The Bride - The Wedding Gown

Body Shape - Fabrics

Your wedding provides the most wonderful occasion to indulge all your shopping and fashion fetishes to discover your dream gown. While only worn once, this treasured dress represents the ultimate in glamour and romance. How you interpret that is all part of the fun.

Whether it’s a white princess ball gown, a slinky silver evening dress or a chic suit, you have the opportunity to allow your personal style to shine. Embrace the mission with an open mind and be prepared to try all styles, choosing one that best enhances your features.

When?

From the moment you become engaged, images of the wedding will fill your mind. Start looking through magazines, collecting clippings and doing sketches from the outset. Finding the perfect dress is the ultimate shopping assignment. You should purchase your dress at least six months before the wedding — or nine months if you are having a couture gown — to allow for fittings. It is not advisable to buy your dress too early, as body weight and fashions change. If you purchase your dress months before the wedding, consider storing it elsewhere, as continually viewing the dress can diminish the excitement.

Big picture

Think about the big picture and choose a dress that will complement your entire bridal look. Your choice of style should be influenced by the theme, time of day, season and size of your wedding.

You need to develop a theme or look for your wedding. It can be as simple as a word (for example, sophisticated or classical) or more defined (for example, butterflies or garden glory). Your wedding gown should complement or epitomise this theme.

Traditionally, the time of day greatly influenced the style of wedding attire, but these days there is more scope for individual flair. Generally, a morning wedding demands a simpler, more streamlined gown, while an evening wedding can give way to a full ball gown.

Turning blue with the cold because you just had to have a strapless gown in the middle of winter is not the best look. There are many winter gowns available that come with stylish jackets, wraps and elegant sleeves. In autumn a light shawl may be adequate.

The size of your wedding can greatly affect the impact you wish to make. A grand affair with 200-plus guests is best suited to a gorgeous gown with a full skirt. With so many guests, the bride needs to make a dramatic statement. Gowns with simple, contoured lines are better suited to more intimate receptions.

Inspiration

Inspiration comes in many forms but requires the bride to research, research, research! Look through bridal and international fashion magazines and online. Don’t restrict your search to just the wedding industry, as a certain cut or detail found elsewhere can inspire a whole design. Even movies you like (especially the classics) are great for giving you an overall concept or image to work with. The Audrey Hepburn look is often applied to stylish brides.

With a vague idea in mind, it’s time to hit the shops. Don’t forget your helper! Your mother, best friend or bridesmaid is essential in helping you sort through the options to find a gown that suits. Mothers are great for their honesty and will be able to tell you which dress best suits your personality and features.

Try and try again

Wanting to embrace the contemporary, sleek look, some brides are surprised to discover just how stunning a ball gown looks when they’re convinced to try one on. Conversely, that princess look on the catwalk might not look flattering on every bride. Trying all types of styles will ensure your body shape and size are best defined. And, most importantly, an extensive search will allow you to uncover the fabulously fun side to what’s in vogue. When shopping for your gown, wear a G-string and strapless bra and take high heels with you to gain the full effect.

  View our list of Wedding Fashion Companies Sydney

  View our list of Wedding Fashion Companies Melbourne

Purchasing power

Will you buy new or preloved? Will you hire or have your wedding gown made?

Buying from a boutique is a convenient way to shop. While you may be lucky enough to find a gem off the rack, it’s likely you’ll need to order your gown and then have alterations made (usually two fittings).

For those who have a specific style in mind or wish to have a gown designed especially to suit, a couturier is the way to go. Couture gowns are usually more expensive and take longer to make, requiring three to four fittings.

Hiring your gown is an extremely practical approach to take, considering your dress is only worn for a matter of hours. Choose a quality hire firm whose gowns are cleaned and presented immaculately. You will need to have the hire agreement in writing and be aware of exactly when you need to return the dress and if it requires cleaning.

A preloved wedding gown can be contemporary or vintage and exactly what you are looking for. Aside from saving you lots of money, these gowns often have a charm of their own. Vintage gowns, in particular, can set an enchanting theme for the day; when matched with antique jewellery, the look is timeless.

Body Shape

Choose a dress that will accentuate your best features while minimising any flaws.

Slim petite

Don’t be swamped by a voluminous dress. Choose instead a style with a slim or A-line skirt, to give you height, and save the detailing for the bodice. Any length from short to chapel train will suit you and you can add further height by wearing your hair up or a fly-away veil. Empire lines that accentuate your dècolletage and flow from below the bust will add length. Or if you prefer to accentuate your waist, choose a ballet-style sweetheart bodice that finishes in a V at the waist.

