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Bride Wars
8 years ago by
WHOOOAAAA!!! Okay, with G’s news of her engagement, I felt it was only appropriate for the studio to pick their favorite dress from the Bridal 2016 showings. Without further ado…
Neada: Inbal Dror
Amanda: Carolina Herrera
Elle: Vera Wang (dress on right)
Erik: Inbal Dror
Garance: no comment, I guess ;)
Truth be told, I think we would ALL die to wear just about ANYTHING from the Valentino Sala Bianca show back in December 2014. And among those, there are three personal favorites… And I’m not even the one with wedding fever (cough cough, Em), or bridezilla tendencies (hopefully no-one here in the studio!!!)
So, is there even a point of dreaming of the perfect dress? If you’re married, what was your route to the “one”??
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For my wedding last summer, I had a clear vision of what I wanted: something slightly unconventional, but feminine. In my mind, it was a mash-up of Sofia Coppola and Kiera Knightley on their wedding days. I wanted to to be able run around, dance, jump and be happy on my wedding day, not uncomfortable and immobile.
I also never wear heels, so finding beautiful flat shoes was important.
Solution: J. Crew! I was so surprised, but their dresses are amazing and only need light tailoring (the Tailoring Room on the LES is amazing). I got a knee-length, strapless white dress and splurged on silver Chanel flats. As soon as I tried on the dress, I felt elated, and bought it without going anywhere else. ( And I constantly wear those Chanel flats with impunity :)
i’m pretty sure garance is going to be a cool bride. i’m standing by patiently until we can see the dress! :)
http://littleaesthete.com/
If Garance picks one, I will die, there are all so gorg !
xxx
https://stylishwishes.wordpress.com/
RIME ARODAKY.
Je ne saurais choisir laquelle. Love them all.
http://www.rime-arodaky.com/
Get as far as you can from the american bride look -strapless??? Agggggg. I am from Spain so although I married an american in NY, I wore Spanish designer Cortana. Delpozo also makes gorgeous bride gowns and keep an eye on french brand Laure de Sagazan. Congrats!!
Yes. Dont need to show soooo much skin. When did that trend start?
I LOVE Erik’s pick! My sister was married in Tucson (she was an American bride but didn’t wear strapless, not that THAT matters!). She had her dress made from our late grandmother’s Irish lace tablecloth, and it was amazing! If you can incorporate something sentimental like that, go for it!
YES BETSY!
I got married a while ago and at the time I didn’t even want an actual wedding gown. For some reason I had envisioned myself in a strapless brocade column dress with mink trim (don’t ask it was years ago). Then, my more bride-y friends made me go bridal shopping and I actually found one. It was nothing I had envisioned myself in and it was by an up-and-coming NYC designer which I loved being able to promote. I don’t think there’s any point in dreaming of the perfect dress, there are so many gorgeous gowns out there! Plus sometimes the one you’re dreaming of isn’t even the best silhouette for you, which often you don’t until you try it on. Shop them all! Congrats and I’m excited to see what you end up wearing!!
First of all CONGRATULATIONS! I love this story. I tried on countless dresses only to end up on wearing a simple knee length floral(not white at all) dress that fit perfectly and most importantly it was comfortable.We opted for a Seattle courthouse wedding followed by an amazing dinner and sunset on the waterfront. Our rule if it was too hard to decide or whenever the Bride or Groomzilla started coming out maybe we shouldn’t be doing that. We just focused on what truly matters. I married the man of my dreams so the dress, venue, and menu are all extra. HAVE FUN Garance!
Much like G, I had no intention of getting married, but after 7 years together it was getting harder to build a life together, e.g. buy property, sort medical insurance, etc. We planned something quick and small in my family’s vineyards and I waited until the last possible moment to find a dress. I tried on one white dress and broke out in hives all over my neck and chest- full on Carrie Bradshaw style! I had NO idea that was a thing! Despite not owning one single item of pink in my wardrobe I settled on a blush dress at a sample sale. I’m uncomfortable in front of the camera and it helped me channel an inner Sasha Fierce of sorts. Congrats to the affianced!
Je l’avais faite faire sur mesure! :D
C’est l’idéal, comme ça, on est sûre qu’elle sera unique et parfaitement adaptée à sa morphologie.
