Most of the dresses are white, though a couple are blue or feature blue touches. I’m guessing that at least a couple of them will come in other colors when they get to salons… and most of the dresses inspired by them will probably be available in most of the popular colors for the season.

While de la Renta may feature price tags that most brides (and mothers of flower girls) can’t afford, the inspiration is certain to trickle down to more affordable designers and to pattern makers.

I’ve always preferred flower girl dresses that acknowledge that flower girls are generally very young girls, that are shaped for little girls’ bodies, and that can be worn at other events like parties… and in this case, the occasional First Communion.

Thumbs up for age-appropriate clothes for little girls!

This one from her spring 2013 collection, though, well… I have to say I’m HATING this one. I’m not sure if she’s standing in the middle of an attack of interstellar Charmin or if the entire world just dumped their used tissues on her, but either way she’s being swallowed whole with no escape.

Now excuse me while I go throw this poor waif a lifeline.

And then there’s that… sleevelet? That odd little blip hanging halfway down her left arm. Is that meant to be a sleeve? Is it meant to be there at all? Because it looks a little like someone told Ramona Kaveza that sleeves are in and she tucked a Kleenex around the model’s arm to see how it would look and forgot it there.

In short, I’m HATING this one, and I don’t think if it fit it would help very much.

What say you all?

The gowns range from the messy (see above) to the merely expected:

to the frankly kind of tacky.

On the further downside, these gowns are available in sizes from 00 to 12. Yeah, that’s right, size 12. Just for reference, the average woman in America wears a size 14 when last I heard. The model shown in the gowns is – according to the text – 5’9″ and wears a size 6. I like the fact that there is a reference in that regard, but couldn’t they have shown something on a shorter or heavier model? Or one who isn’t white? Or something?

On the upside, the most expensive gown in the collection, the Kate Middleton homage, runs only $2,500, making it the most expensive gown in the collection. Designer gowns for under two grand are pretty rare. In this case, there are several under $1,000, and even a couple under $500.

All in all, I’m kind of disappointed. I didn’t expect Bebe to be much of a bastion for elegance or size acceptance, but I have really loved a lot of Kashou’s designs in the past and was hoping to be able to sit up and applaud a bit more. The designs are scattershot without a real point of view. The design work is some of the weakest I’ve seen from this designer.

Still, I’ll keep a weather eye on the experiment. Who knows? Perhaps if things go well the next collection will make more sense and look less random yet uninspired.

PS: There’s still time to enter the drawing for the gorgeous tiara from USABride. Get your entry in now to have a chance to win something sparkly for your wedding!

Then, last year, something happened.

Kate Middleton wore a wedding gown with sleeves, and the world stood up and cheered at the style.

Cries went up for copies. And then the last Twilight film came out and Bella wore long sleeves, too. The knockoffs started hitting the markets nearly immediately.

So one popular royal bride and one pop culture fictional bride made headlines for wearing sleeves… and suddenly they’re starting to show up on the bridal couture runways again.

Oh strapless isn’t going away anytime soon. It’s still the thing seen most on the runways and on the racks from Kleinfeld to Besty’s Bridal in West Igotlost. Strapless shouldn’t go away completely, ever. I’m all about options. Some women look and feel their best in strapless and they ought to have that option, absolutely. I’m just glad the rest of the population is finally after all these years getting a chance to wear what looks and feels best on us.

There aren’t even a lot of designers showing sleeves yet.

Ramona Kaveza is the strongest proponent of sleeves. Her spring 2012 collection shows everything from strapless to long, lace sleeves. In fact, she’s got a couple off-the-shoulder gowns with long lace sleeves!

In addition to a couple strapless gowns with small boleros, Oscar de la Renta is showing one trumpet gown with long, lace sleeves.

Jim Hjelm’s collection features one gown with elbow-length lace sleeves.

As you can see, there aren’t a lot of sleeves yet. Those you can find are almost universally long, tight, and composed of lace. All the same, it’s the start of a trend whereby women who don’t want to expose their arms aren’t suddenly required to do so, brides will have one less reason to shiver in the cold when they marry in the winter, and more brides will be able to express themselves sartorially without being forced to look outside the realm of bridal salons.

Not everyone wants Kate Middleton’s sleeves any more than everyone wanted strapless all these years. But at least we’re seeing a choice now. And that, my friends, is all to the good!

For instance, I love this crinkle chiffon one shoulder gown in eggplant. It’s perfectly on trend for today, but will look classy in a wedding album for decades to come.

