Our Story
THE BRAND
The typical Rolling In Roses bride? There isn’t one. We dress brides from all walks of life and of all shapes and sizes. We are a small-scale British label with a focus on thoughtful design and high-end craftsmanship, creating conscious bridalwear for individuals who walk to the beat of their own drum. Our fabrics are gentle to the earth, our dressmaking techniques traditional and refined, our designs a blend of the classic and the avant-garde. We are not fast fashion.
The name 'Rolling In Roses' is taken from an early Patti Smith poem. Known as 'the godmother of punk', she embodies our ethos of designing for the offbeat, sophisticated, fiercely independent bride. The dreamers, the poets, the music-makers, the lovers.
THE DRESSES
Rolling In Roses pieces are distinguished by their standard of workmanship and luxurious eco-friendly fabrics. We’re so proud to maintain traditional couture techniques in a world where cheap and dirty is sometimes valued over quality and worth.
All our gowns are individually made to order by a tiny team of seamstresses here in York, England. This small-scale production means we can always guarantee the exceptional finish of our dresses and achieve artisan quality workmanship with all its divine hand-finished details. No production lines or faceless factories here; each dress is made from start to finish by one expert artisan who knows your name and your wedding date, and who personally takes care of every last detail. And oh, the pride we feel when we see your wedding pictures. Pure joy.
Our brides always comment on how comfortable their gowns are; each unstructured piece is cut to effortlessly flatter the natural figure rather than to fight against it. We’re all about comfort, elegance, and freedom. Our processes include delicate hand-finished couture details such as tiny rolled hems, hand-stitched edgings and beautiful blanket-stitched hook and loop closures, and all pieces are lined with a natural, breathable silk/bamboo blend or a vegan alternative to silk made from orange-fibre. We keep practicality in mind alongside aesthetics, and every dress has a wrist loop for carrying its train gracefully, along with ribbon tabs to tie it up out of the way for dancing. Dancing is very important.
We are proud to have no size restrictions on our dresses, so each design is available in any size required. Alternatively, we can offer bespoke versions of any design made to your personal measurements, so if you have any special requirements or problems with fit please don’t hesitate to get in touch. The full collections are available to try in multiple sizes exclusively at our flagship boutique in York, and selected dresses are available in other boutiques - see the Stockists page for details.
THE DESIGNER
Hayley Claire Neil is the founder and designer behind Rolling In Roses. Following an epiphany which struck whilst on a depressingly uninspiring shopping trip to help find wedding dresses for her sister, Hayley opened her first boutique in York in March 2012. Taking the name 'Glory Days' from the Pulp song she herself walked down the aisle to on her wedding day, the boutique offered vintage and antique bridal gowns alongside the bespoke service through which Hayley created one-off wedding dresses tailored for individual clients. Seeing the appetite of brides for contemporary, cooler, and more comfortable wedding gowns than those offered on the high street, Hayley founded the Rolling In Roses label in 2016 as a platform for her personal design vision and has never looked back.
Rolling In Roses flourished and outgrew the confines of Glory Days so the two companies were recently merged and rebranded under the Rolling In Roses name, and the York boutique is now the RIR flagship store. Hayley can’t believe how lucky she is to be able to make a living doing what she loves and making people happy; it’s a dream come true.
Having designed, sewed, sketched, and embroidered her way through school, Hayley gained a degree in costume design at the Edinburgh College of Art and went on to work as a freelance costume designer, maker, and assistant in the worlds of theatre and film. Being lucky enough to work on an eclectic array of theatre productions and Bifa, Bafta, and Oscar winning films, Hayley has knowledge and experience covering everything from contemporary streetwear to tailored Regency period suits, from 1930s evening gowns to spectacular fantasy costumes. This diversity of skills means a wide range of knowledge of fabrics and fit, and experience with garments of various functions suitable for all body types.
Never happier than when designing or making, Hayley sources the fabrics, sketches the designs, drafts all the patterns, and makes the sample gowns herself in the RIR atelier. Lying awake at night deciding how to finish the perfect cuff or solving a tricky pattern drafting problem is par for the course, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Hayley can usually be found walking in the countryside with her husband, their little boy Luca Thor, and their wee babe Oren Jack, enjoying good food or having a pint in the pub with friends. Otherwise, you might come across her dancing in festival fields, strolling around art galleries or losing her mind watching bands at grimy little gig venues. A Yorkshire girl born and bred, Hayley is proud to base her design and construction right here in England, and always will do.
Want to know more?
Get to know us a little better in this lovely little film by Zach& Grace for LMD Collective.