Trend in bridal gowns shows more body

By Olivia Barker
USA Today

Lisa Hutchinson of Mona Lisa Designs in Waikiki assists bride-to-be Krista Christy with a backless wedding dress. Photos by Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

That's because nowadays there's frequently enough exposed cleavage, leg and back to turn the wedding aisle into a catwalk.

The demure bride of yore, the one in the fairy-princess gown, has left the altar. Plenty of brides are donning dresses boasting navel-nudging necklines, derriere-skimming hemlines and backs that dip down to the tailbone.

Traditionalists, meanwhile, harrumph that the exhibitionism is tarnishing the institution of marriage.

Matrimonial mavens say the trend started four years ago, when Cindy Crawford said "I do" to Rande Gerber on the beach in a thigh-grazing slip dress. Since then, an industry has arisen to meet the needs of women who don't quite feel comfortable in buttoned-up white.

And gyms, spas and personal trainers are specializing in sculpting the bride-to-be. Among the magazines and books ab-anxious women are poring over: the just-published "Buff Brides" (Villard, $15.95), a wedding workout guide.

A major magazine, Elegant Bride, has shed any shreds of pastel froufrou and reinvented itself for this wedding season as the fashion-follower's guide, complete with spreads depicting smoky-eyed brides in filmy confections.

Sol Bride, a Denver-based boutique devoted to wedding-day lingerie, recently went national with a 40-plus-page catalog featuring Frederick's of Hollywood-style thongs and bustiers alongside the peignoir sets.

Reem Acra offers a lacy sarong and bikini combo. And there are corset tops (she's leaving it up the customer to decide if they are for the wedding or wedding night). Then there's her strapless, gold-flecked cream denim dress. "This is about being sexy but still sophisticated, which is very tricky," she says.

Indeed, there's a fine thread between alluring and absurd. Vera Wang, whose recent collections include a Twiggy-esque minidress and plunging mermaid gown, calls her creations "sensual, female, esoteric but never obviously sexy."

The look is proving so pervasive because older and younger brides can pull it off.

"I think more women are capable of being sirens," says Deborah Moses, editor in chief of Elegant Bride. Older brides can "go into the dressing room and walk away from their childhood fantasy" of being Cinderella at the ball. Their fantasy has matured. "The wedding day is more like their Oscar day. It's a performance, and you are the star."

Christy shows off her gown. She's part of a trend toward bridal attire that bares more skin than traditional, Cinderella-style gowns.

"All these poufy dresses, which are very beautiful, the girls look like fairy godmothers in them," says Adrienne Bavar, 27, who does publicity for Acra.

For her November wedding in Baltimore, Bavar slipped into a tight, 1920s film star-inspired frock. "I wanted to look as sexy as I could. It was like, 'This is it. This is my time.' "

Some religions require shoulders, even whole arms, covered. In other sanctuaries, officiants "don't like the idea but won't stop the bride from wearing what she wants," says Claudia Hanlin, a New York wedding planner.

It's a question of appropriateness. "I've had a few brides who say, 'I want to show some cleavage,' " says Yvonne Impson, a bridal consultant with the House of Fashion in Sacramento, Calif.

"So I pull down the neck of my blouse and show them my cleavage, and then they close their eyes and wither. The point is they don't realize their effect on others," such as their grandmother.

Nonetheless, the store offers a Monique Lhuillier gown they've dubbed "the J. Lo dress," which scoops down the back, below the waist.

Impson says she'll allow her clients to show swaths of skin "if they absolutely have to, but this is the time for other emotions to be engendered in your groom, like commitment. Lust is easy."