How to dress for a wedding (without spending a fortune on a one-wear dress)
A wedding outfit should be something you wear again. Here is how to choose one that earns its place in your wardrobe.
The wedding industrial complex wants you to buy a dress you will wear once and never again. That is a waste of money, a waste of fabric, and a waste of a good outfit. The better approach is to buy a piece you love and wear it to the wedding and then wear it again.
The rule
If you would not wear it to dinner, do not wear it to a wedding. A wedding outfit should be a better version of something you would wear anyway, not a costume. The edit is built on this principle — every piece works for an event and for a Tuesday.
The best wedding outfit is the one you wear again.
— the studio
The dress option
A midi dress in a solid colour. It reads as formal enough for a wedding and works for a dinner, a date, or a work event afterwards. Add a jacket for the ceremony and remove it for the reception. The dress carries the whole outfit.
The separates option
A skirt and a structured top or jacket. Separates are more flexible than a dress — you can wear the skirt again with a different top and the jacket again with different bottoms. This is the most economical wedding outfit there is.
The colour
Avoid white, ivory and anything close to the bride's dress. Beyond that, anything goes. A deep colour photographs better than a pale one, and a solid colour reads as more intentional than a print.
The honest bit
If the wedding has a dress code, follow it. If it does not, dress for the venue and the season. A garden wedding in July is different from a church wedding in December. The piece should fit the setting, not just the event.
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