The dress: Which look? Wednesday, May 6, 2009

I LOVE fashion. You wouldn't know it, since I'm a plus-size, but I love clothes & makeup and girly things. And I am unabashed about it! Unlike what some feminists would have us to believe, it's perfectly okay to be a Single Independent Woman and simultaneously buy into the whole "girliness" thing. I regularly toe the line between cynicism ("The Wedding industrial complex is a horrible fabrication) and a slight irrationality (pink! Oh, so pretty!).

This is especially exciting, since I decided recently to increase my wedding budget. In real life, I am a whiz at getting high quality clothes for less, usually through well-timed sales or using extra discounts or mailing list coupons, etc. But for the wedding dress, that won't be possible--as a plus size, there are hardly no "sample sale" possibilities, and most of the "pre-owned" dresses on the market are sample sizes that have been altered down to even more impossible sizes. So unless I want something from one of the Major Plus-Size Designers (David's, Alfred Angelo, Bonny) I'll have to custom order. :::sigh:::

I'm in love with two different types of dresses. Those with a beautiful, romantic, slightly ethereal feel:

And the classic ballgown look, which is more accessible (easier to find) and most likely will fit better, especially if it's a nice modified A-line and not super poofy (the first one was featured in an earlier post):

Of course, complicating things is that I refuse to wear a strapless dress, which eliminates a lot of my options (no, I don't like the "cap sleeve" Mormon-style dresses--those make my chest look even bigger!).

I haven't been able to find the "romantic/flowy" look in concert with the "non-strapless ballgown" look, so I'll most likely have to give up one or the other. We'll see what happens!