No 7: the Gown

Thursday, January 22, 2009

I have been dreaming about my wedding dress since I was a little girl. My first wedding theme was based on a classic mid/late 90's full skirted, preppy gown with a wide swath of satin ribbon at the bottom of the skirt and top of the bodice. Of course, the veil would also have that ribbon of satin, and the cake, and the flowers, and, and, and.

Since then, I've gone through many phases of dress devotion. The Melissa Sweet Hallie was the first dress I clipped from a magazine, and I still have it lovingly glued into my wedding book. Since then, I've always imagined a beautiful lace mermaid gown.

My boyfriend, John loves the Paloma Blanca style number 3854 which you might recognize from her recent ad campaigns. My wedding file (a file in my documents called "weddings" which has 20 sub-files (and all those files have 5, 6, 7 or more files within them) contains several dedicated to some of my favorite dresses. One of the files is "John's gowns", and includes three or four more dresses that look nearly identical to the Paloma Blanca (satin mermaid gowns with lace applique on the hem and top of the bodice). Clearly, the man has something in mind.

I have many other gowns in the "gowns" file, including a collection of some of my favorite historical gowns: Jackie O's fashion forward, socially progressive and truly unique dress and the Givenchy confection that Audrey Hepburn wore in "Funny Face" with Fred Astaire top my list. But I also love mermaid gowns without lace, in simple, creamy bridal satins. I'm not one for fuss: beading, sparkles and excessive decoration have never been something I wear comfortably, so a gown with a stunning silhoutte and little else would be perfect for me.

I happen to be the very blessed child of a gifted designer and seamstress who has made several custom wedding gowns and plenty of my recital gowns. She has all my measurements, so I would love if she would recreate this Carolina Herrera polka dot masterpiece from her 2004 bridal collection.

And of course, sometimes a girl just dreams of a princess dress. This J.Crew gown, called the "Lucinda" is my own version.

I told my mom when I was 15 that it was O.K. for us to spend a lot of money on a dress because I'd still be wearing it years from now. This past New Years Eve, I wore that very cocktail dress I'd talked her into years ago (I'm 22 now). So I figure that I should start trying stuff on, and then buy my dream gown online from someone on the cheap. Whenever I get married, I'll be sure it'll still fit.

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