I’ve written a few times about my wedding gown, which I love.  Without giving too much away, it’s a dramatic trumpet gown of cream Duchess satin by Alvina Valenta.  Embellished with crystal appliques and classic in its details and silhouette, my wedding dress helped inspire my current vintage obsession.  I bought it last year a few months after becoming engaged and am as excited about it today as I was when it first arrived at Bridal Trousseau last Spring.  With that said, however, bridal fashion is really at its zenith right now, with designers like Vera Wang and Monique Lhuillier raising bridal couture to stratospheric heights of decadence and artistry, and there are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of dresses I admire and could wear just as easily, and enthusiastically, as the one I chose.  For example, there’s the subject of this post.  I ran across this gown a few days ago, a garment of such beaded fabulousness that I just had to share it with everyone.  No, this isn’t actually related to my own wedding, and, yes, it’s a bit of a detour, but this site has evolved into a forum for me to share my general musings on all things wedding-related and to indulge my silly fantasy of becoming an event/wedding coordinator (you know, just in case my law degree really does fail to pay dividends in the future).  In that spirit, I’ve decided to devote this post to the one dress I’ve seen in the past year that has given me a mild case of “dress envy.”  It’s from Lazaro’s 2010 collection, and it’s utterly glamorous.  Feast thine eyes:

How, you ask, did I stumble upon this simultaneously fitted and flared, glitzy and yet understated work of art?  Well, an acquaintance of mine became engaged a few months ago and is still shopping for her gown, so every once in a while I’ll check out the latest in bridal couture with the idea of throwing some suggestions her way.  I love Lazaro’s gowns (in fact, my sister Victoria wore Lazaro when she got married several years ago, and the first gown that I fell in love with and considered purchasing before I found “The One” was a decadent, heavily-beaded Lazaro that tickled my mother’s fancies), so his designs are always among the first that I check out for inspiration.  It was while I was perusing www.jlmcouture.com a few days ago that I stumbled upon this breathtaking creation.  It’s Style LZ3052, and it’s amazing.   How do I love it?  Let me count the ways. 

First of all, it’s my favorite silhouette.  I prefer trumpet and mermaid gowns because they’re both sexy and flattering to a girl of my shape (slender overall, about a size 2, but with hips and a chest):  They’re fitted to about the knee, emphasizing a small waist and creating a feminine hourglass shape, and then they flare out at the bottom to balance the hips.  It’s also a sophisticated silhouette, which is ideal for those of us who spent our 20′s in school and let pass the days where we could wear a princess ball gown with a straight face.  Secondly, the bodice.  While the silk-faced satin trumpet skirt is a study in elegant restraint, the jewel-encrusted bodice is unadulterated glamor.  So heavily adorned it looks like it was beaded by a drunken gay sailor, the glittering, sheer bodice on this gown takes an already sexy silhouette and amps up the heat quotient with a flirty sweetheart neckline and a pulse-accelerating low back.  Then, as if I wasn’t already feeling like an over-stimulated squirrel stumbling upon a box of cashews, my gaze meandered onto … the belt.  Ah, mon dieu.  There’s no adequate way to describe the heavily embellished ribbon belt that lurches this gown right over the top — you just have to look at it.  Adorned with an intricately arranged cluster of countless crystals emphasizing the natural waist, this belt would make any plain satin frock instantly glamorous, but on this stunning gown, juxtaposed against such an extravagant bodice … well, it’s an embarrassment of riches.  Throw in the fact that this gown has straps and yet still manages to look modern and sophisticated and young rather than dowdy (making it truly the unicorn of bridal gowns), and you have basically the perfect dress. 

Like I said, I still love my beautiful Alvina Valenta gown, and it’s going to look even more glamorous with my sparkly Regina B. accessories, and perhaps when I slip into it on my wedding day every other dress I tried on or looked at will melt away from my memory, including this one.  In the meantime, however, this glittering gown does make me sigh a little and think, “What if …”