Friday, May 02, 2008

The curse of the bridesmaid's dress

I just read another story about the ugly bridesmaids dress. Where did this stereotype come from, the unsightly dress that the bride inflicts upon her dearest friends?

I have been a bridesmaid, and I've had bridesmaids. The dresses I chose, and the dress I wore (still, inexplicably hanging in my closet, by the way) are no longer in style. And while I would argue that neither one was a work of art, neither was that bad.

I chose dresses in pink that went beautifully with the flowers we were having. They looked very pretty ... at the time. Yes, they were made of bridal satin; yes, the pumps were dyed to match. Give me a break - it was the 80s.

The wedding I was in (mercifully, I was only a bridesmaid once, and it was enough) had long green dresses, sort of suit-like. They were OK - not my first choice, but I wouldn't call them hideous or even unflattering - they were fine. The color was OK, and they style was ... well, it was OK. It wasn't embarrassing or mortifying or anything I felt even the slightest bit awkward about. It was a dress that I wore for a few hours, and I haven't exactly suffered because of it.

(Nor did I cut it off to wear to another event - I figured it was a cost of being in my friend's wedding. Which I did without complaint.)

Every movie these days shows bridesmaids wearing some god-awful concoction that had to have been chosen by a bride who was either delirious with happiness or temporarily insane. And no one's dresses are ever quite that bad.

Give the bride a break already - let the stereotype go. As if brides don't have enough stress without being accused of trying to stick it to her friends.

Just one more reason to elope, huh?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

What?! You didn't absolutely love the dress you wore in my first wedding?! I'm shocked! Actually, at the time, I thought they were really nice, but today I think they are awful. Of course, the worst part of that wedding was the groom!

Well, I didn't really care for the dress I wore in your wedding either, but I did enjoy being a part of your day. As you say, It's all part of the cost of being in the wedding. Personally, I liked the flower hair clips we wore the best - seriously! I thought they were really pretty in 1988.

Unfortunately, I've been in many weddings and worn many different dresses. One I actually liked (at the time) was a coral dress that made me look 15 pounds thinner. We wore gold sandals (that I actually wore again all summer) and coral toenail polish. For my mom's wedding I desperately wanted to wear black, but she wouldn't let me. I ended up in a silver and taupe number that I promptly gave away after the wedding.

All in all, I think weird/ugly bridesmaid dresses are part of the day. If all dresses were nice and stylish, what would we have to complain about?!

Cindy said...

I didn't say I didn't like the dresses - I said they were fine. But I am looking back now at an event that happened years ago; I really don't remember what I thought at the time - it wasn't about me, so my opinion was moot. But I did not consider the dresses ugly, and that was the point. I give my friends more credit than that.

Anonymous said...

Oh I know that and I took no offense. They were fine - at the time. Now, of course, I find them really funny. But think about all the daily fashion we wore in the late '80s-early 90s. None of it is anything I'd be caught dead in today!