Pear shape

Help balance your shape by choosing a neckline with the illusion of width, such as an off-the-shoulder or bateau line. Chiffon or lace over a sweetheart neckline will soften a bony chest and give the appearance of cleavage. Make sure the skirt is neither tight nor too full over the hips. Opt instead for a skirt style that flows smoothly without pleats or gathers over the hips. It may be full at the hem or straight with an overskirt that cleverly camouflages full thighs or bottom.

Fuller figure

If your shape is ample all over, choose a classic line with the majority of detailing drawing attention to a beautiful bust and neckline. Any of the lower necklines will suit you but avoid any froufrou puffy sleeves or frills that broaden your shape further. Luminescent white satin is not your friend and should be forgone in favour of off-white, ivory or creamy colours in delustred fabrics.

If your waist is one of your better features, choose a fitted and boned basque bodice with a dropped V for that corset-like shape. If your tummy is truly your trouble spot, you’ll probably feel more comfortable in a straight cocktail gown softened by a chiffon or georgette chemise or long-line jacket. Sleeves are best kept long or elbow length, with just enough fullness to soften the upper arms without adding unnecessary width. If you’re less than 160 centimetres tall, avoid very full skirts that will spoil your proportions.

Broad shoulders, solid frame

To avoid a masculine or matronly silhouette, you’ll need to find a style that gently softens the shoulder line and draws attention elsewhere. Try to find a neckline that breaks up the expanse from the neck to the shoulders, such as the diamond sweetheart or a sheer lace bateau with set-in sleeves. Avoid completely strapless or halter-neck gowns that emphasise bulk, or at least soften the look with a flowing sheer silk wrap. Deep rather than wide necklines and vertical seams and detailing will further feminise your shape.

Tall and skinny

Basically all styles are open to you, so make the most of your figure with long, sculptured lines. To help define your waist, choose a style with a horizontal seam, wide waistband or diagonal cross that adds curves. If the bodice is to be fitted, you can apply any amount of detailing to break it up.

Fabrics

Brocade: a heavy and lavish fabric with a raised design woven into it

Chiffon: a sheer, soft fabric that may be printed or plain, in silk or polyester
Dupion or Thai silk: a lustrous, textured fabric with plenty of body; available in rich colours, silk whites and pastels

Organza: a sheer fabric of silk or polyester that has a stiff gossamer finish

Satin: in silk or polyester, this fleshy fabric has a slippery-smooth surface and glossy finish

Slipper satin: softer and lighter version of the above

Taffeta: silk or polyester semi-gloss fabric with the body but not the weight of satin

Moire (waterwave) taffeta: glistens like water as it catches the light

Tulle: a soft, delicate netting used predominantly for veils. It may be silk, polyester or cotton

Laces

Alencon: a dainty lace strengthened and defined by cord outlining the design; it may also be delicately beaded

Chantilly: a sheer, fragile lace woven into a fine backing that may be delicately beaded

Cut and re-appliquÈd organza:  large floral cut-outs are edged and the fabric appliquÈd with organza leaves and flowers for extra dimension; a similar technique may also be applied to sheer voile

Guipure: a heavy cotton lace, usually of regular repeat designs such as daisies

Ribbon lace: not a lace, strictly speaking; this fabric has ribbon stretched over fabric in beautiful designs that allow the edges to lift away from the base fabric

Venetian gros: an elaborate cotton bobbin lace with a raised design that originated in Burano, Venice

Lines

There are many lines that run through modern wedding gowns but the following cover the main silhouettes.

Ball gown: a fitted bodice with a full, long skirt; generally sits off the shoulder

Elizabethan: sits off the shoulder with corset-type bodice and full side-bustle skirt

Empire line: a low-necked, fitted bodice that finishes below the bust and falls softly from there

Princess: vertical shoulder-to-floor panels are fitted to the waist before gently flaring into a full hemline

Sheath: very fitted, figure-hugging line with narrow, straight skirt

Colour

The white wedding dress is a fairly new concept, coming to fashion after 1840 when Queen Victoria was married in a striking white gown. While white later represented affluence, joy and, finally, purity, the statement now is one of custom mixed with personal choice. High-profile weddings still influence colour directions but increasingly, like all brides, celebrities simply sample from the wide repertoire available. On the catwalks you’ll see a rainbow of colours, from striking red to deep purple, however Australian brides appear to be more comfortable in pastel hues and icy tones.

Hemlines and trains

Ballet length: touches just on or below the ankles

Cocktail length: falls to just above the ankles

Floor length: touches the floor but shouldn’t sweep
Suit or street length: comes to the knees or just below

Trains
A train may be an extension of the skirt or detach from the waistline.

Cathedral: any length more than 55 centimetres along the floor

Chapel: falls up to 55 centimetres along the floor

Court: extends 30 to 40 centimetres from the heel

Sweep: just sweeps the floor at the back

Caplet: falls from the shoulders

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