Archive - March 16, 2006

And the bride wore pants

She wears the pants in her family

The wondrous variety of different sorts of people in this world means that there are many, many different sorts of brides. In my daily life, I am a jeans and t-shirts kind of gal. In my dreams, I am a fairy princess whose feet don’t hurt when she walks in high heals and who can wear a corset without sweating. Other women, having rejected the whole fairy princess thing, care not a lick for pretty shoes or big poofy dresses. Yet one imagines that these women still want to look smokin’ on their wedding days.

Which brings me to the topic of this post: Pants. And pantsuits, in particular.

The Beard pointed me toward a recent Yahoo News story about how more and more brides are rejecting traditional wedding gowns in favor of modern pantsuits. While I am not sure I believe this article – as a search for bridal, white, or wedding pantsuits yielded few notable results – it is interesting to consider the possibilities.

Telegraphing a vibe that’s either sophisticated or sexy, casual or chic, trouser suits have turned up on the bridal runways of Richard Tyler, Saison Blanche and Pronovias. And non-bridal designers are offering suits that could translate into altar attire, such as the icy silk pantsuit unveiled two weeks ago at Rochas’ Paris fashion show.

Modern Bride featured a pair of wedding pantsuits a few years ago: a tuxedo coat and corduroy trouser from Vera Wang and an ivory lace pantsuit with camisole top by Monique Lhuillier.

“I like to shake things up and stir things up,” says Lhuillier, whose suit has been a “good seller” since she introduced a version of it four years ago.

The image above is of a $3,296 Ralph Lauren creation featuring an ivory antique duchesse silk satin jacket and cream double-silk georgette pants. Sure, it looks great on the tall, slinky model, but I could see it looking horribly boxy on a regular sized bride. But different strokes for different folks, right? I just wish I could find more examples of bridal pantsuits online.