Diary of a Working Woman
Passionate, hard-working, fearless Educationalist, Psychologist and mother, Johnette Barrett talks to a selection of working women who have gone through many challenging experiences, often having to undergo many conflicting roles. Johnette unravels the secrets of being a successful woman in today’s world.
Diary of a Working Woman
Tanya Dimitrova: Weaving Dreams into Reality with Bespoke Bridal Gowns
Every bride-to-be knows the magic of the moment when you find "the dress," but what about the artistry and passion that weaves that dream into reality? Step into the studio with the incomparable Tanya Dimitrova, bridal brand owner and visionary dressmaker, as we uncover the intimate and intricate world of bespoke wedding gown creation. From the whisper of satin to the elegance of custom lace, Tanya peels back the curtain on the dedication and creativity that goes into each of her stunning designs. She brings a legacy of dressmaking to life, crafting up to 250 unique dresses annually, defying any notion that the sparkle of custom bridal wear is dimming.
Venture further with us and you'll find that Tanya's approach to bridal fashion is anything but ordinary. She advocates for personal expression, imagining gowns paired with chunky boots and adorned with hats, and even considers how she would design for the legendary Marilyn Monroe. For brides navigating the sea of tulle and silk, Tanya's advice is a lighthouse: cherish the search for your perfect dress and don't let the trivialities diminish your joy. Her dreamy designs, influenced by her rock music tastes, make every bride's fairy tale as unique as their love story. Listen in, and let the romance and rebellion of Tanya's designs inspire the soundtrack to your own wedding day.
A new podcast in which Johnette Barrett, educational psychologist, seeks out inspirational working women who have transformed their lives and that of others through their courageousness and compassion.
The conversations that follow are sometimes eye-opening, sometimes heart- breaking and sometimes humourous.
Diary of a Working Woman (DOAWW) is hosted by Buzzsprouts .com.
Email: diaryofaworkingwoman@yahoo.com
Instagram: doaww podcast
Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2227789
Hello, my name is Jonette Barrett and you're tuning in to Diary of a Working Woman or do a DOA-W-W. Hi, welcome to the fifth edition of Diary of a Working Woman. Today's special guest is someone who's going to introduce herself. I am absolutely delighted to be here with Tanya. You will see why when she explains what this episode is about. Every young girl dreams about a magical fairytale wedding, and this lady helps to make dreams come true. Hi, tanya, hi Jonette, hi, could you just say a little bit about who you are and what you do?
Speaker 2:Okay, my name is Tanya Dimitrova and I am an owner of a bridal brand called Mia La Vida Me and my team. We make beautiful wedding dresses for beautiful brides.
Speaker 1:That is amazing. What an amazing thing to do. So can I ask what inspired you to go in this industry? Because you know lots of girls dream about the big day. The big day, the beautiful princess-like gowns, but I think very few women would dream about maybe making their own wedding dress.
Speaker 2:I know, I know. So I've been in the industry for over 30 years now and but I've always been. I've been making all sorts of garments anything really but I've always been fascinated with wedding dresses. They require a lot of hard work, a lot of imagination, and also it's not just about making the dress, it's about dealing with the client, dealing with different personalities, different vibes, different energy. So it is a very interesting job.
Speaker 2:On the surface you think it's fabric and lace and sequins and satin, but actually it is a lot of people there is much more involved in making a wedding dress than the actual dress and always, always, with us. The outcome is so beautiful that it's worth every little like detail, every like hour of hard work we've put in.
Speaker 1:Because it is hard work, isn't?
Speaker 2:it.
Speaker 1:It is very hard work. So did you work for a company before? How did you come about being self-employed and would you recommend that I would?
Speaker 2:definitely it might not be for everyone, but it's, yeah, it's. You've got your own freedom to create anything you want to create. You've got your own freedom to pick your hours, which are normally more than a full-time job. So, yeah, I started when I was still in fashion college. So I started making the clothes for my neighbors not wedding dresses, I didn't start with wedding dresses but, yeah, I was 16, still in college, still learning, but making, making dresses. Also, I've picked up a bit of dress making for my mom.
Speaker 2:Yeah she is a teacher, but she was making her own clothes in the evenings and weekends, so I've been watching. I'm actually copying anything she does and, yeah, this is how I started. So you have that passion for really young age. I've always had it. Yeah, I've been also knitting my own clothes when I was 12, very old, it's just like always, always, always been in this kind of industry.
Speaker 1:Sorry, mom when we were young, my mom forced us to learn how to sew, how to knit, how to crochet, but I must say it took me three years just to make a night dress at school. I was hopeless at it.
Speaker 2:So you really got a lot of passion. It got eager to have the passion. And yeah, and also I was fascinated. I really wanted to know and see. I was making clothes for my dolls from very, very young age and knitting and making and sewing. And I've ruined a few of my mom's beautiful fabrics. I have cut into it and like I've ruined her sewing machines, which she always very understanding.