Voilà à quoi elle ressemblait:
https://bonnie-garner.com/2012/09/15/my-wedding-dress/
She’s going to be such a beautiful bride!
http://j.mp/DNAtheshop http://www.designers-artists.com
Woah, these are all gorgeous! I personally love a more sleek – less puffy – bridal look, like Brie, Elle and Erik choose. I like how that look flirts a tiny bit with the unconventional too.
Although me and my partner don’t plan on (ever) getting married, I do enjoy looking at dresses! And helping friends prepare their weddings. I also enjoyed Lisa’s post on her upcoming wedding, and I would love to get a recap from her (and a photo of her dress ;))! I’m also terribly looking forward to Garance taking us with her on the journey to the wedding (well at least to the degree she’d feel comfortable with of course!).
Garance will look amazing in whatever she wears! Perhaps some great designer would like to create a dress especially for her…
I can only imagine Garance in something really true to her style.
I’m honestly sure she’ll look amazing anyway.
Does she want a white bridal dress at all? Maybe sth different?
https://sofaundermapletree.wordpress.com
Je me suis mariee (il y a 33 ans….) en Emmanuelle Kahn au grand desespoir de ma future belle-mere qui s’attendait a me voir en robe a traine et long voile en tulle !
J’ai toujours aime les robes de mariee du catalogue J.Crew qui me font souvent penser a celle de Caroline Besset. Simple et elegante.
Carolina Herrera & Oscar de la Renta are definately the best one :)
xo xo from Paris
http://www.rosesinparis.com
After getting engaged and deciding we wanted a more formal wedding I went to a small local shop looking. I knew the shape and style I wanted and tried on a few dressing around that. I came down to two. One very simple but classic Watters dress and a stunning beaded Lazzaro. I went back on a lunch break from work and tried them on again. The Lazzaro just spoke to me, made me teary and that’s what I picked. It was strapless, ivory and had light beading spreading from the bodice down like it rained down on the dress. I loved this dress and have loved Lazzaro dresses since. Sadly the engagement broke off and the lovely dress is in a consignment shop awaiting someone else’s special moment.
When my husband asked me to marry him I knew it would have to be much simpler and as much as I wished I went looking for another Lazzaro it just didn’t feel right. I ended up with a lovely silk dress from Jcrew. I absolutely loved this dress. So simple yet elegant and I wore it with my Mother’s lace manta veil.
I always go back to that Sex In The City episode when Carrie wants to wear a no name dress to her wedding, it’s a feeling. It’s about you and him and your day and although it’s a special dress it is just a dress so it should be easy and magical and feel like you.
I love Brie and Erik choices! I got married last summer and had it custom made in New York. I fell in love with Brooklyn designer Rebecca Schoneveld, she has that French vibe and couture approach that most of the American bridal designers don’t.
And she’s awesome. She even designed this amazing bridal jumpsuit in charmeuse silk for the not so traditional bride.
She also opened a bridal concept store called “schone bride”
I wanted a dress inspired by Edwardian tea dresses, after looking everywhereand not finding anything I liked that much, I decided to design it with somebody who had the same vision as me, and she made it happen!
Sans aucun doute the 1st one: HERRERA! Sublime!
I got married in a gold skirt and matching blouse. We went to the courthouse with two friends, then flew out the next day to spend a week at the Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans. Good times!
I can see G wearing Erik’s pick in a beach wedding, barefoot.
Vous devriez vraiment regarder RIME ARODAKY ou DELPHINE MANIVET.
Merci du tuyau Justine: je ne connaissais pas ces deux designers! Vraiment super….
I don’t get the point of all this wedding hoola, but of these I like Herrera’s designs the most. I also like some of Elie Saab’s less elaborate gowns.
I like Erik’s choice the best as presented on the pic; not sure how it would translate outside the runway and on non-model bodies, it might be just too sexy for the occasion (to my eye you always want to be a touch classic/timeless on your wedding day) but it’s a gorgeous dress, my favorite of the group!
