Cavells Designs
Picture-perfect Romantic Dresses Emblazons a Feminine Strength of Armour.
All Images Courtesy of Cavells Designs
Cavells Designs are custom-made to allow the magic of lenses to freeze their dresses in a moment, in the truest sense.
Cavells Designs, with its signature bohemian romantic gowns, is created with a visionary for photography, unlike most dresses designed with events and occasions as musings.
Employing the powerful sacredness of imagery, the essence of Cavells clothing is perfectly captured– the elusive beauty of the billow and waft dress swirling elegantly in the breeze against blue sky, fields, the majesty of nature as the backdrop.
“Our gowns are extravagant with long trains, big and flowy sleeves, and romantic with gorgeous sheer or Lacey fabrics, all made with the intent to capture that perfect photographic moment. Every dress made is to fit a wide range of sizes. Making our dresses sizeable to multiple women is important for our design process. This makes our gowns perfect for maternity shoots with precious growing bumps or for a photographer who photographs women of all sizes,” says Helen Cavell Willoughan, founder and Designer of Cavells Designs.
A bespoke, exclusive small business out of Edmonton, Alberta that sells locally and online on Etsy, Cavells Designs also brings you endless possibilities, from fabric to sleeve and beyond with their customization option–make fashion personal; make it yours.
Cavells Designs marches to the tune of a different beat with an empowering new vision of femininity and beauty in the way she dresses maternity, motherhood, elopements and all Beautiful women.
Cavells Designs focuses on creating gowns for every single woman out there no matter what stage of life, “Our goal is for you to put on one of our dresses and feel like your wearing a superhero suit,” she says. “Our colour schemes are far from red and blue, but we guarantee all the confidence in the world and feel invincible, feel beautiful and celebrated. From birth to having babies to maturing and blossoming into strong, independent, powerful ladies, women are amazing. We are amazing, and with Cavells Designs’ gowns, I want to celebrate that within the realm of photography.”
Her bohemian romantic gowns are inspired by women’s wild and free side, the outdoors, the wind, the trees, the grass, the flowers and most of all, the inner natural beauty. “Emotions, the feeling(s) inspire me– the feeling of having no care of the worldly matters but just the now, just the moment. If that moment is just you alone listening to the silence of the wind or to the peaceful moment of watching your child sleep and being completely satisfied with your whole heart and full of love. The warm feeling you get when you hug someone you love.” expresses Helen Cavell. Cavells Designs’ are inspired by life’s most genuine happy moments–whatever that may be.
“Emotions, the feeling(s) inspire me– the feeling of having no care of the worldly matters but just the now, just the moment. If that moment is just you alone listening to the silence of the wind or to the peaceful moment of watching your child sleep and being completely satisfied with your whole heart and full of love. The warm feeling you get when you hug someone you love.”
Custom ordered dresses are undoubtedly the key to Cavells Designs’ success. The Designer believes in the beautiful tradition of bringing designs to life with a specific person in mind, the emotional kinship of working together towards a symphonious creation of a beautiful dress from start to finish. From choosing every design detail to the fabrics to the trim, she gives her clients exactly what their hearts desire. “I choose to do custom orders because it’s an amazing way to connect with my customer, helps me to continue to be inspired, as well as think of new and fresh ideas. It also solves the guessing game of trying to think of what my customer is looking for in their next gown; instead, we work together in creating their beautifully unique design together,” she says.
Cavells Designs as a one-woman production allows the Designer to have full creativity in making her gowns. The life of the garments starts with finding a perfect fabric–a mix of vintage or pre-loved sourced anywhere and everywhere from vintage stores, to yard sales, to her family’s linen closets mixed with new locally sourced fabric. Her art, creativity, and design ingenuity come alive as she drapes the fabric on a mannequin; she feels how the material falls. The concepts and designs to transform it into a beautiful new dress progresses. All her dresses are unique from the last, giving the garment a new life and purpose.
The brand has been evolving with the Designer as she has been over the last years. Started in 2015 as a small side hustle making scarves, it has now become her full-time job, making glamourously luxurious dresses. Making these lavish gowns was inspired by her most significant change in life, becoming a mom. It led her to find out what truly inspired her to create– “Us! woman and how truly amazing we are,” says Cavell. ∎