$160 Bridal Gown by Target

It's a sensible choice for debt free brides!


THE ANTI-HEIRLOOM
Vera Wang, Monique Lhuillier — Target? The fast-fashion folks are sending a different kind of gown down the aisle.
By Mimi Avins, Times Staff WriterMay 6, 2007
http://www.latimes.com/features/lifestyle/la-ig-big6may06,1,4901606.story

FORGET Bridezilla. A new kind of bride is making her way to the altar, a woman who doesn't view a wedding as a competitive sport or an opportunity to fulfill a long-held princess fantasy. Call her the casual bride, the practical bride or the anti-heirloom gal. You can recognize her by her unfurrowed brow and her wedding dress — she's more likely to wear one that didn't cost a fortune, and may even have ordered it online.But would you believe from Target? A collection of eight wedding gowns designed by Isaac Mizrahi exclusively for the mass retailer and priced under $160 went on sale last week on the store's website. One already made its way into a Lucky magazine wedding dress layout, holding its own against a $4,840 Monique Lhuillier.The fast-fashion folk are infiltrating the wedding market. Before Target, Viktor & Rolf created a shopping frenzy with a $350 gown with ruffled train that could be bought off the rack at H&M. Other mass retailers, such as Ann Taylor and J. Crew, have quietly started wedding sidelines too. These new, inexpensive wedding dresses aren't half bad, either. Most are lined, some with inner construction to help hold their shape, and they come in enough styles to flatter many sizes. Sure, a few of the fabrics feel flimsy. But you really are only going to wear it once.With short and strapless as well as drapey and bias cut with a cowl neck (remember Carolyn Bessette's dress?), Target offers a good range. Details such as trapunto stitching at the hem of a gown with a voluminous taffeta skirt and fabric-covered buttons up the back of another keep them from feeling totally disposable.An enterprising bride-to-be might find one of the 1,000 Viktor & Rolf gowns that blew out of H&M stores last November "NWT" (new with tags) on EBay for $299 to $799, plus shipping.Ann Taylor started going after brides last fall. Two gowns can currently be found in the Celebrations section of the Ann Taylor website and in select stores. The Jacqueline ($900) is strapless silk faille, delicately beaded at the waistline, and the Charlotte ($600), also strapless, is made of silk duchesse satin with 36 working buttons down the back.J. Crew has been selling bridal gowns through its catalog and website since 2004. It may have gotten to the cyber-bride first because of understanding how its customers think."She has a casual attitude and a pared-down style that comes from a level of sophistication," says Tom Mora, J. Crew's head of design for weddings and parties. "Our dresses aren't fussy. They're just beautiful dresses you can wear at your wedding that you don't have to feel like a cupcake in."J. Crew has four seasonal bridal collections with eight to 10 gowns each, from $225 to $2,500. They're made of Italian silk faille, duchesse satin and other luxurious fabrics, in slinky halter styles or with more forgiving Empire waists. Some of the gowns are issued in limited editions of 30 to 100, including the Anne Marie cotton crochet dress currently on the website — and they're gone within hours. Numbers are restricted so brides who've snagged one of the exclusive gowns feel they have something special, Mora says.The woman who shops with her mouse is likely to be confident in her taste and often has specific reasons for purchasing online. "When you go to a bridal salon, there is a lot of pressure. It's a whole big process, and some brides don't enjoy it," Mora says. "There's a comfort level when you try things on in the privacy of you own home."There's also comfort in starting married life free of debt.