How to Wear Bridesmaid Dresses Again (Really!)

If there is one part of being in a wedding that is most dreaded, it is shelling out big bucks for a bridesmaid dress that you will never wear again. Yet nearly every bride assures her attendants that she has found a great dress at a great price and “you can wear it again”. Fat chance, you think! Ah, but with a bit of tweaking, the bridesmaid dress can in fact have a second life. So pull all those dresses from weddings past from the back of your closet, and learn how to wear bridesmaid dresses again.

One of the keys to re-purposing a bridesmaid dress is to accessorize it in a way that does not scream “wedding”. For instance, let’s say that you wore a cranberry silk dupioni floor length dress in your cousin’s wedding. With a matching wrap, custom bridesmaid jewelry in the wedding colors, and possibly even matching shoes, it is definitely a very traditional look for a member of the bridal party. However, taking that same dress as the base, wear your hair down and wavy, add a black fur wrap (real or faux), pop on same black crystal chandelier earrings, and wear a hot pair of black silk heels, and you will be ready to make a splash at a formal holiday party. Ta-da! It is a second life for that old bridesmaid dress!

For many women, long dresses are simply too formal to wear outside of a wedding processional. So another way to breathe new life into a dress from a past wedding is to have it shortened to knee length. That Grecian goddess chiffon dress you wore in a beach wedding last summer can become the most fabulous frock in your closet. In a shorter length, the altered dress will be much more versatile. Wear it to a cocktail party with a pair of strappy silk kitten heel shoes. Slip on a pair of beaded flats and a cropped cardigan for a first date. You could even wear it as a guest to another summer marriage.

Tailored styles have the potential to be worn for daytime, especially if the colors are fairly classic. A navy or black faille strapless dress to the knee can be worn with a little jacket and a pair of slingbacks to an office with a fairly traditional dress code. If your workplace is more relaxed, the same dress would look super cute and chic with a brightly colored cashmere cardigan and a pair of ballet flats with a print on them. Gold or silver jewelry will enhance the daytime look, especially chunkier pieces like silver or gold charm bracelets. Hoop earrings are also a great way to transition the former bridesmaid dress to a more everyday style, as opposed to the more formal crystal or pearl bridesmaid jewelry you wore the first time around.2023 lucky color

If you are really lucky, you may even be able to talk a bride into choosing convertible wrap dresses for her bridesmaids. This is a great new trend: dresses which can be wrapped in numerous ways to create entirely different looks. Usually made in a versatile fabric like matte jersey, this is the ultimate in a bridesmaid dress that can be worn again. Tie it as a halter to go out to dinner while on a beach vacation. Wear it as a chic one shoulder style to a gallery opening. With wide straps over the shoulders and a pretty hat, it would be darling for a bridal shower in a garden. Whoever thought of this dress design is a genius!

Then there are those bridesmaid dresses which are beyond hope. They are the ones in hideous colors, cheap shiny fabrics, or dreadfully outdated cuts. There is, however, one way to find a new use for the worst examples of wedding fashion: costume party. Just be sure that the bride who picked the dog of a dress will not be attending the same party!