GIRLFRIENDS
A day you will always remember. A bride you will never forget. And a dress you will never wear again.
Ah, the plight of the proper bridesmaid.
Well, ladies in waiting, wait no more. The dress of your dreams is here.
It is a luminous column of raw silk; it is a clingy black crepe evening gown with a geometric back; it is a pastel bustier anchored by tons of tulle.
Thanks to a new generation of sophisticated bridal fashions from such designers as Vera Wang and Nicole Miller--the latter a newlywed herself--bridesmaids have never looked better.
Big wedding or small, lavish or thrifty, no one has to settle for cheesy fabrics (read peau de soie) or frumpy silhouettes. Some of the best choices this season are simple dresses that would look out of place in the typical bridal salon. Spring frocks in muted florals by Jessica McClintock. Embroidered sheaths by Shelli Segal. Silk chiffon flapper dresses by Morgane Le Fay. No buttons, no bows, no frills, no poof.
Now, at last, here comes . . . the bridesmaid!
And it’s about time, says Linda Friedman, eight times a bridesmaid and now a bride-to-be. “The dress from the last wedding I was in, I threw away in the garbage can the next day. It was pink and had no waist. Hideous? Yes. That’s why I am not going to do that to my own bridesmaids.”
Shopping for her own gown recently at Barneys New York in Beverly Hills, Friedman was drawn to Wang’s creations for attendants. In pale, watery shades of lilac, mint and peach as well as a vivid buttercup, the designs feature spare bodices with full and frothy ballet skirts. Wang likes how these play off the minimalist bride, as epitomized by Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy.
Revolutionary?
Absolutely, says Darcy Miller, weddings editor of Martha Stewart Living magazine. “Dresses that are elegant, simple, timeless are as wonderful for brides as they are for bridesmaids.”
Today, many makers of bridal gowns are doing bridesmaid dresses that look more like evening wear. It works because, Miller says, “Your friends will have a better time if their dresses don’t make them feel like they’re totally mortified.”
The revolution may not have been ignited by Wang, but she certainly has fanned the flames. What she did last year for brides, the New York designer has now done for bridesmaids: simplify, simplify, simplify.
If Bessette-Kennedy’s sleek, white, back-baring column by Narcisco Rodriguez is the new standard for bridal perfection, then Wang’s shoulder-baring ballet gowns are redefining the look for “Maids.”
Although her grown-up prom dresses could easily cross over to evening wear, she says she named the line Maids to emphasize that attendants deserve their own style. “I don’t want bridesmaids to feel clown-like. We have a generous amount of A-lines and a lot have slight chiffon layering. I’m thinking of the pomp and circumstance of a wedding [and yet] aware that with all the different body types, you have fit problems and you have a price point to deal with,” Wang says.
Designer Nicole Miller faced the ultimate fit problem in dressing for her own wedding a year ago. Well into the third trimester of her pregnancy, Miller camouflaged the increasingly obvious in a black satin cocktail dress and a boxy white coat of her own design.
A well-cut, tailored dress, Miller says, can minimize the impact of even the most challenging collection of bridal attendants’ shapes. Unlike some other arbiters of nuptial fashion, who would lift all rules of conformity, Miller is committed to uniformity in color and fabric for everyone but the bride. Men, who are also asked to stand up for their sisters and friends, can complement their female counterparts by wearing a matching cummerbund or boutonniere.
The backsides of the supporting cast are another creative opportunity, Miller says. “We had a dress with a big pleat in the back with a tie, and it fit a lot of different bridesmaids’ figures.” From all sides, Miller says, the view should be “elegant as well as functional.”
But with elegance comes a price tag. In the case of the new minimalist wedding styles, less is indeed more.
Wang’s dresses climb quickly to four figures. But determined brides almost always find a way. For New York designer Cynthia Rowley’s spring wedding in City Hall and reception in a hangar, Rowley whipped up a plain white satin gown the day before the event. She wrapped her attendants in shimmering sheaths. With the lime gown, she added a blue stole; with the pink, a tangerine stole.
The effect, Rowley says, was “hopelessly romantic”--just like the bride. And the bridesmaids took home the best of all party favors: silk shantung dresses they can wear again and again.
For Roni Burks, who has spent months planning every precious detail of her July wedding at the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel, that is how it should be.
“I want to look nice and I want my bridesmaids to look just as pretty. This is a day we dream about from childhood and I want it to be a complete celebration, for everyone. If my bridesmaids can be princesses for a day, that is what I want for them.
“I want them to be able to say, ‘I was gorgeous! You should’ve seen me!’ ”
* Times staff writer Jeannine Stein contributed to this story.
Credits: Photographs: Al Seib, Los Angeles Times, Styling: Costume Confidential, Hair/makeup: David Mendoza, Flowers: Flowerloft, Location: the Mission Inn, Riverside, (909) 784-0300
