Designers

About Michele

South African born Michele Keffen moved to the UK in 1999 having firmly established herself in the world of fashion.

Soon after qualifying as a fashion designer she was awarded the prestigious 'Young Fashion Designer of the Year'. She had a weekly fashion trends feature on East Coast Radio in Durban, was regularly featured on Highway Radio and wrote a bi-weekly article on fashion for a local radio station's magazine "Up the Hill".

Her Durban-based wedding and eveningwear business attracted clients from thousands of miles across the continent of Africa.

She had a team of around 40 seamstresses and designers in her team and has sewn for royalty. At the same time as running her successful bridalwear business, she also ran a Tuxedo hire company where the average number of suits out on hire would normally be over 2000 at a time.

Michele has been asked to sit in the panel of many design contests and beauty pageants and firmly believes in sharing her knowledge with younger design students and those who are interested in the fashion industry.

Just after moving to the UK, she was offered a position on the Versace design team. Michele turned this down as she had just met British Fashion Photographer David Keffen. They married in 2000 and decided to open Society Brides (one of the UK's largest designer wedding dress stores).

In 2003 Michele and David were pleased to accept two national awards from the bridalwear industry. 'Best Shop Design' and perhaps, more importantly 'Best New Bridal Retailer'. Michele and David have been asked to speak at industry events and are generally accepted to be experts in their field.

They were recent guest speakers at the Drapers 'Global Fashion Sourcing Summit Meeting' held at London's Waldorf Hotel. They are both involved in fashion photography and are are currently editing the fashion magazine 'Fashion Today'.

Michele's couture design team has produced tens of thousands of dresses over the past 18 years. Who knows what the next 18 will hold?

The design house of Society Brides boasts a superb design, couture sewing and consultancy team to make the experience one that will not easily be forgotten.

Celebrities and those in the public eye can rest assured that absolute anonimity and confidentiality is always maintained. Private fitting arrangements are normally arranged for those with special security considerations.

We offer a full true couture service for those who are looking for the ultimate bespoke dress as well as a semi-couture (often referred to by other designers incorrectly as full couture) service based upon the existing styles of some of the labels within the store.

Society Brides also feature the exclusive Tiny Toffs flowergirl range as well as a selection of other bridesmaid, occasion wear and flowergirl dresses.