Say “Meh” to the dress

By Megan Krueger

11 / 18 / 2023

2023 has seen a flood of high-profile celebrity weddings, from Barbara Palvin’s to Anya Taylor Joy’s to Joey King’s, and the buzz around these events has pushed bridal fashion into the spotlight. The dresses worn by these brides draw attention from many women who dream of wearing similar looks on their big day, and contribute to a heavily pushed narrative in bridalwear marketing: the idea of discovering the perfect wedding dress. 

Even those of us who are not getting married anytime soon are probably familiar with the concept of the perfect dress. This is the idea that for every bride there is one specific, perfect dress that she must find in order to complete her ideal wedding. In fact, the notion of the perfect dress has become so normalized that women will spend thousands of dollars just to have the “right” one: in 2023, the average cost of a bridal gown was $1,900. For most people, that’s an unimaginable amount of money for a dress, let alone a dress that will only be worn once. So, is this purchase justified? Does it really come down to buying a dream dress at a high price point, or settling for a dress that’s affordable but not quite right? Well, in many ways, the perfect wedding dress is actually just an illusion—and as young womens’ attitudes toward the economy and wedding fashion change, more people are beginning to recognize this illusion . 

Firstly, the idea of the perfect dress has evolved throughout the decades in order to resemble popular fashions of the day. Queen Victoria is typically credited with popularizing the color white when she married Prince Albert in 1840, and her dress would go on to become a model for the classic princess-style wedding dress. In 1920, Chanel and other designers focused on incorporating shorter, looser silhouettes that would appeal to fans of flapper fashion. Bridalwear trends would later take inspiration from major style icons such as Audrey Hepburn and Jacqueline Kennedy in the 50s, who popularized the classic full skirt and nipped waist, and Princess Diana in the 80s, who made voluminous skirts and puffed sleeves all the rage. We also can’t talk about bridal style without bringing up Vera Wang, who opened her first bridal boutique, Vera Wang Bridal House, in 1990 and the royal weddings of the 21st century, most notably those of Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle. The ever-evolving trends surrounding bridal wear mean that the idea of a perfect wedding dress has changed dramatically with time. 

Western wedding styles have begun to influence other cultures’ conceptions of the perfect wedding gown as well. In some regions of Africa, such as Namibia, more and more weddings are being conducted in the Western style, complete with the standard tux and white dress. In China and other parts of Eastern Asia, even though ceremonies are still largely traditional, couples will invest in elaborate wedding photoshoots, with the bride donning a Western dress for her pictures. These practices reveal the way in which the perfect wedding dress plays into conspicuous consumption, even in cultures with very different concepts of wedding fashion. Brides who are used to seeing the extravagance associated with Western wedding culture on social media and in Hollywood are all the more willing to break the bank on fashion that will impress others and garner attention. 

Further adding to the pressure is the huge amount of media featuring the notion of the perfect dress. Seemingly every chick flick from the 90s and 2000s and television programs like Sex And The City contribute to the rhetoric that a wedding dress is the most important purchase a woman ever makes. Reality TV is the biggest offender, as shows like Say Yes To The Dress and Don’t Tell The Bride portray what the audience perceives as normal people (rather than celebrities playing fictional characters) finding their ideal dresses. These factors further convince women that their wedding gown is worth blowing exorbitant amounts of money on. 

Currently though, there is a shift in the acceptance of the perfect dress myth, and it is actually impacting businesses that specialize in bridalwear . The waning popularity of bridal boutiques is nowhere better exemplified than in the fall of David’s Bridal. In April 2023, the retailer filed for bankruptcy, despite the fact that they claim to have dressed over 70 million brides and are still a hugely popular bridalwear retailer in the U.S. However, the news is much less shocking when the economy and high inflation are taken into account. Many couples are being deterred from holding expensive weddings in the first place, or are realizing that their money is better spent on the honeymoon, rather than on a dress that will only be worn for one evening. An increasing number of cost-conscious brides are buying their dresses from ASOS, Shein, and other fast fashion brands, or thrifting second-hand dresses, resulting in a decreasing demand for bridal gowns from boutiques. Women are realizing that their dress does not have to be one of a kind or the same cost of their rent in order to be worthy of their wedding ceremony. A dress they love can just as easily be found online or thrifted, for a couple hundred dollars or less.

This is not to suggest that the idea of finding just the right wedding dress is no longer common among brides, but it does demonstrate that what constitutes the “perfect dress” is evolving. When people set stricter budgets for their weddings or focus on finding the best deal on a good-quality dress, less emphasis is placed on conspicuous consumption and more value is found in the dress regardless of the designer or the price tag. The increasing normalization of more economical bridalwear reduces the societal pressure to impress others with a high-priced dress and allows a bride to find her ideal dress regardless of her budget.