Overall, there’s a lot of chiffon and a lot of taffeta in the collection, and a nice range of mostly rather deep or muted shades ranging from plum and eggplant to sage and leaf green to a very zen sky blue to a soft, warm yellow that makes my mouth water. Both short and long looks are shown, mostly either strapless or one shoulder looks, though there are a couple with two straps. No sleeves, alas, but at least it’s a line designed with spring in mind.

In fact, the lowest note I saw in the collection was a strapless, leaf green column dress that reminded me a bit too much of tossing on an oversized towel on leaving the shower. Still, even that one I believe could be saved with the right accessories.

Prices range from $275 to $395. Not chump change, but pretty sweet prices for such a big name designer. All in all… yeah, I think Monique did a pretty great job on these.

As many of you have no doubt heard on the wedding grapevine, Priscilla of Boston has sold out to David’s Bridal and their boutiques are closing their doors all over the country.

In the Cameron Village store in Minnesota, however, it seems they’ve done more than simply close doors. There are rumors of workers spray painting leftover gowns and consigning them to dumpsters.

Other merchants in Cameron Village claim they haven’t seen any spray painting and dumping, but there are photos like the one above that give credence to the story, and at least one former employee claims to have seen this in action.

David’s Bridal has neither confirmed nor denied the story. They have, however, made a statement that Priscilla of Boston never did donate wedding gown samples in poor condition… which begs the question of what condition these gowns were in that spraying huge orange swirls on them and putting them in a dumpster is a better use for them than donating them to charity, offering them to consignment stores, or selling them off at bargain basement prices as is.

Ultimately, this is their merchandise. They can do as they please with it so long as the use is not illegal in itself. Painting and dumping the gowns is not a crime.

I do, however, consider it a real shame. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather work with a company that doesn’t waste apparently perfectly good wedding gowns simply because they’re out of season or have a tiny flaw somewhere in them. I’d rather work with a company that wouldn’t condone this sort of flagrant waste of goods.

Whatever the facts in this case, I hope that brides take the time to consider the companies they deal with and whether the policies those companies follow fit with their own morals and standards.

Sometimes it’s not enough that something isn’t illegal.

For my part, I find it rather confused. The bodice is satin with the currently trendy one-strap look and a geometrical crumb catcher. It hits nearly every major trend except for lace.

Then the skirt is simply a huge pouf of tulle.

I think how it really strikes me is unfinished. The lines, while not my personal faves, aren’t awful by any means. Each part has the potential to be kind of amazing… but there’s nothing holding this design together. Perhaps I would like it better if there were some form of embellishment that was used on both parts. Then again, I don’t think a major statement bodice like that can really use embellishing. I think what it needs is a different skirt. And an etherial skirt like that never looks quite right to my eyes with a highly structured bodice, so I think it needs a softer, more romantic top.

In short, I find this a little scattered, with each half having great potential if paired with something that suits it better. I have to go with hate on this.

What say all of you?

There. I said it. I much prefer the LOLcats version. I believe it makes more sense and is better written, to boot.

But we’re not here to talk about Twilight as a whole. No, we’re here to talk about Bella’s much ballyhooed wedding gown, designed by Carolina Herrera… or at least the bargain movie tie-in by Alfred Angelo, which retails for $799.00. It looks like this:

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m kind of loving this. It’s rather elegant, with a bit of a slinky thirties vibe. I think the sleeves are pretty, and the lace over illusion back gives a bit of a wow factor to an otherwise simple gown. And at that price, it’s within reach of many a woman yearning for something that isn’t a strapless a-line or mermaid gown!

So here’s my vote: LOVE the dress, HATE the series… but I kind of have to thank the series for existing, because otherwise the dress (and the exponential number of knockoffs in the wings) might not have happened, and bridal couture would never include sleeves again.

Believe it or not, I’m not a fuss and feathers kind of gal, for the most part. But I do have a Boho heart and a fondness for ballerinas that transcends the fact I don’t actually care at all for the ballet. In short, I’m a mass of contradictions.

And while I definitely get that this gown isn’t for everyone, I have to go with love. Yes, the crumb catcher ruffles make her look a little like a Christmas cracker, but in a good way, I think. I love the soft coloring and feminine lines. About the only thing I would change is to take off those twee little gloves. The whole thing gives off a confectionary vibe dear to my baking-obsessed soul.

So yeah, love here. What about you?