I had a very sweet text from a friend whose daughter is recently engaged. She and her daughter wondered where I bought my wedding dress. Her daughter would like something simple and elegant, like mine she said (Isn’t that the best compliment?) The truth is I didn’t wear a “wedding dress” NO, I was not naked, just wearing an evening dress from a regular ladies dress shop (not even a shoppe)
You see I was married in 1997 and the wedding dress industry was still stuck in the 80’s. The wedding world was still caught in a more is more frame of mind. We couldn’t all have a royal wedding, but by goodness, we could all drown in frills and puffs and lace. When Dianna married Prince Charles in 1981, it was the height of glamour and everyone wanted to emulate her style.
Fast forward to 1997 and the dresses on offer had not changed. Please see below for the sort of monstrosity we were supposed to gleefully sport while dancing the night away.
In 1996, Carolyn Bessette married John Kennedy Jr and the style maker turned heads by selecting a simple sheath dress by Narciso Rodriguez.
Source
Finally, gone was the meringue, gone the pouf, the ruffles, the frills. Praise be!
But alas, the wedding gown industry had still not noticed.
I went wedding dress shopping with my sister. They brought me poufy dress after poufy dress. I asked for something simple, elegant and they brought me a Jessica McClintock dress similar to the one below:
The horror.
I went wedding dress shopping with my Mom. Let me preface this by saying, I was never that girl who dreamt of her wedding day. I don’t know why. I like clothes and shoes and jewelry. But I never dreamt about what I’d wear, what kind of flowers I’d carry. None of that. Also, my parents raised four girls so you might think our house was princess-palooza, pink boas a-plenty. Nope. Despite having matching canopy beds, we were raised with surprisingly little focus on being or becoming a princess. We were encouraged to get good grades, go to uni and be self-sufficient, independent. Girl bosses, if you will. So when a dress matron (what the heck do you call those women who put you in those giant dresses?) put me in a tulle dress four sizes too large for me, because she insisted that my Mom would want to see me in a ball gown; shuffled me out of the dressing room, gathered the excess 20 meters of tulle in back to give the impression of what I’d look like in a gown that fit and said to my Mom “There’s your princess” I wanted to puke. Which I suppose, is about as far from a princessy reaction as you can get.
I tried to explain to my Mom that I wanted to dress like I was going to a fancy event, like the Oscars for instance. I did want a beautiful dress, I did want it to be special but I did not want to look like a puffed-up marshmallow. She wasn’t too keen on me not wearing white. Old habits die hard. So I went in search of an evening dress in the lightest colour possible. I still never did find a dream dress. Well, actually I did but about 10 years too late and almost certainly thousands of dollars too many. It was a Badgley Mischka dress, I wish I had a picture to show you. Sigh.
Anyway, I bought a dress… and I got married. I think you know which part of that sentence is the important bit.
(Stay tuned… tomorrow’s post will feature my picks for brides! Not a marshmallow in sight)
xxxooo
Callie