Friday, October 19, 2012

let's play "does this look too much like a wedding dress?"


Hey lady!

I'm going to an evening wedding in Manhattan in a couple of months and I've kind of fallen in love with this dress. My only concern is it kind of looks like a wedding dress.  

What do you think? Would it be tacky?

*****

Dear Guest: if there's a chance the photographer's going to have to label you 'not the bride' in photos, your dress is too long & too white. is something a wedding photog friend of mine tweeted recently.

so, yeah. no. you can't wear that.

the good news is, you just found a gorg wedding dress (under $300!) for a reader or two.

24 comments:

  1. definitely too bride-y.

    but so, so gorgeous!

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  2. It kind of depends on the venue and location. If it is midtown or upper east side in the evening you may be able to wear it. I would expect the bride to spend $10k and above on the dress. No labeling would be required. Is it black tie?

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  3. Wow, that dress! I imagine some pretty awesome dance moves in that, you know the skirt would probably do some awesome Ginger Rogers worthy swishing.
    But yeah, it reads a bit too bridal.

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  4. As a very recent bride, I have to say that I don't think it's too bridal...but probably because my dress was quite a bit more structured / lacy / traditional. If you think that the bride might go with something in the same boho / loose vein, maybe give it a pass. Gorgeous dress though. I'm kind of tempted to go try it on at my local Nordstrom, even though I have nowhere to wear it.

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  5. too bride-y. if that's your style then maybe find an alternative from a sari shop. in all seriousness the draping will be the same and you can find some gorgeous fabrics.

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  6. That is waaaaaaaaaay too bridal! It looks exactly like Jenny Packham's Iris from her last season's bridal collection.

    If it looks like a Jenny Packham wedding dress, you can't wear it as a guest!

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  7. It's sort of a Catch 22 b/c there are 2 different most-likely wedding scenarios:

    the bride is traditional: her dress looks nothing like yours b/c it's more structured, bigger, white...but she's the kind of bride who would be more likely to be annoyed by you wearing a long pale dress.

    the bride is less traditional, more casual: she's more likely to not care what you wear but you'd possibly look MORE bridal than her in this dress. this would have happened at my wedding. I wouldn't have cared but you would have looked more like the bride than me at my own wedding because my dress had less bling than this and was the same color.

    Any, as JB pointed out, do you really want to wear such an obvious knock-off?

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  8. alternative?
    different color, different length... but is it too short?

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  9. I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that if you have to ask, it's probably a no-go.

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  10. Crap. Well you guys just confirmed what I was already thinking. Thanks for that. To answer earlier questions yes- it's a black tie wedding and I already know the bride is wearing a very pricey, traditional, strapless white dress. It won't look like hers but I don't want to look like I'm trying to play bride for the day either. It's a bummer though because knock off or not (and no I don't have Jenny Packham's last bridal collection memorized), it's a damn beautiful dress. And such a good price. Oh well... the search continues!

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  11. I say, go for it. No one ever asks if something is too groom-y.

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  12. that looks nothing like any wedding dress I've ever seen. for sure not a black tie wedding dress. I say go for it.

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    Replies
    1. agreed - this is a total Go for a black tie event

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    2. other than the fact that it's a knock-off JB wedding dress...

      probably means it's too bridal

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    3. JP* Jenny Packham

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    4. Yeah, I'm wearing a JP wedding dress, and it looks sort of similar to this.

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  13. it should be OK. get it!! you already know that the bride's dress doesnt look anything close to this.

    (but if you're too self-conscious that night - it wont work)

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  14. It doesn't read bridal to me...especially if you know for a fact the bride-to-be is wearing a more traditional, white wedding gown. I say go for it. :)

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  15. wait, it comes in that beautiful dark navy color! why not do that one instead? it looks super glam and great for a black tie wedding...

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  16. As someone who is planning to wear that exact dress to her own wedding (yup, it's in my closet!), I'd say too close to bridal.

    Even if the bride is wearing a more traditional dress, you don't wanna risk being that girl.

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  17. I'm actually waiting for this to arrive in the mail from Nordstrom... and I plan on wearing it as a wedding dress if I like it-- sooooo I'd say, yes it is too wedding dress like.

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