Pearl Button Mandarin Collar Suit

The bride told me at the first fitting that she wanted less wedding dress, more arrival. She had three civil ceremonies on her calendar that year: two of them her own, in two countries, and one a friend's. The suit had to travel.

The mandarin collar holds the line of her neck and gives the pearl buttons a starting point. The pearls run from collar to waist, ten in total, hand sewn, so the eye stops where she wants it to stop. The pleated origami at the hip is the only thing on the suit that is not strict, a deliberate softness in a piece that is otherwise architectural. The trousers are wide leg, deep cream, with a centre crease pressed sharp. We built it in a heavy crepe so it photographs as a suit, not as separates.

The dress code on her invitation said cocktail. The suit ignored it. She walked into the registry, and her husband forgot his vows for a sentence and a half. The registrar waited him out. The photograph from that pause is the one she sent her mother.