Gather Ye Skirts While Ye May
By Never teh BrideIt’s no secret that I love gathered ruched skirts on wedding gowns. Twistie, on the other hand, longs to grab the nearest iron! But my love does come with a few caveats… the gathers have to look sort of natural, rather like one has been enjoying an impromtu picnic in one’s wedding gown on the morning of the ceremony. And the skirt itself must be full enough to facilitate that aesthetic.
There is another sort of gathered ruched skirt (usually found on the bridesmaid) that I’ve come to hate, if only because it does not fulfill my requirements for a messy-but-not-too-messy full skirt. Take a gander at these bridesmaids’ dresses from Raylia Designs:


Now is it just me, or do these skirts look like someone put a tube sock on a ferret and let it roll around for a while*? You know what I mean — the ferret does a little breakdance and the sock gets all skootched up around its midsection. It’s not very attractive on the ferret or on the bridesmaid!
*Dear PETA: Don’t hurt me. I swear the ferret was having fun.







June 23rd, 2009 at 1:52 pm
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Those skirts AND ferrets in the same post????? WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME NTB?????????*
*I have ferret issues. So sue me.
June 23rd, 2009 at 2:35 pm
I really like the turquoise one on the right. Strangely though, I don’t like the same scrunching on the longer skirt, and I can’t imagine that dress in any other color. I REALLY don’t like the dresses in the left photo.
June 23rd, 2009 at 3:02 pm
[...] It’s no secret that I love gathered skirts on wedding gowns. Twistie, on the other hand, longs to grab the nearest iron! But my love does come with a few caveats… the gathers have to look sort of natural, rather like one has been enjoying an impromtu picnic in one’s wedding gown on the morning of the ceremony. And the skirt itself must be full enough to facilitate that aesthetic. There is another sort of gathered skirt (usually found on the bridesmaid) that I’ve come to hate, if only because Source: http://manolobrides.com/2009/06/23/gather-ye-skirts-while-ye-may/ [...]
June 24th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Oof. No. I’m not a big fan of scrunchy skirts, so I’m biased already, but these are flat and sad and lazily done.
June 25th, 2009 at 1:41 am
To be fair, the ferret would look heart-breaking adorable in the tube sock. Unless the tube sock came with an ugly hat. http://cuteoverload.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/11497210-c894fb9a4817c7d46c64f3d6b49cee79-4a2dc4d6-full.jpg Then the poor thing would just look homicidal.
June 26th, 2009 at 10:20 am
“Ruched” would be the technical term for what’s been done to these skirts. Or even “swagged on the sides”. (The disadvantage to my knowing the technical terms is that I get very confused when other people describe how something is made: I was envisioning actual gathered skirts: i.e., many tiny tight folds at the waistline, resulting in a very wide hem.)
I actually like both gathering AND ruching, but I find these dresses to be very … tepid.
July 7th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
La BellaDonna: In that case, put me down as a BIG fan of gathered skirts, but not so much of the ruched ones.