SPEND LESS ON YOUR DRESS
Buying a used wedding gown online is becoming a popular option to save money and the environment
“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue,” goes the rhyme. Now some brides are putting their own modern spin on the adage. While once the “something old” was a family heirloom and the “something new,” a fresh off-the-peg gown, nowadays more brides are shunning new dresses for second-hand instead.
Global fashion search platform Lyst has recorded a 93 per cent increase in searches for pre-owned wedding dresses, alongside a 43 per cent rise for those including the keywords “vintage” and “second hand” year on year.
In 2014, a survey by Weddingbells magazine found the average cost of a Canadian wedding to be $31,685. But a 2017 survey conducted by Ipsos found that Canadians believe a realistic budget for a wedding is $8,937, making a second hand dress an attractive option to save money.
When Penny Goldstone, digital fashion editor of Marie Claire U.K., found her “dream dress,” the Carolina Herrera tulle gown was not only out of budget but also not even stocked in the U.K. She tracked it down on a pre-owned wedding site in the United States; even though it had never been worn (the first owner changed her mind and opted for a Reem Acra gown instead). It was reduced to one-quarter of its original price.
Then there’s the sustainability factor. From the United Nations’ recent report on climate change to 16-year-old Greta Thunberg spurring on the socio-political movement Extinction Rebellion, more brides are aiming for a “woke wedding” and questioning if they really need to buy an expensive new dress.
Anna Laity, press director of the pre-owned bridal website Bride2Bride, which was founded in 2010, says that in the last year the site has seen huge growth. “We’re encouraging a repeat cycle. Buying second hand means you’re reducing the creation of a lot of fabric,” Laity says.
Stillwhite, a site that describes itself as “the world’s largest wedding dress marketplace” has seen monthly sales double over the past two years. It currently has 45,000 dresses listed for sale in 116 countries.
Lucy Barlow, an interior designer in London, sold her wedding gown on the platform. Her dress, a tiered mermaid skirt with ruffled shoulders, was from Johanna Ortiz’s debut bridal collection, stocked exclusively on e-tailer Moda Operandi. Barlow says she knew it was “the dress” even before she tried it on. “It was more expensive than what I’d plan to spend, so I thought if I committed to sell it afterwards I could factor that into the budget. Plus I liked the idea of giving it a second life.”
For Barlow, any worries about feeling nostalgic about a dress that she no longer owns can be satisfied by looking at her photographs and video. “I don’t have any children, and I might never have a daughter, so I think that whole argument is redundant. I’ve never met anyone who’s worn their mother’s wedding dress. As for dyeing it a different colour (to rewear it for another occasion), that just seemed like a massive gamble.”
After listing her dress online, Barlow says she was inundated with messages from around the world — though in the end, the eventual buyer lived around the corner from Barlow in West London. As a result, she was able to try it on in person first.
Almost a year after her own wedding in Rome, Barlow posted an image on Instagram of her dress being worn by its new owner as she and her bridal party danced down the streets of New Orleans.
“I’m hoping when she gets back from her honeymoon we’ll meet up,” says Barlow. “It would have been sad if I’d sold it to someone I didn’t like.”
And as for what will happen to the dress now?
“It would be awesome if there was a third person who took it somewhere else. We are thinking we should sew our names inside it so there’s a record as it’s passed on.”
London Daily Telegraph, with files from Postmedia