Weddingbee boards

Hello lovely Bees, I posted back in September about how happy I was to not only find my dream wedding dress but to get a pristine sample gown exactly in my budget.

Now I have uncovered a bit of a mystery. My dress is called Alexis and is by a brand new fairly high end British designer called Intuzuri Costura. It retailed for roughly £1500 ($2385) however I got a discount of £500 ($795) for purchasing the dress as a sample.

I had originally been crazy about another dress from the Intuzuri collection, 'Adelphi', and hadn't been overly taken by Alexis - the pictures online only showed Alexis to be a strapless lace dress, but she was far more impressive in person.

The bonus of the dress was that after I had tried the gown on and already fallen in love, the store consultant sealed the deal by asking if I had seen the matching jacket that came with the dress - for no extra cost! Sheer tulle with a lace applique it v'd at the back and joined with satin buttons. I was utterly sold and ecstatic, although I was amazed that the jacket hadn't been in any of the official designer photos.

Excuse how messy the jacket looks from the back in the photo above, it is a bit big and will beed to be altered to fit.

So one day last month I was browsing through the dress threads on The Bee and I did a massive double take. Stargurl had posted a picture of a 2012 collection Pronovias gown called Peral. It was my dress. Exactly. Every detail was precisely the same. I did a google search for more photos. With the jacket, without the jacket, with the belt, without the belt. It was the SAME dress.  Alexis = Peral.

The quality of my dress is exceptional. I tried on several Pronovias gowns while shopping for my dress and the quality of my gown is absolutely equal to them. I don't think that it is a cheap rip off of the Pronovias but I'm not sure what is going on.

To add to my confusion I ALSO noticed that their Arianna dress is an exact replica of Pronovias Primor - right down to their unusual belts. I had also tried on Arianna and can vouch that the quality and detail of the dress was exquisite.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I adore my gown and I am thrilled to get what would have been a £2300 gown from Pronovias for £1000. I am just bamboozled about how?!?!

Any ideas my fellow Bees?

@Anamagana:  I know that some of the cheaper legit dress companies do make cheaper replicas, however Intuzuri Costura is being marketed as a high end brand, and they do have many of their own designs. In fact their 2013 collection is 5 times the size of the 2012 collection and I don't recognise any of the gowns as copies of anything.

The lace on my gown is IDENTICAL to both Pronovias Peral and Pergola - I just doubt that a cheap copy would have identical lace - never mind lace covered in delicate hand beading.

I also find it weird that the lace jacket - which makes the dress so distinctive, was used in absolutely none of the Intuzuri press pictures.

Does anyone think that they might have bought the design from Pronovias? Maybe as excess stock? I don't think the Peral has been terribly popular, I have only been able to find one real bride photo and it was tiny and taken in a bridal shop. There's only a few stock photos online - and there's no longer any mention of it on the Pronovias web site.

@FoolsintheRain:  It's possible I suppose, although I wouldn't understand why. Pronovias is a major dress designer here in Britain too. Loads of stores stock them and they are very desirable gowns. The Pronovias brand name is held in a lot of esteem.

Although thinking about it, they must both have ties to Spain... Intuzuri Costura... and obviously Pronovias Costura is from Barcelona... Hmmmm, I don't know.

@Sunflower Skies:  Thank you and thank you! I'm part kneazle you know! ;)