Georgia Hardinge Dresses: Is It Worth It?

I am drawn to any designer who starts with a strange question, and Georgia Hardinge's is a good one, which is how flat cloth can hold a shape like a small sculpture. She grew up in London, trained at Parsons Paris, won Best Designer for her graduate collection and launched her label in 2010 (not a bad start for a first collection).

 

Her pleats grow out of paper sculpture, and she works them with new fabrics so that a floor-length dress can look architectural and still move when you walk. A small London team handles the sampling, and skilled local hand pleaters do the folding, which you can read in the official brand story. I like that the craft is the whole point, not a footnote. I went deeper on a related idea in Benni Dresses: The Ariel Maxi Worth a Look.

These are not quiet basics, and that is exactly why I like them. Georgia Hardinge leaves the decorating to structure. The Mercury Dress Floor Length has a copper-gold shine, the Optic Dress Floor Length is a bronze take on the same long, evening line, and the Veil Dress Floor Length goes soft ivory. The Utopia Lace Dress mixes ombre blue with lace, and the Neptune Dress turns pink and silver for an occasion that is a little less bridal.

 

In my fashion dreams, she wears the Mercury to a gallery opening with small earrings and a shoe she can actually stand in, because the pleats catch enough light alone. The Veil I would keep for a wedding or a very long dinner, with soft, quiet accessories. My one test: walk and sit in any floor-length dress with your real shoes before the night, then check the hem. What I would skip is a statement necklace on anything this sculpted.

Georgia Hardinge designs for the woman who wants a dress to have a point of view before she adds a single thing. I would keep the rest of the look spare and let the construction read, whether that is the Torrent Dress Floorlength Metallic or the Helios Mini Dress for a shorter night.

 

If I were choosing one, I would start with the room I was walking into, then let the color and shape tell me how much attention I want. Although I suspect the Enigma Dress Floor Length would answer that question for me. If you want to keep reading, AMOR MIA Dresses: What's Worth Your Money is a good next stop.