Sustainable Wedding Gowns from Puridee, Adele Wechsler and Hanna Hartnell
It’s wedding season. Got your dress yet? Check out our selection of gorgeous sustainable gowns.
Puridee’s ecollection are technically designed for the petite among us, but since they’re all made to order and sized accordingly, there’s no reason these incredibly flattering dresses couldn’t go up in size and scale. Naturally dyed and crafted primarily from rare Ahimsa silk (aka peace silk), in which fiber is spun from cocoons from caterpillars that are allowed to compete their life-cycles and emerge as moths, the gowns are opulent, romantic concoctions perfect for a dreamy wedding day. And although they’re all available in cream, the wild-at-heart among us may long to tie the knot in the vibrant indigo Rebecca dress, made from extremely rare Tussah silk fibers hand-dyed by a sustainable micro-business run by women in El Salvador.
Typically, we don’t think of reusing when it comes to wedding gowns, unless the dress is an heirloom passed down through generations. But Hanna Hartnell has a new take on take two with her Double Dare line of reversible wedding gowns. These slinky silk numbers are made with one shade on the inside and one on the out. Wear one side to the ceremony and the other to the reception, perhaps? Or possibly flip the inside out when your drunken Uncle Bob splatters you with Cabernet? The possibilities are endless. Although Hartnell does not use vegetable dyes, all the dye water in her factory is tested daily and recycled so that it doesn’t seep into the local water supply. As for recycling, you can pass the gown on to your daughter—if you can ever get the wine out.
Unless you’re eloping, you’re certain to have a lot of family watching (read: judging) you in your wedding gown. Opt for a design by Adele Wechsler, whose Eco Couture Collection still includes traditional white-gown silhouettes—the Renaissance-inspired Rosebug with a lace up bodice, the full-skirted Blossom and the plunge-back, hourglass Sunray are cases in point—transformed through sustainable fabrics and manufacturing. Wechsler uses certified organic hemp/silk blends, vegetable dyed fabrics, remnant fabrics and lace, and Fair Trade labor. Plus, every bride who opts for an Adele Wechsler Eco Couture Gown will have a tree planted in her honor.
You may now kiss the Earth.
P.S. Got a gorgeous bridesmaid or formal gown eating up space in your closet? Consider donating it to the Cinderella Project or, if you’re in the Chicago area, the Glass Slipper Project (sensing a theme here?) where it might just become a prom dress for a teen in need.
