Thank heaven for little girls who stay little that much longer
By Never teh BrideLike pretty much everyone who’s ever weighed in on the subject of flower girls here at Manolo for the Brides, I believe in dressing little girls like little girls. They’ll have almost an entire decade to wear pants with posteriors emblazoned with words like Hottie — I mean, of course, the ten years between “totally inappropriate” and “Oh my gawd, dress your age” — so why parade them around in miniature bridal gowns?
The trend toward mature flower girl garb gets even more disturbing when the tiny models are done up to look like lot lizards and made to give bedroom eyes to the camera. If you don’t think it’s more than a tad creepy, I expect I’ll be seeing your mug on To Catch a Predator some time in the near future.
Here’s the thing: When I was but a tiny tot, I would have killed for a miniaturized grown-up dress and some Tammy Fae makeup, but I had this annoying personage in my life colloquially known as “mom.” Boy did that chick ever cramp my style! There I was, wanting nothing more than to dress like a twenty-five year old, with a legal guardian who kept me in OshKosh B’Gosh. I could have used a few more dresses, but that’s neither here nor there.
So what should a bride and her littlest attendant’s momma do when confronted with all of the oddly tight ‘n’ slinky flower girl dresses out there? They should keep their eyes open for quality alternatives, of course! Here are four gorgeous girl-sized frocks to get you started:
Traveling clockwise from the top right, you see a silk dupioni dress with a square neck bodice and short princess sleeves from Petite Parfait, a luminescent taffeta sleeveless knee-length dress with flowers at neckline and hem from WaWa, an iridescent long dress with sash and flower accents from Winnie Couture, and a tulle and midori silk shantung sleeveless knee-length dress, also from WaWa.
Last I checked, flower girls serve no other purpose than to lend their cute-itude to the nuptial proceedings. Why age them prematurely? It pays to outfit them as beautifully and sweetly and innocently as possible. After all, when they look good, you look good, too.
June 2nd, 2008 at 6:48 am
I saw some ‘mini bridal gown’ versions on the weekend and immediately thought of you
I totally agree! (Plus the options you’ve shown are so cute, how could you go past them?)
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:04 am
love love LOVE those two green ones. I think that one in the lower right )the iridescent one) is extremely similar to the ones my brother’s fiance’ having for her flower girls. SOOO cute! And age-appropriate! (Heck, *I* would wear a dress like that!)
June 2nd, 2008 at 8:23 am
NtB, these are so cute that I’m kind of sad I don’t have a flower girl!! There’s a shortage of adorable kiddies in our family, though … my FI and I are the first to be married on either side.
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:41 am
Preach on sister! If people stop buying them they will stop making them. Who are these people drivig the mini-bride industry? I want names.
June 2nd, 2008 at 11:02 am
A-Freaking-men, NtB!
And I don’t know about any of you, but when I was a small child, I would have given almost anything to wear one of those dresses. The bottom left one would have been my seven-year-old choice, I’m sure. It would have made me feel like a fairy princess, and what little girl doesn’t want the fairy princess experience?
Okay, there are a few, but most of us at a flower girl-appropriate age do want a chance to feel like a fairy princess. These dresses do the job.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:12 pm
Love the dresses. Although the little girl’s beehive is freaking me out a little. My flower girl’s and junior bridesmaid’s dresses came from Pegeen. They make the most beautiful dresses, in any color you can imagine. They’re great to work with–and I had some serious problems, like a SiL who canceled the flower girl dress at the last second because she was freaked out about sizing. Pegeen called me, in a very “I don’t want to alarm you, but…” way, to let me know so I could work it out. They’re also one of the few companies that makes dresses for plus-size little girls. They can even be custom fitted, which is the option we used. My niece looked so beautiful in her bridesmaid dress, and I can’t tell you how relieved and happy I was that she wasn’t at all shamed for her weight. I was a plump little girl and I remember what that was like. I can’t recommend them more highly.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I find the mini-bride (and mini-groom) thing kinda creepy myself, but I believe it’s traditional in some cultures.
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
We ordered our flower girl’s dress from Us Angels. It was pretty similar to the dress on the bottom right but we ordered it in ivory with a chocolate brown sash. She looked adorable and age appropriate (she was 7).
June 2nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm
OMG - that little Flower Girl with the teensy glasses is soooo adorable! All of the dresses you’ve featured are winners!
June 3rd, 2008 at 1:04 pm
They are all so cute. And to make all little girls feel that much better, only they can get away with wearing little puff sleeves (like the one in the upper left) and not look dorky. I have yet to see anyone over 13 do that and not look twee.
June 4th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
The girl in the lower right demonstrates the correct age at which butt-bows are appropriate.