Can’t wait to see how Garance decides to tie the knot, I have a feeling it will be something low key…Wearing a white tux? But you also looked gorgeous with the dress you wore at canne, simple streamlined. If you do a big “American style” wedding extravaganza, it would be interesting to see you take on the whole thing. However, You did say you will get married this year so that will simplify things, not a lot of time to go nuts with the planning:)
I am not in fashion and don’t have a big budget. I also don’t have a figure that looks great in flowy, silk gowns (which are my favorite). So, I picked a dress with a corset waist that made me feel like a queen. I made sure not to tie it too tight. When I look at my photos in 40 years, I hope my classic dress will still be classic, unlike my friends who were married with floral headbands. I don’t judge anyone else’s choices, but I wanted my dress to be very timeless, and I wanted to feel GREAT. I accomplished both of those things! My favorite dress is Emily’s CH pick. It’s soooo elegant but not stuffy! Garance will look like herself and she will be beautiful, no matter what… And hopefully she won’t be as stressed as when she has to find “formal wear” for fashion week. ;) best wishes for you Garance!!!! Your fan, N
PS. To echo Jennifer above, I really feel like a lot of people go insane with stress when they are planning their wedding. I married my best friend and had 3 months to plan. Honestly, it doesn’t have to feel crazy!!! People still say what they remember about our wedding was that they loved the food, and danced a lot. Those were my goals – to not feel stress over details, and for people to have fun at our party. Hooray for love!!
We planned our wedding in two months. It was the most beautiful and simplest of days. It was about the life and about celebrating with those we love. I ordered a Victoria Beckham white dress from Net a porter, in the understanding that I would wear this dress yet again after the wedding. That is what worked for me. Every “bride” has her own vision and style.
Rime Arodaky!! All. The. Way.
Her dresses are the perfect balance of sexy, chic and edge!
http://www.rime-arodaky.com/
Plus she’s a doll! And her team is just lovely!
Congrats to the fabulous bride!
Xoxo
Nous nous sommes mariés il y a un peu plus de 20 ans; je suis grande et plutôt ronde. Autant dire qu’à l’époque le choix en matière de robe de mariée était très très mince. Et les rares modèles n’étaient pas très jolis et plutôt chers, confectionnés dans des matières douteuses; quant aux vendeuses, elles me faisaient bien sentir que je n’avais pas la taille mannequin.
Bref, tout ça a fini par m’agacer et j’ai déniché une couturière ouverte d’esprit. Nous avons dessiné ensemble ma robe – j’avais une idée précise de ce que je voulais et je connaissais bien ma silhouette, elle a fait un patron en tissu, essayage, ajustements, et finalement je me suis mariée dans une magnifique robe en soie sauvage blanc cassé, qui m’a coûté le même prix qu’une robe de magasin, mais en ayant eu le plaisir d’avoir travaillé avec une artisane douée et sans avoir subi le mépris de vendeuses ignares. Que du bonheur.
Garance, tous mes voeux du bonheur
When I was engaged I dreamt of a simple ceremony with just parents, grandparents and siblings, and to wear a beautiful gold dress. My fiance wanted the big white wedding and he was willing to pay for it so I went along and made the best of it. My requirements for the big white wedding dress was 1) it had to be light and easy to move in and 2) it had to fit me, not the other way around. I had a lot of fun trying on the most ridiculous and the most awesome wedding dresses and I ended up choosing a classic tulle ballgown. I ended up wearing a gold dress to our wedding social (a Manitoba tradition) so I still got what I wanted (sort of!).
I looked at a lot of beautiful dresses and I fantasised out the perfect dress.. the perfect dress for me turned out to be a skirt albeit metres and metres of Plissé’d glacier ice blue okay almost white silk that was the softest, finest silk I could find. The style and colour was stolen heavily from a photo I adored of the incredibly beautiful Tatijana Patitz in Jil Sander.
I was working at the time and at lunch 3 of us would wet the 40 + metres of silk and plissé away until our hands would cramp, we weighted the fabric and it hung to dry for days. A delightful seamstress I was working with and who looked a lot like Rapunzel was in charge. She made a fine white linen structure to fit me and then the plissé’d waist and hips were invisibly stab stitched to fit perfectly.. finally we steamed out the bottom to loosen the creases. It was fit for a princess, really Cinders would have been envious. The 5 year old me felt like a princess in it.. I felt like a princess in it (long past 5 years old can I tell you).
