Trash Talk: Walking down the aisle in a recycled gown
May 13, 2011
Ellen Moorhouse
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
“Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue.”
We’ve all had weddings on our minds recently, what with Kate and William’s extravagant nuptials (flowers estimated at up to $800,000, cake, $75,000). And of course, June, the month of marriages, is waiting in the wings.
Canadians on average spend about $20,000 on the big day, but it would seem more brides are looking to save by going with something old. Well, maybe not old, but at least gently used. The idea of recycled dresses and wedding accessories is gaining traction, especially online.
Toronto resident Leah Andrews and business partner Andrea Lown run a website, www.smartbrideboutique.com, established in September, 2008. It now has North American reach, with 60,000 unique visitors a month, according to Andrews.
“Certainly the category as a whole is growing,” she says. “There seems to be a lot more acceptance and willingness for people to, number one, buy online and, number two, buy used and secondhand because it’s so much more budget friendly.”
Lown came up with the idea for the site after a four-month rush to plan her own wedding. She searched on Craigslist, Kijiji and eBay, but found the process cumbersome and unsatisfying, with searches limited to the broad category of “wedding dress.”
By contrast, Andrew and Lown’s website, which brings buyers and sellers together, provides filters based on geography, silhouette, neckline, colour, length, size, price, designer and whether the dress is used or new. The website offers tips on buying secondhand, and for fans of Kate’s Alexander McQueen gown, there are selections highlighted that replicate its silhouette or the flattering V neckline.
Andrews says on average dresses sell at about half the original price.
Another online service is www.stillwhite.ca, which is run out of Australia. Bruno Szajer and his wife launched the site in 2010 after they got married.
“We thought it was a complete waste to let her dress sit under the bed, considering it was in perfect condition, and decided to pass it on to another bride,” he wrote in an email. “I noticed there was a lack of quality websites dedicated to preloved wedding dresses, so we started our own.”
They’ve quickly expanded from Australia, into the U.K., Canada, the U.S., New Zealand and South Africa.
Of course, for a true recycled bargain, there are always secondhand stores. My favorite Goodwill outlet in Toronto on Islington Ave. south of the Queensway had some true bargains. There were 11 dresses on the rack when I visited recently, with the top one priced at $150. That dress was a simple design, beaded all over with sequins, pearls and bugle beads, with seven layers of tulle, satin and crinolines underneath to create a graceful silhouette. On Goodwill’s half-price Fridays, it would be only $75 with no HST.
Another made-in-China size 10 dress, still with its $799 price tag, was on the rack at $99, while another gown ($100) had, as store manager Jeff Hinds put it, “the whole nine yards” — a generous train (slightly soiled) so large that it took several workers at the store to hold it out.
What’s available naturally depends on donations, but Hinds says some customers have managed to find their ideal dress at the right price after long and fruitless searches elsewhere. The gowns often arrive in pristine condition in their storage boxes.
Maybe, instead of reality shows like Say Yes to the Dress on the TLC channel (oh, I confess to having watched sales staff at New York City’s Kleinfeld’s push their high-priced designer wares), we could use a Say No to New version.
Indeed, brides-to-be who embrace the recycled dress idea will be more able to fulfill the forgotten last line of the good-luck formula at the start of this column: “And a silver sixpence in her shoe.”
Send comments to e_moorhouse@sympatico.ca.
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