Rembo Styling 2019

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Rembo Styling breathes fashion and looks edgy. A tailor-made style for the Rembo bride, a spontaneous young woman who follows fashion closely and wants to be surprised by something new. The atmosphere remains boho chic but we do not stop. The creations are more graphic than ever.

Rembo Styling stands for boho chic. How did that style evolve compared to last year?
Manon: For me, the style is bohème couture, less “bohemian in the cornfield”; a costly, refined version of it.

Géraldine: Boho goes away from the folky style. The atmosphere is romantic and yet cool and chic. The collection is made for a contemporary princess. The skirts are voluminous and the back of the dress is very sensual with a bare back that changes to a flared bottom piece.

Ruth: We step away from soft things and focus more on geometric creations that are also well-defined and whose edges and seams are finished with a special lace.

Victoria: stronger and more graphic by, for example, using star motifs which are very fashionable.

 

Who is the Rembo Styling bride?
Géraldine: The Rembo bride is well informed and expects something new. She wants a chic, affordable dress; there must still be enough money left for the champagne! (laughs)

 

What are the eye-catchers of the season?
Ruth: Those looking for original combinations are well catered for at Rembo Styling with bodies and trousers that allow you to mix and match. The different motifs can also be easily combined: stars form a fascinating duo with stripes.

Victoria: There’s a beautiful top that you can wear with jeans afterwards. Think stars as a theme.

Géraldine: a sleeveless dress in pleated tulle with a bare back. The silhouette is very sober, very minimalistic. The materials are striking: besides pleated tulle I used lace with leaf motifs. Those motifs come back to the armholes which makes the dress very special, a play of transparency and opaque makes the dress extra exciting.

Manon: Katie, a real bohemian dress made in a natural mix of materials, and sits in the middle ground between the American and French style.

 

Materials determine the look of a bridal collection. Which fabrics play the main role in Rembo Styling?
Géraldine: Wedding dresses have to make dreams: they must be festive and made of noble, supple materials that feel like a second skin. I use a lot of lace with large motifs and light, supple, transparent materials.

Manon: The fabrics are matt with guipure lace and tulle.

Ruth: We also used bold edges and fabrics that are very innovative in bridal fashion.

 

Are there any more novelties?
Géraldine: Color. The predominant shade is creamy white, but there is also color in the collection: dragée, a shade that’s somewhere between nude and pink. I also added a crown decorated with flowers. A nice accessory to finish the bride’s look.

Ruth: During fashion week we saw stars everywhere in the fashion collections. Our fabric and lace suppliers also offer fabrics, lace and straps with stars so I conceived the idea to incorporate this into the Rembo Styling collection. This is very new in the bridal fashion segment.

 

Rembo Styling distinguishes itself with special campaign images. What will the Rembo Styling publicity campaign look like?
Ruth: Rembo Styling is doing well. We have many followers on Social Media and they expect us to be “different”. So we have to be daring and remain commercial at the same time. Beautiful pictures set among nature are getting boring, everyone is doing that now so we are throwing it another way: we are evolving towards the urban style. Think city life & neon lights. We will also bring that same atmosphere during the show in Barcelona. We show there among big names and the expectations of press and customers are high.

 

“Designed with passion in Belgium and made with love in Portugal that is really what we stand for.”
Ruth Donné: I have been working at Marylise and Rembo Styling for seven years at the Head Office in Herentals. Over the years I have grown towards design. I have been working with Géraldine and Manon for seven years now. The power of our collections? Teamwork and good communication. We get the freedom to do our own thing so that we can draw on our strengths but on the other hand, we also listen carefully to each other.

I respond to the feedback from my designer colleagues and I have learned a lot from them. They are in contact with brides every day and keep their finger on the pulse. I am more in contact with our customers, the bridal shops. By collecting different designers and making a collection from different perspectives, you create a stronger collection. That is why I have grown enormously.

When I talk about teamwork, I’m not just talking about the designers. In Belgium we not only design dresses, we also make the prototypes with a whole team of pattern maker, seamstresses and finishers.

Apart from that, there is also the Portuguese team, the production team let’s say.

When a prototype is ready, it leaves for Portugal and we explain what result we have in mind. We work closely together and communication is very important. That also means that I often travel to Portugal, it feels like I have a second family there (laughs). Designed with passion in Belgium and made with love in Portugal that is really what we stand for.

 

“Space for creative freedom”
Geraldine Simonnet: I have built up 25 years of professional experience and I like to share that with my colleagues at MRFG. For me, every collection starts in my studio/showroom in Paris where I design wedding dresses. The dresses that I develop for MRFG are born there. Every creation is approved by a future bride. I am an observer: I hear and see her reaction to the materials and volumes; I see how the fit reacts to different bodies and I adapt my designs based on that information.

For an outsider it may seem that bridal fashion is evolving slowly but nothing is less true! Season after season everything changes: shapes, styles and details.

The launch of the Marylise and Rembo Styling collections begins at the fabric fair, Première Vision, in September. Manon, Ruth and I choose materials that we find interesting. Afterwards we get to work. Each of us works out ideas and in the course of the process we sit together to exchange information and give each other feedback. We know what we are doing and respect each other’s style. There is room for research and creative freedom. Designs cannot be programmed.

 

“Evolving by looking at each other’s work and giving feedback”
Manon Pascual: Besides my work for Rembo Styling and Marylise, I also have my own collection. When we first worked together, I had already gained a lot of experience in bridal fashion. The cooperation with MRFG has given me a great deal. I was already looking for clients abroad for my own collection. It’s handy that they take a part of the work out of my hands. I am a designer and I am good at that. Looking for customers and marketing dresses they do for me and I think that is formidable. Furthermore the atmosphere is very sympathetic. Working together with such a motivated team is interesting and instructive. By consulting with fellow designers you get a more precise view of a collection. Looking at each other’s work and giving feedback, ensures that we all evolve.

The big difference with my collection is that I am less bound by borders. The prices are higher and that means I can spend more time on a dress. It’s handy to test a number of things because there is a lot of time in details. The nice thing is that I can combine both and, because I can experiment a lot in my own couture work, I also succeed in doing interesting things for MRFG.