Is this wedding dress for real?

February 15, 2012 4:49 AM

Is the wedding dress in these photos actually like it appears in the photos, or a "trick of the light"?

I don't consider myself a prude, but I'd like to think this lady doesn't know what is going on with her dress, or does she and that is entirely the point?

It doesn't appear to have any shocking effect on any of the other attendees, so perhaps it is just one of those cases where the photo is capturing something you wouldn't see as easily in person?

However, maybe it is all just a staged photo shoot by the photographer as some of the later pages, particularly the B&W photos look like the bride and groom were told "do this, do that"..etc?

If this is a wedding dress one can purchase, where would one do so? Other than the sheerness of it, I rather like it..Google-fu no help.

Cheers

posted by bellastarr to society & culture (17 answers total)

Wedding dress designer Pnina Tornai, exclusive designer for Kleinfelds Bridal NYC and featured heavily on the TLC show "Say Yes to the Dress", has some dresses in her collection with see-through bodices. That dress could be one of hers or a knockoff of the idea (I think it's the latter; doesn't otherwise look like one of hers).
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 4:55 AM on February 15, 2012 [3 favorites]

Dang, TPS beat me to it. There are definitely "lingerie-style" dresses that are popular now (why, I don't know).
posted by brilliantine at 4:58 AM on February 15, 2012

If I only saw the first picture, I might have thought the flash was being more revealing than one would see with the naked eye, but then the cleavage and crotch both being open as well definitely makes it look like the sheerness of the dress is indeed on purpose, and likely visible to the naked eye as well.
posted by Grither at 5:02 AM on February 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh, Pnina Tornai! On Television Without Pity forums, she's known as the "Stripper Fairy Dress" designer. All her stuff looks like that.
posted by xingcat at 5:03 AM on February 15, 2012

It's like that in every photo, so I think it's unlikely that it's a trick of the light. I'm guessing the guests don't look surprised because it takes a certain personality to wear a dress that shows off your panties to your own wedding, so the guests have probably noticed her personality before the wedding itself.

The shocked faces will be those of her grandchildren, when they thumb through the ole family album.
posted by Houstonian at 5:07 AM on February 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

Just in case you want to see more of similar types, here's a link to Pnina's site.
posted by xingcat at 5:18 AM on February 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

Ok, well,...hmm!
posted by bellastarr at 5:25 AM on February 15, 2012 [6 favorites]

This is also a Russian wedding and revealing formal clothing is a lot more accepted and commonplace in Russian culture than much of Europe and definitely America. There's just a different set of aesthetic criteria for beauty over there, and it basically boils down to the more in-your-face the better.
posted by griphus at 5:44 AM on February 15, 2012 [6 favorites]

I was going to say what griphus said. The dress in the link is downright demure compared this internet-famous Russian wedding dress.
posted by taz at 5:52 AM on February 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

Andthe staged photos where she appears to be shooting the groom? Is this something else that's not uncommon that I'm out of touch with? "Here little Vladmir, look at the funny picture of mommy pretending to shoot papa before our wedding." I just don't get why anyone would do this any more than the dress...it all seems kind of fake to me.
posted by bellastarr at 5:54 AM on February 15, 2012 [1 favorite]

If the photograph is taken with a flash, then it can reveal some transparency that you can't see in normal light. (Like celebrities wearing black clothes that don't look quite so black when being photographed at night.)

However, these photos look like they are natural light to me. I think it's on purpose.
posted by gjc at 6:05 AM on February 15, 2012

Regarding the silly pictures, just google Russian wedding pictures. Here's one page.
posted by artychoke at 6:10 AM on February 15, 2012 [2 favorites]

Alright I'll leave it at "these people are strange".
posted by bellastarr at 6:14 AM on February 15, 2012

Well, Russian wedding photos are notoriously goofy. It's complicated to explain, but between Francophilia having a huge impact on the culture back in the 18th century -- and French fashion was intense back then -- and conspicuous consumption being touted as an virtue during and after the fall of the Soviet Union, this is what happens. Flashy is good, expensive is good, complicated is good, and when you put all those together, this is what you end up with.

As far as the dress, I can assure you that no one in the crowd is reacting like you are. Those people aren't thinking "boy, she looks like a slut" (or whatever) because that's just not the way they grew up looking at clothing like that. I can almost guarantee that her mother got married in something similarly gaudy, if not that revealing. As far as women's clothing is concerned, modesty just isn't considered as important an aspect of looking "good" as it is here. It's not even a class thing, really; this girl could easily be a lawyer or a doctor. The best comparison to conflicting aesthetic that I can think of is cultures still valuing being fat as a sign of wealth. You'd think "why did that guy let himself get so fat, it's gross?" His culture thinks "damn, dude can afford to eat anything he wants as much as he wants, he must be loaded."
posted by griphus at 6:16 AM on February 15, 2012 [20 favorites]

Well I went through -most- of the rest of the photos from this photog's photostream - many other wedding photos. I'll agree they do take some interesting photos at their weddings, though I didn't see any other wedding gowns that were quite so, errmm, well ventilated.

Cheers!
posted by bellastarr at 7:11 AM on February 15, 2012

To add on a bit, I've been told by women who lived in Russia (Americans visiting there) that they've actually been sort of lightly shunned in public by Russian women who think they're dressing too 'frumpy' or conservatively. Even in an everyday context, Russian women, at least in the western cities, seem to prefer dress that Americans might find provocative.
posted by asciident at 9:40 AM on February 15, 2012

French fashion was intense back then

It is now too, heh. I know someone (acquaintance only!!!) who got married in a dress even more revealing than this. In France. She was showing her wedding photos to a lot of people on her PC and mentioned that she hadn't realized it would start bunching up as you can see this woman's doing the same in this photo. That's because the fabric has no structure to it though, and with a corset that long, the stays can't be solid since the woman needs to, y'know, sit down and generally move at some points. (Corsets that hit above the waist at the sides/hip bones can be made with stronger, less flexible stays.)

Completely tangential but this part of France (the Riviera) also has a long history of Russian settlement. We have the oldest Russian Orthodox church outside of Russia. So who knows, probably some cross-pollination going on.

TL;DR yes, I've seen this IRL.
posted by fraula at 10:01 AM on February 15, 2012 [1 favorite]