Braemore and I go way back. We first met in 2007 while I was still living in Port Elizabeth, I had just started out my fashion career about 2 years earlier and at the time he was working as a jeweler. My wedding date was getting closer and it was during this process that we met, with him personally tasked to handcraft my wedding ring. We became friends during this process and even after I left Port Elizabeth we still stayed in touch.
Before I met him he had studied and practiced in the field of fashion design and after I moved away he left his jewelry career and went into business for himself under the name of Braemore Design. The route how his donations came to The Angel Gown® Initiative ins’t as obvious though as one would think.
Now let’s see if we can keep track of all the maths here; I befriended Siobhan Plunkett earlier in 2017 while living in Gordon’s Bay, with her living just a few streets from me. Her mother lives in Port Elizabeth, and unbeknownst to me happens to be next door neighbours of Braemore and his husband. So Siobhan donated her wedding gown to TAGI and told her mother in PE, then her mother, knowing Braemore is in fashion, told him of TAGI and he then generously donated four pre-loved wedding gowns to us that had previously been donated to him. Siobhans’ mother came to visit her in Gordon’s Bay and then brought these wedding gowns through to her and then they made their way into our studio. Phew! I think we got it all!
All four of the wedding gowns are in a simplistic, but timeless, A-line design. Three of them are done in an off-white duchess satin with two of them having beaded bodices and the other one finished off with a chiffon overlay and beautiful flower details. The fourth one is done in a thai-silk with contrasting blue chiffon and bead detail.
Thank you so much for your generousity Braemore, your donation was our first ‘group’ donation!
A total of 37 Angel Gown® garments were repurposed from these four wedding gowns, which I processed as a group. They include 7 newborns, 10 Preemies, 8 Tinys and 12 Micros. Some of the trim incorporated into these Angel Gown® garments were donated by Carin.
Eric Elronde and the TAGI team.
