Could this be Coronation Street's most outrageous wedding dress yet? The soap has shared some behind-the-scenes secrets regarding Gemma Winter's (Dolly Rose Campbell) jaw-dropping wedding gown.
Gemma is set to put on a very orange-inal display when she marries her boyfriend Chesney Brown (Sam Aston) in an outrageous orange wedding dress next week.
In Coronation Street, Gemma has bought a charity shop dress which has been dyed and customised by her friend and Underworld seamstress Izzy Armstrong (Cherylee Houston).
Although Izzy worked her magic to create Gemma's dream dress on screen, in reality the spectacular gown was made by Drag Queen and fashion designer Liquorice Black.
The magnificent two metre wide dress, complete with a seven metre long train and fairy lights activated by remote control, took over 200 hours to make and was created at Liquorice Black's studio in Manchester. On top of that, there were approximately 10,000 stones all individually glued on by hand.
Liquorice Black — who is famous for their unique creations on RuPaul's Drag Race — teamed up with Coronation Street Head of Costume Alex Hatzar and actress Dolly Rose Campbell to create the stunning ensemble.
Coronation Street revealed that two skirts had to be made, as the one-of-a-kind dress was so large that a short version was needed so that Dolly's co-stars could get near her to film close-up scenes.
Dolly said: “Myself and Alex in costume had lots of discussions about what Gemma would want as her dream dress and had put some ideas together. We decided on orange as a nod to Gemma and Chesney being ginger and also Gemma loves bright colours.
“Liquorice and I have a mutual friend and I had seen an exhibition of their work and knew they had worked on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK so I knew that they would be the best person to make the dress, I was absolutely delighted when they said yes.”
Alex Hatzar also revealed the fun fact on why they chose the vibrant orange for Gemma's wedding gown.
Alex shared: “Dolly & I have talked about Gemma's wedding dress for years even before she was with Chesney! I've always known I wanted it to light up but wanted something different from just the skirt lighting up as we've all seen that before.
"I knew it had to be something with the wow factor & Gemma was never going to go for a white dress. Orange just seemed to work for the character as Gemma is so vibrant & it also worked for Chesney & the family she's marrying into!"
Liquorice Black added: “I had a meeting with Dolly and the head of costume and the two of them completely convinced me that it would be a really fun project to do and they had faith that I could make their vision come to reality. So I accepted.
“Dolly wanted a really long train, and lights and flowers. Lots of collaborative ideas were thrown together. It wasn't a case of ‘could you make something?’ and then I just went away and did it, it was very much a team effort.
“I am from Manchester so it has been such an honour to work on this dress and to be asked to be involved in the filming of a wedding on the show. Coronation Street is a UK institution and I am so grateful to be a small part of Corrie history. I can’t wait to see it on screen.”
Coronation Street airs hour-long episodes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 8 pm on ITV — see our TV Guide for full listings. You can also catch up on episodes on ITVX.
