November Rain

How fitting that on this particularly dreary fall day I came across runway shots from the most recent bridal shows. While bridal shows usually bore me to tears (I mean, come on, how many poufy white dresses can one person stand?), I saw this one from designer Anne Bowen and was stopped in my tracks:

Anne Bowen spring 2011

First of all, kudos to Bowen for using an African American model. I would so, so much rather see Liu Wen or Chanel Iman on the runway than another milquetoast blonde from Estonia. But what really drew me to this photo was its resemblance to one of the most iconic wedding dresses of all time, that of Stephanie Seymour in the seminal 90s video "November Rain" from Guns n' Roses:

Stephanie Seymour in November Rain

The video was released in 1992 and is the most expensive video ever recorded, at a staggering cost of $1.5MM. Maybe I'm jaded, but that doesn't seem like that much, but I digress. What teenaged girl didn't dream of wearing that dress on their wedding day? I sure did. The mix of the traditional pouffy sleeves and veil with the rock n' roll uber-short hemline was just genius. The dress is rumored to have cost $8000 (which, again, doesn't seem astronomical to me since you can find a skirt these days for $5000). Sadly I ended up wearing a traditional bridal gown when I married TheSaint, but if I were to do it again (uuuggghhh, no way, divorce is too expensive), you can bet I'd go with something like this:

Bianca Jagger Weds Mick Jagger in YSL, 1971

What about you? What's your dream wedding look?