It was a cool wet April in Normandy and I opted for a perfectly matching wafer thin cashmere jumper/sweater from J. Crew… It was a small intimate gathering that started two days before the actual ceremony and finished three days after, an awful lot of food was consumed locally and yes an awful lot of wine, we laughed a lot…It rained and it rained and it rained, the owner of the chateaux we had rented built elevated paths so we didn’t fall trying to wade through the flood gardens. We purchased galoshes for everyone and I fell sick from bad mussels and had to stay in bed.. My fiancé and our friends took turns taking care of me and carried on celebrating already having having decorated the ancient chapel up the hill with ivy and wildflowers . On the day I got up late, we all got up late.. we brunched, we celebrated, we had fun. so much fun… so much fun that I was left with 30 minutes to get ready… thats all it took 30 minutes, 30 minutes to shower and feel like a princess. A princess in wellies, with friends and love ones in wellies. Me with a crown of daisies made by a friend.. daisies, wellies, a princess skirt a la Jil Sander a J. Crew sweater and every one I love.. doesn’t get much better really………………. Turns out the perfect dress is also who you are with and where you are……enjoy.
What lovely team picks! My favourite is Erik’s: long sleeved and long, easy to wear and just gorgeous fabric.
Mine was a combination of four completely different Dries Van Niten pieces I’d seen Jonetsu Japan, a cool little independent Perth store that was owned and run by the stylish Mineko and her husband Giovanni. I left their shop after just thirty minutes, with four separate pieces that I wore together on the day: a long, A-line, heavy brocade peony patterned skirt in marigold and vermilion, with a loose, stretch silk, long-sleeved scoop neck simple T patterned all over with a rich crimson tattooed design, topped with a nubbly, cropped woolen peach and burgundy (threaded with burnished gold) cap-sleeve vest, and very sheer espresso silk chiffon, long apron over the heavy brocade skirt. This outfit was very much everything I had hoped for, embodying my wish for a wedding that celebrated our friends from all walks of life, and life ahead of fusion and surprise and discovering beauty and elegance in unexpected places- very East-meets-West.
My ceremony outfit was a traditional northern Indian, heavily embroidered gold and red silk satin top, skirt and veil bought for me by my mother-in-law from India and worn by me, sight unseen until the day itself.
My husband bought me a silk cheongsam from a stall in China Town on one of his trips to Sydney, and my tea ceremony outfit was my aunt’s traditional Chinese wedding gown that had belonged to her mother-in-law.
I loved that I had a say in my Dries outfit, that I’ve worn as separates many times since my wedding, with jeans or the skirt with a heavy jumper and boots, and that all the other significant women in my life had a say in dressing me in things that were important to them.
I forgot to add that – in the spirit of keeping it all joyful and simple – I organised and had us married in five weeks… Hence the last minute mish-mash of wedding outfits.
A mon mariage je voulais porter un beau jumpsuit blanc avec un peu de broderie. Bien sur, mes parents ils ont tellement flipés que ma mère m’a emmenée chez Alexander Mc Queen, Elie Saab et Christian Dior. C’es Elie qui m’a finalement convaincue (meme si j’ai vraiment adoré la coupe Dior – Haute Couture 2015). Il m’a paru tellement inspiré que je devais lui faire confiance. Après avoir eu un coup de foudre avec une de ces broderies en tulle, swarowksi et perles (super simple!) , il m’a montré son sketch de ouf! énorme traine de 4 mètres, beaucoup de volume, 22 kilos! Je lui avais expliqué que je voulais bouger, saute meme courrir s’il le faut! M’eclater! donc du coup il s’est arrangé pour que la traine s’enlève avec des ciseaux! La traine pesait 22 kilos! c’est une des plus belle robes de mariées que j’ai vu de ma vie, meme si ce n’est pas ce que j’avais en tete au début des préparations!
Go check Rime Arodaky’s dresses , they are absolutely stunning! Can’t wear to go to SF try mine!
These dresses are stunning! In the triptych photo that you posted, who designed the dresses on the left + right? Love the one the right especially. And, congrats to Garance!!
The dresses are all beautiful but many will not be able to afford designer. 18 years ago I bought some heavy off white silk and made my own, a very simple scoop neck, fitted to the hip, and a flared skirt. A much more modern shape for the late 90’s when there was no other option but huge puffballs.
So I recommend that you find a seamstress/tailor and take in a picture (or few) of the kind of style you want. You can then have a lot more input into the creative process and effectively design your own dress.
Spend the extra on shoes!!
Can you guys please tell me who designed the second dress in the cover photo of the article?? I am looking for wedding dresses and totally into that one but I can’t seem to find it anywhere else online. It’s the sheer one with the high neck and the ruffles on the skirt. Please and thank you!!! <3
Hi Molly,
I believe all of the dresses in the opening photo are Valentino! Good luck with your dress search! x Natalie