These Designers Are Shaking Up the Outdated Traditions of Bridesmaid Dresses

Cool bridesmaid dresses: the ultimate paradox. Ask any woman who’s had to wear one (or several), and she’ll likely have a few…opinions. Most dresses you find at traditional bridesmaid companies are of the pastel and polyester variety, often cut in “universally flattering” silhouettes, and almost always boasting a shockingly steep price tag. When you consider the additional steps involved—going to a showroom to try it on, placing the order months in advance, and getting it altered afterward—the whole thing feels really outdated. (And we didn’t even get to the part about wearing the same dress as five other women.)  
 If the wedding dress business has been slow to evolve, the bridesmaid sector is miles behind. That’s partly why Susan Winget and Laura Helms decided to expand Marshmallow, their line of ultra-soft, floral-printed bodysuits and matching skirts, to include a “shop” of bridesmaid options—but it wasn’t really that strategic. It was more that the feminine prints and woman-friendly silhouettes already lent themselves to weddings: “Whenever we saw all of our pieces together on a rack, we always said they’d look so beautiful on a group of girls,” Helms explains. Through celebrity styling projects and their own photoshoots, they got to experiment with that idea a little bit, and eventually, customers were asking if Marshmallow could make their bridesmaid dresses. “There’s a romantic nature to the pieces we make, so I think people are responding to that,” she adds.  
 “We started Marshmallow with maybe three silhouettes, and now we have 50,” Winget adds. “So we realized it would be so lovely for a bride to be able to let her girls loose in this closet of silhouettes, where you can pick a color or print, and each girl can make her own look.” (From their current selection, for instance, one woman might pick the turtleneck bodysuit, while another might prefer the scoop-neck.)  The way she and Helms produce their garments is also similar to a “traditional” bridal business: Instead of creating a mountain of clothes to keep in a warehouse until someone buys them, they make virtually every piece upon order, and since they’re a small company, they can work directly with clients to customize a silhouette or tweak a size. (You don’t get that with bridesmaid brands, which send you a standard, ill-fitting size and leave you to find someone to alter it.) “It’s just a better way to work,” Winget says. “We don’t want all of this excess stuff lying around the universe.” 
 The duo is sharing a glimpse of their first bridesmaid capsule here, made up of ruffle-trimmed bodysuits and full-length gingham skirts in blush, lime green, and purple (plus an all-white version for the “bride” in this shoot). The mix-and-match opportunities are endless, and—importantly!—you could easily picture them being re-worn long after the wedding (unlike that sparkly dress gathering dust in your closet). In fact, if you didn’t know these photos were of “bridesmaid dresses,” you’d never make the assumption—and that’s precisely the point.

It mirrors a broader cultural shift towards smaller, less fussy weddings that feel more personal. “I think a lot of women want weddings that are a bit more experimental and show their personality, as opposed to a [stereotypical] wedding that almost feels like you could have rented it,” Winget says. “When I look at Vogue’s weddings coverage, I always gravitate towards the imaginative bride who actually wants to look like herself. Those ‘cool girl’ weddings end up being really great because they’re usually a bit simpler.”  
 Given the feminist undertones of Marshmallow—their first pieces were designed to embrace, not restrict, a woman’s curves—their entry into the bridal world may feel surprising. But Winget chalks it up to optimism: “I’m really not a ‘fairytale’ lady, but when things are so rough in the world, the intimacy and this simple belief in building a tiny little nucleus with someone else…. That’s beautiful. It’s what I count on, and that might ultimately be why we’re starting a bridesmaid business,” she says. “We’re living through a crazy moment, so let’s just go back to the things that feel real, to people professing love to one another. We would love to aid and abet in that celebration, and to take a little stress out of the planning process.”

On that note, Winget and Helms aren’t just designing stuff for the bridesmaids: They’re also offering their consulting services for every part of the wedding, from styling the groomsmen to creating bow ties and even making little pillows for the ring bearer. “Making the bridesmaid pieces is one thing, but then there are the accessories, the men’s suits…. It’s kind of a nuisance and just another level of bureaucracy,” Winget says. “We can say, here’s the right shoe for this dress.” The full collection will be on Marshmallow’s site tomorrow, and the best part is, you can pick up one of these skirts whether you’re in another wedding this summer or not.