By Lyst Editorial Director, Katherine Ormerod
Weddings on Female First
Over the past two weeks in the run up to wedding season, Lyst has seen searches for white and cream dresses increase by 116%. As the platform is the biggest fashion shopping site in the world, that's a hell of a lot of women wanting white dresses…far more than just brides alone. So we commissioned a survey to see if the old conventions of wedding sartorial etiquette still hold true, or if the traditional rules are loosening up and guests are really choosing to wear white to ceremonies this summer.
The results were surprising-of the 1000 women surveyed, 70% would wear white to a friend's wedding. But in an interesting double standard, while so many felt comfortable wearing white as a guest, only 40% would want guests wearing white to their own ceremony.
Still not convinced? Here are 6 reasons to wear white to a wedding.
Avoid the other fashion faux-pas
No one else will be wearing the same outfit. Except maybe the bride, but she gets a veil. And a husband.
It's very chic
Chloe, Alice + Olivia, and Zimmerman are all champions of the white dress this season. Boundary-pushing white wearers will have the last laugh in the wedding circuit style stakes. You're so ahead of the curve.
It worked for celebs
Like most things Kim Kardashian initiates, we were initially hesitant to join her in the guests-in-white tradition. The unwritten rules against wearing Lycra while pregnant or unapologetically duck facing through an international flight once seemed so sensible. These days though, we've erased all memory of judgy-ness, denying to our friends (and ourselves) that we ever thought it tacky to snap a belfie on a particularly good day. Kim say, we do.
So why would white at a wedding be any different? At Kim's, er, two most recent nuptials the bridesmaids and Kardashian matriarch Kris contributed to a worldwide whitewashed trend with their Kanye-approved looks. Even Solange followed (jump)suit.
You'll upstage the bride:
Look, the entire point of a wedding is that it's all about the bride. We all know who she is-she doesn't need any more help standing out. But you? You're new here. You might know 30% of the guests if you're lucky, so you need all the help you can get to make a lasting impression. The guests need to know who you are. The groom's good looking cousin-in town for one-night-only-does too.
It's cool in the heat
If your kinda-friend from work is asking you to splash out on a trip to the Maldives for her big day then she can deal with you wearing a white Self-Portrait eyelet lace dress. White will keep you cool in the sun, complement your glowing tan, and importantly give you an excuse to stick with champagne. Win-win-win.
You're a blank canvas
What looks better with a white dress than Paula Cadematori shoes? Nothing. With a simple white dress, you can let your accessories sing. No one will even notice the colour of your dress (maybe).
https://www.lyst.co.uk/shop/events/wedding/