Speaker 1:No, she was not when from Bulgaria, so do you have a strict upbringing in Bulgaria?
Speaker 2:Yes, so yeah, I've been. Yeah, but like my family is, even, it goes way back. Not just my mom, but my grandmothers. They were dressmakers as well. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, so you were always around fabric and needles and sewing machines and creativity, yeah, yeah, always. So do you think that weddings are going out of fashion? Because if you were, to what? Listen to the headlines. It seems that fewer people are getting married these days.
Speaker 2:No, I don't think that's the case. It's only wedding. A dress fashion is changing, especially after COVID, yes, when we all know weddings were not allowed, or you were allowed to have like five or 10 people, or your wedding. Ever since girls are not going for this princessy big wedding dresses.
Speaker 1:They're not.
Speaker 2:No, not so much, at least not with us. Yeah, so fashion has changed a little bit. And brides, they want to look different these days. So it's not, they are still getting married.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so it's their own version of a fairy tale.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, and they all want to be different. They want to have a slightly unique and different. It's like wearing colorful shoes. They're not going for those bridal ivory shoes anymore. They go for like slip slick dresses. Some of them are going for different colors dresses as well.
Speaker 1:So the white in the past, traditionally, I think, represented purity. So is that because we're becoming less pure as time goes on?
Speaker 2:We're not what they used to be perhaps, maybe, maybe, but mainly, yeah, as they said, is the will like, the desire to look different, the desire Not so bridal, yes, I hear this a lot with our clients. They're like oh, I'm not the typical bride. I'm not the typical bride, which is amazing. Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really really like it. So the typical bride may not be on vogue anymore. No, no. So how many wedding dresses would you say have made so far this year alone?
Speaker 2:This year has been a lot. It's been really busy. So I would say around 200, 250.
Speaker 1:200 to 250 dresses that's extraordinary. Is that, is that exceptional? Is this the law?
Speaker 2:It was not easy, because you know there's a lot of work involved in the wedding dress which is cut, make fittings alterations yes, yes, yes, there is a lot, but you know we did it.
Speaker 1:So we are ready for the next season now, and so you didn't let anyone down. They, you never wanted, got their dresses.
Speaker 2:Everyone got their dresses, everyone got married.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So I know weddings can be both emotional and stressful. So so for you, can you share some of your stories with us? You know women, what sort of women come for a wedding dress and what are their expectations. How do you manage those expectations? What do you laugh about or cry about when you leave, when you leave your workshop?
Speaker 2:Well, if we, like most of our brides, are very easygoing, very, very positive, some of them are a little stressed. They are stressed about everything, but I say again, that's down to personality. So they want to look perfect because this is the most important day in their lives. So they're very, very, very like aware that they've got to do their best and that makes them overstress more than they need to, which I completely understand, and I work around that, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, if the brides require extra fittings, of course they can come in. I can answer any questions. The good thing is at the end. She's always over the moon with her dress and she's very happy. She looks amazing. So always the outcome at the end is amazing.
Speaker 1:It's really good, Really really good.
Speaker 2:The journey might be a little difficult with some of them, but again, because I've seen it, I can say I've seen it almost all. Yeah, I know that some journey might be slightly longer than other, so a funny story.
Speaker 1:Funny story Obviously, we're not mentioning any names or anything, no, but maybe a nightmare came in and you knew from the beginning, perhaps, that you were going to have a tough time.
Speaker 2:Some brides they halfway through they don't want the design anymore. Right, and we are left with a week until the wedding.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:We've done that quite a few times yes, so they come in, they get fitted. Yeah, they get fitted, you know. But then sometimes they get friends saying oh, you know what, you could have gone for a different design. And this is when she gets insecure and she wants to change the design, which we can handle.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was one girl who got let down by a designer in America. Yeah, her dress never got delivered, right, her late father paid for that dress. It was a whole emotional story and she was left with a week until the wedding and she didn't have the dress. But she, her heart was set on that dress, that design only and nothing different, right? So we had to recreate that dress. Wow, in a week, in a week, and it was a very, very involved design, yeah, and there were the tears and I mean she cried, yeah, she was very, very, very stressed. But you know, in a weird way we sort of like these situations because they're very, very challenging, yeah, and at the end, when we managed to do it, then the feeling is really good, it's rewarding and that we got.
Speaker 1:Yes, so yeah, we did it. Yeah, you did it, we did it for her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't know if we actually have one. Yeah, every client, like as I said, most of them come with very easy personality, some of them come with a challenge, but either way, it's actually we like challenges, you like the challenges.
Speaker 1:I like challenges. So have you ever had anyone who came in and done the fittings? A few fittings and then it's nearly ready. They come back and they hate it.
