Just an hour after getting engaged in Venice, Italy last year, Christyne de Quesada began scouring the internet for white dresses to wear to her many upcoming wedding-related events: An engagement party, the bachelorette weekend, a civil ceremony at a courthouse and a bigger celebration in Mexico City.
But the Miami-based human resources manager had a hard time finding good quality, under $1,000 ensembles that reflected her personality.
âIt actually drove me a bit crazy,â de Quesada said. âI bought about seven things and returned all of them.â Instead, she decided to look beyond the classic bridal wear brands and retailers. She eventually settled on an ivory two-piece set by Shanghai-based label ShuShu Tong, which she bought from the e-tailer Ssense, for her civil ceremony, a Vera Wang gown she describes as âtraditional and very princess-likeâ for her Mexico City wedding ceremony and a bespoke ivory skirt and corset set by Florida-based bridal designer Gabriella Arango complete with Gucci shoes for the reception.
Millennial and Gen-Z brides-to-be like de Quesada are no longer shopping for just a wedding dress, but an entire wedding wardrobe for pre- and post-wedding events. That breadth is propelling the global bridal wear market, which is projected to grow at a rate of 3.5 percent annually and is expected to reach $83.5 billion by 2030, according to the Global Bridal Wear Market Industry report.
But itâs not companies like Davidâs Bridal (which filed for bankruptcy and sold to Cion Investment Corp last year) that are benefitting. In order to find less cookie-cutter ensembles that are more reflective of their personal style, this new generation of brides are shopping outside the traditional bridal market.
Emerging brands and designers such as Jacquemus, Collina Strada and Sandy Liang and retailers like Ssense and Asos are looking to cash in by offering unexpected wedding attire, such as suit dresses and baggy trousers, as part of their core assortment. Other players, such as Wiederhoeft and Andrew Kwon, are launching made-to-order bridal boutiques alongside their direct-to-consumer businesses or are updating the marketing of pre-existing inventory through bridal edits.
âThe bridal industry is very much like an old boys club. They live by âIf itâs not broken, donât fix itâ and are very comfortable with the limited options that theyâve given you,â said Caroline Crawford Patterson, a bridal stylist and designer. âWhat they donât realise is that the consumer is different and thereâs a big opportunity to shake things up.â
Fashionâs Opportunity in Bridal
After the industry was brought to a halt in 2020, weddings returned to pre-pandemic levels last year, with couples hosting over 2 million parties. But the post-pandemic bridal wear landscape is remarkably different.
Historically, brides have been limited to independent boutiques, department stores and chains like Davidâs Bridal. Now, brides-to-be are open to wearing any white dress and as such, are casting a wider net.
Itâs an evolution of a space that was stagnant for a long time. âSalons could get away with offering dresses that werenât chic or suited the fashion-forward bride or werenât size inclusive and the consumer, who is already spending a lot of money, just had to bear it,â said Crawford Patterson, who got married in 2021.
Anthropologie was one of the first non-bridal retailers to enter the space with the launch of its Bhldn line in 2011 (itâs now called Anthropologie Weddings). Today, Reformation, Abercrombie & Fitch and Revolve all offer wedding edits on their websites, as does The RealReal. Even fast fashion, with ASOS, Forever 21, Lulus and Shein increasing the number of bridal styles they carry.
Itâs not just mass retail taking advantage. New York-based designer Jackson Wiederhoeft launched a made-to-order bridal segment in 2020 and now spends up to a year and a half developing wedding dresses for their clients including initial appointments, fittings, alterations and advising. Despite the investment in time and resources, Wiederhoeft says the effort is âworth it,â as they get to develop an intimate relationship with consumers.
âItâs not just a dress for many people, it is the dress,â said Wiederhoeft.
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For an emerging designer like Wiederhoeft, bridal is something of a safety net, serving as âa floating line of creditâ for the rest of their business. With bridal, Wiederhoeft is able to collect 100 percent of the garmentâs cost upfront and directly from the client in order to pay for production, material and overhead costs. A Wiederhoeft wedding dress can cost between $3000 and $25,000 for ready-to-wear bridal garments and pricing for custom dresses starts at $25,000. And unlike ready-to-wear, the brandâs bridal segment is not subject to discounting.
âSome of the garments I made in my apartment four years ago are still in our showroom. I still use them as sale samples, and the styles are quite evergreen,â they said. âWhereas ready-to-wear has the shelf life of an avocado.â
What Todayâs Brides Want
As younger Millennials and Gen-Zers, the oldest of whom turn 27 this year, approach the altar, their ceremonies differ greatly from previous generations, including their parents. (According to the US Census Bureau, the average American woman is 28.6 years old when they get married and the average American man is 30.5 years old.)
Young people today are more likely to support same-sex and interracial marriage, enter into non-traditional relationships such as polyamory, and are more likely to forgo marriage entirely in favour of cohabiting with a partner long-term, according to research from Pew Research Center. Designers hoping to service this cohort are looking beyond weddings and are creating garments for different types of commitment ceremonies.
âSome of my clients are trying to push against the grain of conventional weddings and are focused on spending money on a house,â said Hillary Taymour, founder and creative director of Collina Strada, who says her clients are looking to splurge on pieces that can be re-worn.
Taymour said that todayâs brides believe âanything can be a wedding outfit.â Her clients are opting for colourful designs and unconventional jewellery, including the brandâs frog ring, which typically retails for $80, that couples have commissioned as engagement or wedding bands to mark the occasion.
Catering to a broader spectrum of bridal wear can be beneficial even for a business with a historic focus in the sector, said Andrew Kwon, founder and creative director of his namesake label. He launched an eveningwear line alongside bridal in 2022.
âOne of the main challenges with bridal is the lack of repeat clients,â said Kwon. âTapping into eveningwear and coloured dress has allowed me to bring in non-traditional brides, their bridesmaids and even their mothers into the fold.â
Retailers hoping to capture this new, forward-thinking bridal consumer are updating their assortment to reflect changing attitudes towards weddings. Last month, e-commerce retailer Ssense launched its second âanti-bridalâ capsule collection which featured unorthodox gowns, flower girl dresses and accessories from brands such as Collina Strada, Simone Rocha, Chopova Lowena, Bode and Sandy Liang.
âWe speak to an audience thatâs very open-minded and fluid,â said Brigitte Chartrand, vice president of womenswear buying and the Everything Else segment at Ssense. âThe products we commissioned didnât feel necessarily classic ⦠it brings that differentiation of what bridal could be.â