Brides seek wedding gowns among racks of strapless dresses
LEISAH WOLDOFF
Managing Editor
This year's wedding dress trends include the minidress, a one-shoulder gown and, of course, the ever-popular strapless. So where does that leave the bride who is looking for something a little more modest?
The criteria for dressing tzniut0, or modest, according to Halacha, is covering the elbows, collarbone and knees with a nontransparent material, according to Tzipi Levertov of Chabad of Arizona.
"There are certain parts of your body that are more private and more enticing to men, and those are the parts that are covered up," she explains. Although these standards are followed by most Orthodox brides, she says that most Orthodox rabbis do not require them in order to officiate at a wedding.
When Elana Ephraim of Phoenix looked for a dress for her 2001 wedding, she found only two dresses she felt were appropriate for her Orthodox ceremony - and she didn't like either of them. After much searching, she found a dress she liked at a Phoenix bridal boutique, but the sleeves were too short and the neckline too low. For the same cost as standard alterations, the seamstress changed the cap sleeves to three-quarter sleeves and built up the neckline with a design that matched the rest of the dress.
"I didn't know how it would turn out," Ephraim says. "I was hoping it would be what I wanted, but you never know." Although she had to schedule more fittings than usual to ensure that the alterations were made correctly, she says she was happy with the results.
Lucia Schnitzer of Phoenix says it was extremely difficult for her to find an appropriate dress for her 2005 wedding. When she found one, she had very little time left before her ceremony. Although she bought a dress at a designer wedding dress shop that was 50 percent off the regular price, she had to pay $500 for last-minute alterations. The dress was sleeveless and backless and basically the designer had to re-create the top of the dress, Schnitzer says, which included little details like matching the sheer material on the cuffs with the sheer material on the bottom of the dress. "She did a beautiful job," she says.
Adina Anhalt of Phoenix, who was married in May 2007 in Little Rock, Ark., found a sleeveless dress with a high neckline at David's Bridal and added sleeves by wearing a jacket with it.
Another option some brides use is to borrow dresses from a gemach. According to virtualgemach.com, a gemach, a Hebrew abbreviation for gemilut chasadim, or acts of kindness, is an organization that has a store of something that it lends out for little or no fee.
Gemachim, many of which are in New York and Israel, offer the free loan of a multitude of objects, from tables, linens and wedding dresses to baby gear and much more, according to Dvora Entin of Phoenix, who got her wedding dress from a gemach in New York when she got married 11 years ago.
She remembers finding her dream dress among many others that the gemach had just received; they were still crumpled in a box. "If I would have custom-made a gown, it would have looked the same," she says. Her dress cost $75. "The whole concept (of a gemach) is that you want to do something beautiful but don't want to waste money on something that's a one-day deal." Other related items, such as a slip, are usually included. In addition, many have modest evening gowns available for mothers and sisters of the bride and groom.
Ariel Rosen, who got married in Phoenix in December 2006, says her initial search for a wedding dress was not very pleasant. "It was so much money to get a dress, and then you have to pay to alter it. ... I thought it was silly to put all this money on a dress you're going to wear once."
Then a friend suggested a bridal gemach in Brooklyn, N.Y.
During a trip to New York, Rosen visited the gemach - which was in somebody's basement - and found a dress she loved. After she paid a holding fee, the dress was mailed to her. She shipped it back after she was finished with it. The total cost for the slip, veil, petticoat, dress and cleaning fee was about $250.
The way a gemach works is that you borrow the dress for a small fee and then make a donation to the charity that the gemach represents, Entin explains. Each gemach has a specific tzedakah that it's associated with, she says, from food banks to charity for other brides.
"There's this whole area in Judaism where the community takes care of each other," Rosen says. "It's so beautiful to me."
Another option in cities with larger Orthodox Jewish communities, such as New York, is companies that rent dresses. "It's more complicated here in Arizona" to find a modest wedding dress, says Entin. "In New York, it's not an issue." There, Orthodox brides have hundreds of dresses to choose from, she says; an average price if you're the person to rent it is $2,000, and the price goes down for each wearer. "They're catering to a very specific crowd who want to look elegant and beautiful," Entin says.
Another option is a designer in Teaneck, N.J., who recently opened a boutique that sells only modest dresses.
"I've known for a long time that there's been a need for gowns that are modest," says Tova Marc, who opened Couture De Bride last year. "A lot of the time, girls take regular strapless gowns and build them up and are unhappy" with the results. Marc incorporates all the latest fashion trends into her design so brides don't need to start from scratch or build up the gown.
In addition to wedding dresses, Marc also designs evening gowns for the wedding couple's mothers and sisters, as well as bat mitzvah gowns; her evening collection is available in more than 50 colors. She says that she has received orders from all over the world and that her main clients are Orthodox Jews, conservative Christians and Muslim women.
Her dresses start at $795 and can be delivered in 10 weeks or less. Although none of her dresses are currently available in Arizona, she says she is working on setting up a wholesale business, and brides can order online at tovamarc.com. She can also be contacted through couturedebride.com or (201) 357-4877.
Marc, who was born in Israel and grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., received a bachelor's degree in marketing from Pace University in Manhattan. After graduating, she worked in the retail real estate industry, where she negotiated real estate deals with many high-profile fashion companies. She then took the knowledge she gained working with the fashion industry and, within two years, designed more than 100 bridal and evening gowns that combined fashion with modesty.
"We've had an overwhelming response," she says. "Just because something's modest, it doesn't mean that it has to lack style."