Speaker 2:I don't know, maybe not, but what we've had is girls putting on some weight after the final fitting. That's a challenge.
Speaker 1:That was very, very upsetting for them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so. Yeah, a week before the wedding, the dress could be a little tight. Yes, so, but we've always found ways around it.
Speaker 1:So they've been able to wear their special dress on that day. Yeah, okay, I suppose being up close and personal to your guests in the same way that you are. If you're a hairdresser and you're sitting there and your clients has telling you their life stories, it must be a bit emotional for you as well. What sort of skills do you need to be addressed? Soft skills I'm not thinking about, obviously, being able to be creative and having really good, fine motor skills and so and put all these delicate beads and laces together. I haven't got delicate hands, but what sort of soft skills do you find you need for some of these women who come in who may maybe not know what they want, or they think they know what they want and when they've got it, they don't like what they've got?
Speaker 2:I think you just need patience that's very important and also maybe allow a little bit extra time if the bride is indecisive. So if she doesn't like the first design, fine, we have time to make her another design until she actually sees it and she says that's it, that's the one. So yeah, if you need to, patience is the main thing.
Speaker 1:And do you ever have any pouring their hearts out? Maybe they're having a change of mind about their fiance or the fad of row and they're not sure if the wedding is going to go ahead or it gets cancelled altogether.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I have any traumas.
Speaker 1:I've never had any traumas. I find that strange.
Speaker 2:Or maybe they've heard it and never told me, right?
Speaker 1:I don't know, so they don't take it out on the dress. I don't want it anymore. I hate it.
Speaker 2:No, I think like thinking back.
Speaker 1:I can't think of a case where we've had this yeah, no, that doesn't mean it's never going to happen though no, because I'm sure you've read not read, but watched the popular I don't know which channel it was on, but Bridezilla, where some women can turn into the most horrible of people, the horribleest of people.
Speaker 2:We've had those. We've had cases like this not being very horrible with us, no, but just the energy around them can get really, really bad. But, as I said, at the end it all comes into place. So I know from experience that whatever happens, it will be fine at the end. I know I believe in this and it always is.
Speaker 1:So always come to know and I suppose those are one of the skills that you need, perhaps, is to be able to say to women because you've been through this so many times, don't worry, it will come together and reassure them.
Speaker 2:I always say to them if they start picking out the little birds, then I'm like you know, it is going to be fine, we will do whatever it takes to make your perfect dress and we will. And when they hear this, they calm down.
Speaker 1:Right, yes, they just want that reassurance, don't they?
Speaker 2:Yes, Sometimes they're not. They don't like the color. At the last fitting they're like you know what? This is too white for me. I didn't want that, I didn't. So we've had a case where, way years ago, where the girl we spent hours and hours and hours making her dress and her mom turned up at the last fitting saying it's too white, that's not your color, it's too white. It's too white.
Speaker 1:What's it for? For her complexion or for anything in general? In general, yeah.
Speaker 2:And it was her mom who said no, that's, you know, having this dress. Wow. So again, we had one week to the wedding. Yes, we had to find a darker shade fabric and make her dress in another material.
Speaker 1:Wow, which we did.
Speaker 2:And it was mainly the mom. The girl was like was gonna do whatever the mom decided yes, yes. So yeah, moms are very involved in the process.
Speaker 1:Moms are powerful.
Speaker 2:They're very powerful, very powerful Grandmothers as well could be yes, yeah.
Speaker 1:So everybody wants to have their cheap heli's worth and they won't have their say because they've got a lot of stake.
Speaker 2:you, know, and I think it also depends on who's paying for the dress.
Speaker 1:Yes, in some cases, yes, because traditionally it used to be the bride's family. Yeah, do you find that these days?
Speaker 2:or they don't tell me all the time yeah, who's paying, who's paying? But sometimes, as you said, if the mother is powerful and she's paying for the dress, she makes sure we know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and she wants, it right, she wants it exactly the way she wants it. Okay, so I think we can pause right there just for a quick break. Sure If I should give to any man out there in the old days.
Speaker 2:Stay out of this. I would say the man he should like not get to be involved with the wedding dress.
Speaker 1:Is that superstition? Do you think it's bad luck, or does it go deeper than that?
Speaker 2:He's just like. He needs to live his bride to make the decision to feel beautiful in the dress that she picked, because if they get involved then they might make her insecure. Yeah, and, to be honest, I think she knows better what she wants to wear, what she feels beautiful in. Yeah, they just need to enjoy the day. When they see the bride walking down the aisle, they've got to say you're amazing, you're beautiful, you're the most beautiful woman in the world, and that's their job and it is their job, yeah, and if they saw the dress beforehand or heard, conversations.
