I have been all up and down the interwebs and have not found hardly any bridesmaids dresses that I like. I think this is probably because I don't like bridesmaids dresses, I've never had one that I would ever wear again, and I recognize that this is not a requirement, but I guess I want it to at least not suck:
Let's ignore for a second how much I hate the world of bridesmaid dresses in general (way too expensive for a way too cheap piece of clothing is numero uno offense), and focus on what I wanted initially:
Great, rich burguny/wine color, no shiny, stiff material...
That's pretty much it, well, let me clarify, because those last two are separate requirements, there's shiny materials like satin, silk, silk charmeuse, etc... then there's stiff materials like satin, taffeta, dupioni silk, etc... Some of these are both shiny and stiff, and stiff is by far the worst offense in my opinion. This brings us to the dresses I've considered so far:
I initially thought only of design, but I immediately gravitated towards chiffon:
(You wanna' hear a great [sad, depressing] story?? Well, I am still interested in checking out Jim Hjelm, but I didn't know until just know where I might find his designs... turns out they were right across the shopping center from my Priscilla of Boston... where I was just last night.)
The main problem though is that universally, the colors of chiffon are just awful. I mentioned just a few days ago that the teaberry color from Priscilla of Boston looked like just what I was hoping for, and then I went there yesterday and it was fuschia! (side note, I like fuschia... but NOT at my wedding) like, really fuschia, not at all what I had hoped for when I saw the little swatch online:
What I was hoping for... ... ... What I got
And I was really disappointed because I really liked some of the chiffon designs they had there and the prices. I don't have anything in particular in mind for design, I just want it to be not too elaborate. I was hoping for a simple, universally flattering design. Enter David's Bridal cotton sateen:
And Keri in the dress (she said I could). I'll say again that I can live with this color, but I was hoping for something richer. But more importantly, the cotton sateen was stiffer than I want. I went to Priscilla of Boston hoping that the color would be right and that I would like their chiffon designs more (I'm not even going to comment on David's Bridal chiffon).
I liked the designs more, but the color was atrocious compared to what I was hoping for... and please understand that what I mean by that is that it was a huge shock; expecting a much deeper, richer, wine-like color, and getting fuschia.
The funny thing is that RIGHT NEXT TO the fuschia Priscilla of Boston dress was exactly the color I wanted, appropriately named "Wine." I took a picture but it didn't translate, I had to put the flash on and that made it look weird. Anyway, that color is only available in "Satin yuru" (pronounced yu-RUU) which is shiny like satin, but moves like... like this:
I'm still not particularly crazy about the shiny, but that color was fantastic:
(The veeeery last dress alllll the way on the right hand side. That's my color! Not too purple, not too red, juuuuuuust right!)
However, when we try and put two and two together, there are only a couple designs in this material that I like at all:
Just a side note, they will shorten the long dresses.
And I'm really worried that no one will like even these. So what's the point? What's the verdict?? None yet, I'm really confused, I love the way these move, I also loved that wine color, it was exactly what I was hoping for... Buuuuut, I'm still on the fence about shiny shiny fabric. However, I have been able to examine my feelings a bit; of the three factors that I made priorities when bridesmaid dress shopping (the right color, the right movement, the right material), I have discovered that to me, color is most important- judging by the reaction I had when I saw that wine-colored dress at Priscilla of Boston, and movement is a very close second- judging by the fact that I'm slowly changing my mind about the David's Bridal dress because of lack of flow, and material is slowly becoming a non-issue- because I'm realizing that in order to satisfy the first two very important priorities, I have to sacrifice the third.
Do you think my priorities are in the right order?? And what do you think of the above PB satin yuru gowns?
What about choosing a fabric like shauntug or dippioni..those are both very pretty and flattering materials. I agree though..bridesmaids dresses are way over priced but they can do that because they can!!
ReplyDeleteI think the fabric is definitely important in that it needs to go/flow with your wedding dress and the general 'feel' of the wedding. However, that being said.. I still think color first. Be forewarned that Jim Hjelm can be a bit pricey (but I know their stuff is gorgeous!)..have you tried Dessy.com?
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments! Brideonicles: I'm not a fan of dupioni, it's actually pretty stiff. Not really familiar with shantung though. Steph c: I have looked at dessy and unfortunately I don't like their colors either. Although they were really close, when it comes down to it, I decided I didn't want to go from shop to shop for "really close"
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