Ugly wedding dress of the day

October 15, 2003 9:33 AM

Here comes the...what the hell is that? Yes, it's almost redundant to mention that bridesmaid's dresses are ugly--I've always assumed this was to make the bride look that much better by comparison. But sometimes the bride isn't doing herself any favors with her sartorial selection.
posted by adamrice (30 comments total)

Annnd Ugly Bridesmaid Dresses
posted by Stan Chin at 9:43 AM on October 15, 2003

I'll take this opportunity to congratulate MeFiers ratbastard and Sapphireblue on their nuptials this past Saturday. I was there, and Ms. Blue (or is it Mrs. Bastard now?) was positively radiant.
posted by MrMoonPie at 9:50 AM on October 15, 2003

A lot of these are reruns from previous threads (based on sites with slightly different names, so this isn't a double-post callout!) but the new ones always seem to make it worth it:

"Look," they said to each other, snickering behind their hands, "Allison's bed comforter is stuck to her butt!"

That really is what it looks like...
posted by soyjoy at 9:55 AM on October 15, 2003

Admittedly, some of the dresses are inspired by traditional cultural wedding garb of various sorts, but most of them are down right awful. Especially the country-western ones. "What kind of wedding dresses do you have?" "Oh, we have both kinds, country and western." [If that is now an obscure reference, I am entirely too old.]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 9:59 AM on October 15, 2003

[If that is now an obscure reference, I am entirely too old.]

You're on a mission from God.
posted by mazola at 10:04 AM on October 15, 2003

Actually, I thought the first one was a tremendous improvement on the traditional fare, but it does go down from there.
I think it's all (including traditional) tacky garbage.
posted by 2sheets at 10:06 AM on October 15, 2003

The Flag Dress?!? Did you not see the flag dress? How could you miss the flag dress?

Should I salute?
posted by emptyage at 10:08 AM on October 15, 2003

I can decide if some of those dresses are for real or wardrobe for a fetish flick.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, of course.
posted by tommasz at 10:11 AM on October 15, 2003

Dang, nothing ruins a smarmy comment like typing "can" instead of "can't".
posted by tommasz at 10:13 AM on October 15, 2003

The Flag Dress?!? Did you not see the flag dress? How could you miss the flag dress?

Twenty years from now when she's leading the revolution for a free America, she's really going to regret having modelled that.
posted by biffa at 10:18 AM on October 15, 2003

Who actually appreciates the bridal industry? It seems that we have a case of runaway selection of bad taste in weddings lately.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 10:28 AM on October 15, 2003

What's perhaps scarier is that I've seen a completely different American Flag bridal gown at a local bridal/quincé shop. Yes, there are options if you want to wrap yourself in the flag for your wedding.
posted by adamrice at 10:43 AM on October 15, 2003

What is up with this whole bare-midriff wedding dress trend?
posted by SisterHavana at 11:07 AM on October 15, 2003

Also, The Bridesmaid Dress Incinerator
posted by anastasiav at 11:15 AM on October 15, 2003

A lot of that is couture, though, so as such it is, by definition, not ready to wear. Those are just designers' visions of what could be done with a wedding dresses. The photos that are pulled from ads are probably not targeted to someone who's going to Davis Bridal to pull something off the rack. You could get as big a kick out of flipping through a Women's Wear Daily and chuckling at the spring runway lines, too. It's not that some of them aren't ugly, it's just that for the most part, they aren't meant to go down the aisle as pictured so it's kind of pointless to hold them to that practical standard.

That said, there is absolutely no excuse for that US flag dress, and if any of my friends thought about that with even a modicum of seriousness, I would knock her unconscious and drag her out of the bridal shop.
posted by jennyb at 11:16 AM on October 15, 2003

There are a couple other similar sites out there. My favorite is And The Bride Wore... featuring what I consider to be the ugliest wedding dress ever. There is also the Cavalcade of Bad Bridal Fashion.

I might be having a wedding next spring (although I'm already married, we never had a wedding, and my husband wants one) and I'm thinking of knitting my own dress. There is a pattern for a knitted wedding dress (PDF) out there, but I'm not sure it's really my style.
posted by Shoeburyness at 11:19 AM on October 15, 2003

I think that's a lovely dress.
posted by delmoi at 11:31 AM on October 15, 2003

Sign of very bad wedding dress: can be reused as prom dress by bride's younger sister.
posted by elgoose at 11:53 AM on October 15, 2003

Here comes the...science?
posted by hellinskira at 11:53 AM on October 15, 2003

Well, I found many of those dresses to be highly fashionable.

. . . Then again I have been known to buy clothes from International Male, so perhaps my opinion should be ignored.
posted by dgaicun at 11:54 AM on October 15, 2003

Although I usually shy away from posting an image...this photo begs the collective tolerance for a viewing:



Usually, I'd make a summation remark here, perhaps about the beauty of motherhood, or a crass joke like:

Bride: Demi Moore called. She wants her wedding dress back.

However I demur this time as there is a fairly high probability that each and every reader is now, for all intent and purposes, temporarly functionally blind.
posted by Dunvegan at 12:42 PM on October 15, 2003

While some of them are truly "out there" and pretty darn ugly, many of the ones she rattles on about the most are based on historical and cultural themes ... and not nearly as bad as she makes them sound. In fact, there were a few that I saved to my hard drive for later reference. Basically, after looking at the dress she wore for her own wedding, it seems she just has a problem with anything that isn't completely plain.

But that flag dress ... that's got to go. Could you burn it without getting in trouble I wonder?

Thank you Dunvegan. Now that image will be popping into my head for days ... if not weeks.
posted by Orb at 12:48 PM on October 15, 2003

Perhaps they're made that ugly to facilitate a speedy removal...?

It's just a theory, I'm not married to it.

I'm here all week, try the spaghetti (straps).
posted by UncleFes at 1:21 PM on October 15, 2003

I love the red dress of doom...Little Red Riding Hood's wedding dress...I wouldn't wear it at my wedding...but I'd find someplace to wear it...yes I would.
posted by dejah420 at 2:18 PM on October 15, 2003

Is the pregnant prom dress a Photoshop? Something about the belly doesn't quite look right.
posted by Shoeburyness at 3:17 PM on October 15, 2003

I thought my wedding dress was bad (was supposed to be nice sweet 50s' cocktail dress made from plain white cotton, ended up being a wrinkled linen mess that looked like something you'd buy at a discount "for the more reubenesque woman" and was still too small), but after some of those...

yeesh. I'm glad I spent under $100.
posted by Katemonkey at 4:40 PM on October 15, 2003

Bandwidth exceeded...any mirrors?
posted by uosuaq at 5:39 PM on October 15, 2003

I'm getting married in 10 days, and something tells me my fiancee needs to see these dresses to take her mind off all this stress.

Then again, the one Dunvegan showed us might send her over the edge.
posted by arco at 7:25 PM on October 15, 2003

No, I don't belive the preggers prêt-à-porter is Photoshop.

If you click on the thumbnail to enlarge it, it seems the young lady was caught by surprise in the flash while she was modeling the gown for friends and/or family.

Actually, the model in that photo has a very lovely face...when you get around to raising your eyes.
posted by Dunvegan at 7:30 PM on October 15, 2003

Shoeburyness, I'm an avid knitter with an entire large box full of knitting magazines and books. If you are looking for patterns for a knitted dress, I'll be happy to fax you some. Just email me, tell me what kind of thing you'd like (you don't have an email address listed on your page or I would have contacted you directly).
posted by orange swan at 12:53 PM on October 16, 2003