LAST-MINUTE WEDDING DRESSING IDEAS
For richer or for poorer
Welcome. Thanks for making the trip over.
It’s really rather hot here in Paris. I hope you have found the right shaped tube top to allow you not to wear a bra out in the streets whilst maintaining your dignity. The definition of freedom, amirite?
I will cut to the chase here though, given that the sun finally shineth — in this hemisphere anyway— and chances are you’d rather be outside.
Nonetheless, such balmy days herald potential fashion drama far beyond visible bra straps. That drama, my friends, is Wedding Season. In fact, we’re well into the thick of it—I do realise that I am coming to this hot topic rather late, and I apologise.
But the number of extended family members, in-laws, and dear followers panic-sliding into my DMs and asking for last minute wedding-look ideas lately has got me thinking. Why is figuring out what to wear to a friend or relation’s nuptials such a sartorial danger zone?
Thinking about it, I would, for example, put the success of the brand Reformation down to the single defining gap in the market they’ve managed to capture: fun, smart, stylish, sustainably-made and not eye-wateringly expensive dresses in a variety of colours and shapes, available online and shipped worldwide. Wish I’d thought of that.
Because better or for worse, weddings take up space in our lives and social calendars. Today there are destination weddings, “fashion” weddings, black-tie affairs, “casual-chic” shindigs —which are strangely sometimes the hardest to dress for I find. In France, many people have two weddings on account of the French’s longstanding propensity for separating Church and State. There’s the civil wedding, which you are required to do at your local town hall by law. Then the religious wedding, which if you are of any kind of religious persuasion, you are required to do in your place of worship, by The Lord. Lots of less-religious people do the latter too, because it’s a great big excuse for a great big party somewhere other than the direct vicinity of your Town Hall.
To be clear, even fashion people get hot and bothered about what to wear to weddings. Particularly Parisian ones when they re-realise they need to find something appropriate and festive that is neither black nor white. And probably not beige, grey or that grey-zone of dark-navy which, who are you kidding, may as well be black.
Personally, I think there are several nuptial or nuptial-adjacent events at which black can be totally appropriate. Ie: a city wedding, the Friday-night party before the main event of a destination wedding, a bachelorette do, etc. But at the actual wedding, I’ve known a lot of brides to be black-discouragers. And fair enough. It’s a joyous occasion, and for all its great qualities, insofar as traditional fashion codes are concerned, black is the colour associated with mourning.
Maybe you are mourning the potential end of all-night Sauvignon Blanc gossip parties with your bestie… or, I don’t know, the window of opportunity for a potential fling with the groom. If so, I’m sorry. But for your own sake, you’re gonna want to keep that baggage under your fascinator on the big day.
So consider this post as my public disclaimer; my personal reference list, made with love for you.
Not unlike the list of decent Paris bars and restaurants I’ve been meaning to make for ten years so I can just plop it over whenever your sister’s friend’s boyfriend is in town for business or whatever.
Hopefully it’s useful for you. But the catch is of course that such lists are not personalised for each reader (neither will be the restaurant list —I’m sorry vegans, I can’t, don’t hate me.) So please don’t take it personally if these suggestions don’t fit your personal taste or particular body type. I’ve picked my favourite standout wedding-appropriate look from each brand listed here. Aka the one I’d wear from each. I’ve also tried to include a wide variety of price-points. But do allow yourself to scurry down the rabbit hole and maybe the brands I am referencing will have another great option for you. I hope so.
My Last-Minute Wedding Guest Edit:
Ciao Lucia
LA cool-girl brand making midi-lengths great again.
TOVE
Meticulously-made London-based brand on the up and up. Status solidified by recent LFW debut. Elegant, feminine, great use of fabrics.
STAUD
Designer Sarah Staudinger is owning the New York occasion-wear space right now as far as I can tell.
Reformation
Aforementioned wedding masters. Budget-friendly, sustainably-minded, and an impressively large selection.
MARCIA
Parisian designer Emma Reynaud named her brand after the 1984 cult French hit ‘Marcia Baila’, an homage to the legendary Argentine dancer and choreographer Marcia Morello who escaped her country’s dictatorship for France in the 1970s, before her tragic death of breast cancer in 1983. Marcia’s rebelliousness and sensuality is all over Emma's sassy dress collection.
SEA NY
Childhood friends Monica Paolini and Sean Monaghan pay tribute to whimsical dressing —with a dash of global taste.
Mango
Basically the only high street brand I wear. It’s no secret that I’ve worked with them for years and currently present their videos but I assure you that I am adding these to my edit entirely of my own sartorial volition.
Doen
This romantic California brand, with its dusty palettes and floaty silhouettes takes its cues from nature. I wore one of their dresses as a bridesmaid at my sister’s dressing when the niche colour brief was “seafoam green”.
Ok. Stopping here. But instead of my usual Weekly Recs, I’ll leave with with a few more great brands that excel in the potentially-perfect wedding guest category. Linking to my favourites from each.
Happy browsing!
so good!!!