The couture gown is perfect for a bride with minimalist, contemporary tastes getting married in a modern setting, as a Reception or Second gown or with a shorter train for a stylish Mother of the Bride or Groom.

Because Erato is a custom made gown all fabric, colour and embellishment options are endless.

Erato - The Turner Collection — Erato – The Turner Collection

What are your thoughts or questions about the process involved in the creation of this gown? Please leave your comments below.

December 23, 2016

Top 5 Kosibah Destination Brides for 2016.

Hi there, thanks for checking out this blog post. As the end of 2016 draws in, I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to look back at Kosibah Real Brides who got married in a different country from which they usually live.

This is more pertinent to me as a bridal designer who has recently relocated to New York from London after successfully running my business there for 25 years.

It’s a huge leap of faith to have a destination wedding because even if you have the most efficient and well connected wedding planner, you are still physically removed from where your dream day will take place.

I’ve had the great privilege this year to work with some amazing brides to create couture gowns for their destination weddings. I’m pleased that at least getting their couture gown made is one thing they can be part of from start to completion.

Here is the list. Please let me know which is your favourite Kosibah Bride or wedding destination.

1.Kosibah Real Bride Louise. Destination: Cape Town, South Africa.

Louise wore a couture full skirted bridal gown with a beaded, corseted bodice and a tulle skirt bustled behind with multi length layers, stiffed at the hemline with horsehair crinoline.

2. Kosibah Real Bride Funmilayo. Destination: Venice, Italy.

Funmilayo wore a couture fishtail gown. It had a removable chemise with 3/4 length sleeves which she removed for the informal part of the wedding reception.

3. Kosibah Real Bride Amina. Destination: Chateneauf-de-Grass (near Nice), France.

Amina wore a silver gray French Lace and Duchesse Satin couture gown styled to reflect her Nigerian heritage. The corseted gown had a fitted skirt with a detachable tulle overskirt.

4. Kosibah Real Bride Julianna. Destination: Santorini, Greece.

Julianna wore a couture bridal gown featuring an illusion tulle bodice embellished with Lace appliqués and a modified fishtail skirt in soft tulle with a cathedral train.

5. Kosibah Real Bride Layal. Destination: Lake Como, Italy.

Layal wore a couture bridal gown with a fitted beaded Lace bodice with an intergral corset and delicate covered buttons over the dress zipper and dropped shoulder strap sleeves. The fishtail skirt was made up of over 50 meters of Tulle gathered into rose swirls and ruffles on the surface fabric of Duchesse Satin. A matching cathedral veil with hand stitched Lace edging completed the ensemble. Photos by Jide Alakija.

I look forward to reading your comments. Thank you.

October 11, 2014

Kosibah Inspiration Board VI

Today’s inspiration board features Kosibah couture gown ‘Imogen’.

The fishtail gown features a pearl and diamanté embellished neckline and waistline. The skirt is sprinkled with hand-cut Swaroski diamanté encrusted Lace appliqués hand sewn into place.

The pearl and diamanté accents are taken as a theme for the cake, shoes and earrings.

Please share your thoughts below.

August 23, 2014

Kosibah Real Bride Asia- A couture Nikai bridal gown.

Today I am sharing with you the process of creating Kosibah Real Bride Asia’s couture gown for her Nikai ceremony held in Tanzania.

It involved hand cutting appliqués off the French Lace fabric and reassembling them on silk tulle, by hand, thereby creating a bespoke fabric for the center back panel of the fishtail skirt.

Asia teamed her gown with a head-wrap in the same silk satin as the gown underlay and wore an embellished veil for the ceremony.

This gown would also be perfect for a Reception dress after a white

Please let me know what you think.

June 11, 2014

Kosibah Real Bride Charlotte

It is always a great show of confidence in one’s work when as a designer you get to create bridal gowns for more than one member of the same family. It was such a case in today’s Kosibah Real Bride Charlotte as I also got to create her sister’s bridal gown a couple of years later.

Charlotte wanted a fitted fishtail gown with some texture in the fabric. I created a gown featuring an asymmetrical empire-line bodice hand-draped in silk duchesse satin with a Swarovski embellished knot leading to 2 detachable shoulder straps. The corseted lower bodice and fishtail skirt was in textured silk tulle with Swarovski diamante crystals added on in the Kosibah Studio.

I also made the dresses worn by the 2 Bridesmaids (one of whom I later made a wedding gown for), the Mother of the Bride and the Grandmother of the Bride. As I usually do when I can, I arrived in the morning to dress the whole bridal party.

Charlotte, the daughter of Lord Boateng, a peer of the realm, had the privilege of getting married in the beautiful St Margaret’s Church, Westminster Abbey with her reception taking place across Parliament Square at One Great George Street , a magnificent Grade II listed, four-domed, Edwardian building .

Charlotte removed her silk tulle cathedral veil after the wedding service and just before cutting the cake with her new husband, removed the detachable shoulder straps which created a more informal look to her dress.

Enjoy the images, especially the interiors of both St Margaret’s Church and One Great George Street.

