Like a storyline from Farmer Wants a Wife – the Horrocks Vale Collection of luxury Merino Wool wedding gowns is born
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February 22, 2024. Abbie Tiller
What do you get when a couture bridal designer marries a Merino wool grazier? A sustainable, wool-based luxury wedding dress collection of course! And a finalist in the Agrifutures 2024 SA Rural Women’s Awards.
Nikki Atkinson designs sustainable bridal wear and special occasion outfits made from Merino wool. Her business, Horrocks Vale Collections, combines her 25 years of experience as a wedding dress designer and her desire to champion Australian Merino wool as a new environmentally sustainable alternative to polyester.
The announcement of her place as a finalist in the Rural Woman Awards coincides with the release of her newest bridal collection, “Emmaline” – a stunning selection which breaks some of the traditional wedding dress rules, with the inclusion of exquisite and stylish Merino wool pants.
Nikki is living proof that with passion and drive, dreams can come true, no matter which dusty road life takes you down.
“If you had told me ten years ago I’d be designing wedding gowns made out of wool I would have told you you were crazy,” she said.
Zali wedding dress
After growing up on the Eyre Peninsula in Kimba, Nikki moved to Adelaide to study fashion design, before becoming co-owner of one of Adelaide’s leading bridal boutiques, Betrothed.
And like a storyline from Farmer Wants A Wife, she later moved back to the country, to join Farmer Dallas Lines, a Wool Grazier from Wilmington’s “Horrocks Vale”.
“I am so excited to be able to bring my two loves together and create a garment that not only conveys classic beauty but aligns with environmentally friendly movement in the fashion industry,” she said.
In 2022 at the Royal Adelaide Show, in celebration of Merino SA’s centenary, she launched her Horrocks Vale Collection’ Amalia bridal range, believed to be a world first for wool. The Amalia range was also showcased on the runway at Adelaide Fashion Week.
While Nikki says her unique bridal collection appeals most to those who have a connection to the wool industry, she hopes to help expand people’s knowledge with the aim to make wearing wool, second nature.
“Wool is an environmentally positive fibre with a number of sustainable benefits as well as being incredibly breathable, non-allergenic and super silky soft!,” she said.
It’s for those reasons that wool is the future of sustainable fashion and thankfully for the planet, is being used in more and more garments globally.”
The stunning range of wool bridal wear, including men’s bridal accessories, is available online as well as in Nikki’s gorgeous Wilmington retail store – a little renovated church which has become the home of the Horrocks Vale Collection of Merino Wool Wedding wear.