Speaker 2:some of them do. I would say now, these days, not everyone is superstitious, not everyone's hiding the dress from the fiance Right. Some of them are allowed to see the dress. Some of the brides come in with the fiance Interesting. Yes, I've only seen a couple of men fiance where they're very involved in the dress.
Speaker 1:But in a good way? Yeah, but like you say, I think it takes away from the element of surprise on a big day, doesn't it? Yeah, because every bride wants her groom to go to gossip.
Speaker 2:I like to say to gossip, and they look at her all dressed up wedding dress makeup, hair makeup, the whole package. Oh my God, it should be stunning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, stunning, absolutely. So you said to yourself that you've never been married. So you're a designer, you make dresses. Have you got a vision of what you'd like your wedding dress to?
Speaker 2:look like If you're interested in getting married. Not everybody is interested, but I've only changed a couple of times, so more than a couple of times during the day You'd have how many wedding dresses? Well, like wear whatever I want to wear. But I will definitely do a different type of styling. I'm definitely like accessories, like very chunky high heel boots and sunglasses and hats and stuff.
Speaker 1:Very trendy.
Speaker 2:Definitely not a traditional wedding dress. A jumpsuit Definitely.
Speaker 1:Do you ever get a dance?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we make like a, let's say, like a sequined jumpsuit for the evening, for the dancing part, probably like a lace satin. It would be a bit more like embellishment part embellished dress for the day. Plunged necklaces of the shoulder yes, a bit of a like plunging probably. You know, to be honest, there's so many ideas coming into my head that I don't know which one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but you would design your own If I will definitely design my own dress. Yeah, yeah, wow, can't wait to see that Tanya. Yeah, and what advice would you give to brides to be about their wedding dresses? Just relax.
Speaker 2:You're all amazingly beautiful. Every single bride is stunning. They should not be stressing out over little things. Yes, they do, I know they do, but every single woman is beautiful and, of course, take your time picking the style, don't rush into it. So, yeah, take some time to actually choose the one and then, yeah, just relax, because if you find the right person to make your wedding dress I'm not saying arms, because every other brands they're very skilled, they've got amazing designs, but people are out there to make life easier, yeah, for brides, so they should just stress less.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so delegate a bit more. Yeah, take the stress of yourself, if you can afford it, of course.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so get into the end. So if you could design and make a wedding dress for anyone dead or alive here, would that be? And why?
Speaker 2:Oh, let me think it would be. Are we thinking about the celebrity or?
Speaker 1:anyone, anyone, anyone, anyone in the public high.
Speaker 2:Perhaps you know what I would do. I would actually be happy to design a wedding dress for Marilyn Monroe. For Marilyn, why Marilyn Monroe? Well, she's like. I love her style. I'm actually getting really inspired by her. You know, with some very pleated skirts it's like I'm actually I've got one of those in my collection. Wow, the red lips tip. You know the hairstyle.
Speaker 1:The style of her. Yeah, yeah, you do a dress for her. I would love to do a dress for her.
Speaker 2:And would you have a little?
Speaker 1:twist on your wedding dress.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because of her personality.
Speaker 1:What might she have that you've never seen her in?
Speaker 2:Well, I don't know. I will need to spend some time thinking about it, but when she's like, yeah, she's a person, she's one of the women that I get inspired by. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, she's beautiful.
Speaker 2:She is amazing.
Speaker 1:He is amazing, and so where can potential clients find you, tonia?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like here in the studio. So we've got all the wedding dresses on the rail ready to be tried on. We also designed from scratch Any design from scratch, from scratch. We've got ready to wear collections. We've got. We do bespoke any bespoke dress, and how what's the leading time?
Speaker 1:How much time should potential bride give to wear wedding dresses?
Speaker 2:I would say if possible, six months, but of course we can do less depending on the deadlines. Wedding dates Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and where's your studio based, queen's?
Speaker 2:Park area, West London.
Speaker 1:West London. There you are, queen's Park, west London. Come and check out Tonia for some amazing dresses. She's very stylish and she's got a heart of gold and she will make you look like a princess on your big day. So, tonia, I always ask one question of all my guests, and the question is either to say, share the music that you're listening to at the moment, or a favourite book perhaps that you've discovered that you may be reading or dipping into.
Speaker 2:Well, music as um, while Strange as it Sound, I like rock music, rock music, and I think that reflects my designs as well, like the boots and the hats and everything I like rock music.
Speaker 1:You like rock music, so any particular artist Well.
Speaker 2:I do like a band called Metallica.
Speaker 1:Metallica okay yeah, let me heard of them. But, yeah, we can look into it. No, okay, yeah, you can look into it. Metallica.
Speaker 2:They're touring at the moment as well. They've got a new album, so yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, lovely. Well, tanya, I'm not going to take any more of your time. I know there are rides to be fitted, sequins to be so, so, so thank you so much for sharing that with us today. It's not every day you meet a wedding dress designer and maker, so thank you, thank you.