May 27, 2014

Kosibah gown features in OK! Magazine.

The red zibeline and organza couture gown created for our client Sunny Nersian for the party to celebrate her engagement to her fiancé Danny Andre was featured recently in OK! Magazine.

The gown that featured over 1440 hand affixed Swarovski diamanté crystal had a form fitting bodice and textured fishtail skirt.

Here are some images of the dress being created in the Kosibah studio and tear sheets from the magazine.

March 20, 2014

Kosibah catwalk show at the V&A Museum, London. 2006

I’ve been reviewing all the videos I’ve posted in the YemiKosibah YouTube channel and I was quite surprised by how many there were, and I’ve decided to begin posting them here on my blog.

This video was shot in October 2008 at a fashion show called Kulture2Couture, held at the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Raphael Room, and organised by the Mayor’s Office as part of Black History month, K2C as it was fondly known went on for 3 years until it was discontinued when Boris Johnson became the new mayor of London.

I showed a combination of bridal, evening and formal day wear and though the footage is from 2008, the dresses don’t look too dated (I hope!!).

The video also has some testimonial messages at the end.

Please let me know what you think.

March 5, 2014

Kosibah Real Bride Bukky.

Today’s Kosibah Real Bride is Bukky.

Bukky had searched quite extensively for her bridal gown but couldn’t find anything that met all her requirements of fit her perfectly without requiring adjustments. Having a bespoke bridal gown made was the obvious choice and fortunately, she chose Kosibah.

I came up with a design that suited her figure and her height. She wore a 2 piece ensemble comprising of a corseted amended A-Line gown in ivory silk zibeline. The bodice of the gown featured bespoke embroidery and asymmetrical ruching that accentuated the cinched in waist.

A cap sleeved chemise top in silk organza featuring a line of tiny Swarovski diamante crystals along the neckline and edges of the sleeves was worn beneath the gown to meet the requirements of Bukky’s church for her shoulders to be covered during the wedding ceremony, and removed before Bukky made her entrance into the Reception venue for a less formal look .

The cathedral tulle veil also featured matching bespoke embroidery along the edges and was designed to be worn both as a conventional veil that covered the face, and as a mantilla style veil.

The wedding took place in Lagos and the photographs are by international wedding photographer Atunbi.

January 16, 2014

Throw Back Thursday – KOSIBAH on BET

Kosibah was honoured by BET (Black Entertainment Television) with a short but concise video clip of images of Kosibah gowns and a voice-over by myself. Sincere gratitude to Lilian Blankson.

The short video clip was

shown at intervals on BET sky channel 191 at intervals during various programs.

January 14, 2014

Kosibah Real Bride Amina.

Today’s Kosibah Real Bride is Amina. She wore an empire-line corseted dress in champagne duchesse satin, with a champagne silk organza overlay featuring old gold Lace appliques embellished with Swarovski diamante crystals. Amina opted to wear her hair in loose curls tumbling over her right shoulder. On her head Amina wore a champagne tulle cathedral train with hand stitched Lace edging to match her gown as well as a bespoke jeweled headpiece by Kyles Collection. The wedding service took place at the beautiful St Peter’s Church and the reception at the English Heritage former stately home Kenwood House.

Kyles Collection .

January 9, 2014

Kosibah Inspiration Board III

Today’s inspiration board features the Tea Length kosibah couture gown ‘Giselle’. With echoes of classical ballet costumes, the champagne tulle and silk zibeline strapless gown features a removable tulle chemise top. Dress image by Damien Lovegrove

January 4, 2014

Happy Anniversary to Fola and Akin Esho.

Here are images from the wedding of the CEO of Wed Magazine and Wed Expo Akin Esho and Kosibah client Fola which took place exactly one year ago today in Lagos, Nigeria.

As is the case with most of my bridal clients, I was there to dress Fola and attend the wedding.

Happy Anniversary Fola and Akin, I wish you many more years of marital bliss.

Hair and Make Up was by BMPRO MAKEUP and the cake was by Cakes By Tosan

January 3, 2014

Kosibah Inspiration Board II

This inspiration board features the kosibah couture gown ‘Odette’. With its ballet-inspired concept, volume of textured organza of the skirt and asymmetrical ruching of the corseted bodice, the cake, flowers and shoes featured here are a perfect match to carry the theme through.

The gown can either be worn with a sheer organza chemise top worn underneath or a sleeveless bolero jacket in the same textured organza fabric of the skirt ( not shown here).

What do you think?

January 1, 2014

Kosibah Inspiration Board I

Happy New Year to you. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog. When I initially set up this blog , my aim was for it to be a platform for me to share inspirational images, tips and ideas aimed brides-to -be in particular and people interested in fashion in general. I will also be posting images from Kosibah Real Bride weddings.

I didn’t have the knowledge and tools to totally achieve that until quite recently, so now I hope to be more regular with my posts and hope you come back for updates.

The first Kosibah Inspiration Board features kosibah couture gown ‘Naomi’.