Marie Chandler Bridal and I were chatting. We were talking International Women’s Day, the centenary of the first transatlantic flight (2019), and Amelia Earhart. We wanted to shoot something minimal and industrial and strong, and not typically bridal. We wanted to celebrate the strength of women, and freedom and aspiration.
We looked at aeronautical museums, but it felt too obvious. We found an amazing abandoned skeleton of a warehouse building, but it was owned by a chemical company who said the ground wasn’t safe to touch. We found nuclear bunkers... Let’s just say I went to the depths of the internet and back again.
But then we discovered Greenham Control Tower. Aeronautical links? Tick. Historic? Tick. And feminist? Well, actually, yes. The area around the tower was the site of an enormous Women’s Peace Camp, protesting against nuclear war. The women infamously peacefully linked hands around it and the airfields, a massive human chain of 14 miles, bringing the nuclear capabilities and arguments for nuclear disarmament to the world’s attention. These women were united, and dedicated. Some lived on the camps around the base for as long as 8 years. Nowadays, the Tower is restored and a museum to the history of the area, and the airfields are a nature reserve. These remarkable women effected an awful lot of change, quietly and peacefully.
For the bridal wear, we selected silks as a nod to parachute fabric, and a cape as a nod to flight. For our second model, we opted for a two-piece of wide leg pantaloons, and a separate top. Hair was up and minimal. Makeup was rebellious. Posing was free and bold and full of movement.
Check it out below. Cx
Suppliers:
Location - Greenham Common Control Tower
Photography - Claire Bemister Photography
Bridal wear - Marie Chandler Bridal
Hair - Toni Searle Beauty
Makeup - Joyce Connor Makeup
Models - Laura Schaad-Jackson, Catherine Jane Swan
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