In this module we explore the styles, cut, and shape of the wedding dresses that are available to you. We show you examples of a basque waist, a sheath skirt, a ruched bodice, and the difference between an A-line and a Princess cut dress. Once you have seen examples of all the available styles, our SmartBride checklist helps you define those styles that most interest you.
The following article is an example of the content we have in our online wedding planning membership site HappyWeddings.ca under the heading of Wedding Gown. To learn more and get useful wedding planning tools for FREE click here!
You are getting married. You are excited. You dream about looking beautiful as you walk down the aisle. It’s all about The Dress. But as you inspect your dream to see what you are wearing, it kind of fades away. What will you wear and how will you choose your wedding gown?
There are thousands of websites with many wedding dress designs. There are hundreds of bridal magazines full of thousands of wedding dresses. How do you choose?
The wedding dress is often the centrepiece of a bride’s vision of her wedding. The dress can be simple, sleek, contemporary, or grand and elaborate. The first vision that your groom and your guests will see of you is the silhouette of your gown as you start down the aisle—then the details of the dress will become more clear to them.
There are five basic wedding dress styles or silhouettes: A-line/Princess, Empire, Mermaid/Fishtail, Ball Gown and Sheath/Column. Each type lends itself to different body types, but these are guidelines. Always try a dress on to see how it looks on you—you might be surprise that something you thought would not work, just might look great.
A-LINE/PRINCESS
The main feature of the A-Line dress silhouette is that the dress if fitted around the bodice, and then flows to the ground in an “A” shape. A Princess style gown uses vertical panels that run from the neckline to the hem, emphasizing the A-line.
This style elongates the body by creating a slimming effect because the eye flows along the long, smooth seams.
The A-line dress is flattering on all body types. The long lines of the A-line give the illusion of height to someone who is short. The full skirt also hides bigger hips.
If you have a narrow body frame, with few curves, the A-line gives the illusion of a more curvy body. This A-line dress has cap sleeves, a slight scoop neckline, a fitted bodice with a basque waist, and an A-line skirt with a chapel length train.
EMPIRE
An empire waistline sits below the bust. See how nicely the dress flows down from the empire waist to the hem in an A-shape. You can see that this is really a Princess style silhouette with an empire waist, because the dress flows in long panels from the waist to the hem. The bodice style is a tank top with a V-neckline. Usually, an empire style dress has wide shoulder straps, and sometimes sleeves.
An empire waist is great for a small bust because it draws attention to the neckline and creates definition, especially with V-necklines. Embellishments of the fabric or through beadwork around the neckline help bring attention to the chest and neckline.
Again, in this picture, the empire waistline sits below the bust. This version of the empire dress style has the cut contour to the body before flaring out. This is a common variation of the empire dress style. Because the dress flares out, it is perfect for hiding a long torso, short legs, or larger hips, it leaves those areas undefined creating a great silhouette.
Interestingly enough, the square neckline that you see here, that is common in empire waist cuts helps to give the illusion of a smaller bust for those who have a fuller bust.
The empire dress style flows from the high waistline, which allows your dress movement in the long skirt. Because of this, lighter fabrics work really nicely with an empire cut.
MERMAID
The mermaid style dress silhouette contours the body from the bust to the knees, and then flares out to the floor. Any neckline works with this dress style—from deep plunging necklines for a truly sexy look, to a more alluring look with a high neckline and long sleeves. The flare can come above the knee, at the knee or below the knee, although in most wedding dresses the flare comes above the knee to make dancing easier.
This dress has a sweetheart neckline, and is both strapless and sleeveless. The bodice is pleated, and it has an empire waist and a mermaid skirt. The length of the train is called chapel. Because the dress tightly hugs the body, you will need to be aware of underwear lines.
This mermaid style dress has cap sleeves and a square neckline. Notice the longer train length than the previous dresses—this one is called a Royal train length. The mermaid flare is above the knees in this dress, making it easy to move around. Those who are comfortable with their body shape, and showing it off choose the mermaid style.
BALL GOWN
The ball gown style brings visions of Cinderella and fairytale weddings. Ball gowns are usually worn at large, formal weddings that are quite traditional.
This style of dress works with most body types. The full skirt serves to accentuate the waist and hide the lower body, if this is an issue. On the other side of the coin, a full-busted figure becomes more hourglass looking with the fitted bodice and the flared skirt. If you are short, a ball gown style might make you look shorter, where a more flowing skirt like the A-line or Princess style will give you a longer, leaner look.
This particular dress has a strapless, square neckline with a beaded bodice and a basque waist. It has a ball gown skirt. Like the A-line dress, the ball gown can have any kind of neckline or sleeve length.
The waist can be at its natural position or be a dropped waist. This picture shows a strapless, fitted bodice with a dropped waist on a ball gown skirt. It has a sweetheart neckline.
Depending upon the fabric you chose, and whether it has overlays of lace, or beading, it will accentuate to the upper or lower body. This dress has an off-the-shoulder neckline, beaded illusion cap sleeves, a ruched bodice with a dropped waist that meets the ball gown skirt. The train is a semi-cathedral length.
SHEATH
A sheath dress is in the shape of a column—but that does not mean boring! This particular dress is sleeveless, and has a v-neckline. Notice the accent on the empire waist. As you can see, the gown drapes to the floor with what is called a sweep train behind the gown.
Here is another classic sheath dress style. Notice the high neckline, and basque waist on this dress. The sheath skirt has a swag train
Our final dress is another sheath dress. Notice the halter top with the deep v-neckline. It has a natural waist, from which the sheath skirt falls with a sweep train. The overlay of lace dresses up this simple and stunning dre