Friday, July 10, 2009

How to dress Eco-Friendly for your wedding and not look the least bit crunchy.

The subject of eco-friendly is the hottest topic around! Forget a fancy foreign sports car, you’re only uber cool if you own a dorky Prius. Even Hollywood is crazed with saving dear ole mother earth, crazies like Alicia Silverstone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz and a host of others have jumped off the deep end for saving our planet. I have to admit, I do love my reusable grocery bags and my new organic sulfate-free shampoo, I’m so hip. But weddings and eco-friendly have not always gone hand-in-hand in my mind, but that has all changed. The amount of super chic and sassy planet loving designers out there is astonishing. It is so easy and affordable(gasp!!!) to find environment friendly wedding gowns. You have two choices when going all DiCaprio on your wedding, using a new gown made with renewable/sustainable products made with the least amount of detriment to the earth or buying used, not only can you find super great deals on gowns and designers you might otherwise never be able to afford, you are doing a little something to help out our world.

ecofriendly.002Olivia Luca is the coolest website ever, you  are essentially designing your own gown and having it shipped to your door. The website offers great descriptions of styles, fabrics, you even get to pick the models skin color to get the perfect idea of what the dress will look like on, plus you can order swatches before making your final decision. You get to choose from a huge variety of eco-conscious fabrics, such as organic cotton sateen, organic linen, fair trade handwoven silk shantung, and hempcel, a 100% sustainable biodegradable product. Now this is a great idea even for the non eco-chic brides because the site offers the “norm” wedding fabrics as well. And get this, the dresses average for about 1200 dollars! Killer good!

ecofriendly.001Morgan Boszilkov, an Atlanta based designer(whoo-hoo), has a great offering of eco-friendly traditional wedding gowns in her “natural bridal collection.” She also decided to enhance her greeness by making some of her gowns convertible with detachable skirts so that they can be worn shorter and possibly again.

ecofriendly.003Now, Deborah Lindquist makes me really happy! This is not for the traditional bride, this girl has got some serious spunk and I love it! Prices start around 750 for separates, skirts and bodices, but get up to 3000 dollars. That still nothing compared to a Reem or Monique!

ecofriendly.004If Deborah Lindquist makes me happy, Wai Ching puts me over the moon! This is some crazy wild stuff, but on the right lady this is the perfect gown for a boho chic wedding. And trust me some of it is seriously nasty, seriously, but the rest of it is just amazing.

ecofriendly.005Used or Vintage

I have no idea why more brides don’t do this, but I found TONS of Melissa Sweet, Vera Wang, Reem Acra, etc on ebay for cheap. Some of the dresses for more than half off of the original price tag!!! Beware the words like or inspired by in the descriptions...they’re knock offs. So don’t deprive yourself of the fancy salon experience, just don’t purchase there...go home and find the same dress that some smarty pants has decided to sell. Try ebay and craigslist for some amazing options. Also, hit up vintage stores and/or Grandma’s closet, repurposing a vintage piece is super hip and has loads of character. ecofriendly.006

So until we meet again, stay bridal and don’t let granola anywhere near your wedding.

Lauren

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