Un-Bridaled Enthusiasm
By Stefene Russell
Photograph by Eugene Taylor, courtesy of the Missouri Historical Society’s Photographs and Prints Collection
Cue soft-jazz version of “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing.”
HIM: While hearkening back to the fairy tales of her childhood, this stunning ensemble also speaks to the aspirations of any modern, 20th-century bride ... [HER: What am I holding? Are these cabbage roses or a cabbage?] HIM: ... A romantic bouffant skirt references not the antebellum age, but the space age, in its restrained use of lace medallions ... [HER: I wish the combs in this damn headpiece weren’t made out of metal.] HIM: ... The lack of ornament is perfect for the bride who’s ready to go anywhere, unencumbered by frou-frou ... [HER: These combs are giving me a lobotomy. I want a smoke.] HIM: ... The décolletage is ruffled with just a wink of lace ... The modern look is sleek, streamlined, exciting ... Replacing the tiara of taffeta roses, a smart pillbox hat—made of taffeta roses ... [HER: Oh, the irony of it all: Getting dumped the week before I strut down the carpet as a bridal model. Yeah—this is just fat city.]
