Wedding Dress Choices
June is the month of weddings. Due to the pandemic, unfortunately, loads of weddings, christenings and other receptions had to be postponed. Still, we are allowed to dream about weddings and look forward to the time when everything goes back to normal.
Finding the right wedding dress can be daunting. It has to suit your Colour and Body Type as well as your personality. It has to be the right fit for the occasion: the location, wedding theme, the weather. You should fall in love with it, feel absolutely wonderful in it as well as reasonably comfortable (ideally absolutely comfortable).
A beach boho wedding in the midst of summer will require a different dress than a winter wedding in the countryside. True Winter Colour Type will look best in snow white while Warm/True Spring will look her best in bright ivory. And what about the shape, the cut and the detailing (or lack of thereof) on the wedding dress? Flamboyant Natural’s body lines are flattered by a completely different cut and material than the body of a Theatrical Romantic.
Since we were little girls, Disney, Pixar and other fairy tales have bombarded us with the images of a classic princess cut wedding dress with a corset and a sparkling tulle skirt. For a Soft Classic or Ingenue, that would be a wonderful choice. But how about the rest of the Image Archetypes? Let’s dress a Flamboyant Natural or a Gamine in that classic Cinderella dress and the result is less than appealing. The woman looks less than… less put together, less balanced, less feminine, less elegant, less herself, less attractive… No-one deserves that on their wedding day.
TV shows such as “Zwischen Tüll und Tränen” and “Say Yes to the Dress” (from the very little I witnessed before I simply had to change the channel) are an example of how the wedding dress choice may go wrong.
From what I saw - and I saw very little - there is a sales assistant with a set of dresses (whatever is on stock) and she tries to convince the bride-to-be that one of those dresses suits her best. The wedding dress store(s) (from what I saw) seemed to offer dresses that were quite similar in terms of the Body Type (aka Image Archetype) they would flatter: e.g. 80% of the dresses would be for a Soft Dramatic Body Type.
One example was a store that only had Theatrical Romantic dresses on display and the sales assistant tried to convince a Gamine woman that one of those dresses really suits her… No, none of them suited her, yet, there were no alternatives really. The woman was left with a suboptimal choice, feeling a bit ugly and inadequate, simply believing that the problem is HER, not the dress. The sales assistant kept repeating that the dresses are very flattering because they are so feminine (the lace, the sparkling stones, the ornate detail) and thus suit every woman. Ladies, just because we are born female it does not imply that our body is designed to suit delicate lace. On some bodies, lace is just wonderful, on other, it is not the most elegant option.
Another time there was a Natural or Flamboyant Natural woman and the sales assistant brought her nearly every Classic and Soft Classic dress possible. The poor bride-to-be felt as if her arms were too long, her shoulders somehow too wide, her waste not there really and her face stood out in a way that was not flattering - all you saw was asymmetry next to the perfectly symmetrical dress. Every single corset & tulle dress only underlined what she wasn’t, instead of focusing on her natural beauty.
Never enter a wedding dress store without knowing the shade of white that suits you as well as the cut of the dress that would flatter your Image Archetype. Look for a store that caters for your particular Body and Colour Type. Then you maximise your chances of finding the right dress for YOU. You will look authentic and the dress will be there to serve you. It will copy the bone structure and curves (or lack of thereof) of your body in the most flattering way. It will respect your height, your proportions and your Yin and Yang lines you were born with. As if it were designed for someone like you. It will not look like you desperately tried to fit a mould that was designed for someone completely different.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you need any help with your wedding dress choice. Such an emotionally and financially important purchase can be daunting. Sales assistants want to sell you a dress (even if it doesn’t suit you). Your family and friends want you to be happy (and might tell you what you want to hear to please you). All I want is that you look your absolute best and will use my know how to give you the best possible advice (check Personal Shopping with Style Identity).
Do you want to see an excellent example of a wedding dress suitable for the Dramatic Ethereal Image Archetype? Then don’t miss the next blog post!