Trash the dress wedding photos

Posted Jun 11th 2007 at 11:17AM by Anne Metz (Subscribe to Anne Metz's posts)

Filed under: Fashion, News, Best of the Season

Amid the posy photos and puffed-up bios that comprise the wedding announcement section of Sunday Times Style Section, there was a fascinating article on the rising trend of so-called Trash the Dress wedding photography.

Trash the Dress, you say?

It's exactly what it sounds like -- following the blessed event, the bride straps on that gorgeous dress once again for a final farewell photo to the gown she spent a fortune to wear for one day only. Only instead of posing in some predictably idyllic setting, the picture is shot in a scroungy back alley or a mossy lake.

These so-called Trash the Dress photos have become all the rage with brides who want to add something unconventional to their wedding albums. And unconventional they are -- particularly the photo at right in which a bride has set her wedding gown aflame, a la Joan of Arc. This shot was taken by a photographer named John Michael Cooper, who coined the phrase Trash the Dress. If you want to see more of his edgy, arty wedding photography, check out his website, which chronicles his collection of Trash the Dress wedding photos.

Pretty cool, huh?

Source

Tags: dresses, photograph, trends, weddings

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)

Lassie 6-13-2007 @ 9:15AM

I could vomit. Conspicuous consumption taken to the extreme. No wonder a huge part of the world hates us.

Crabby McSlacker 6-12-2007 @ 2:30PM

There's something both completely bonkers and yet totally appealing about this idea. Love the photo but it's so creepy!

(If anyone is bored enough at work to visit a health and fitness blog, you could check out http://crankyfitness.blogspot.com/. But there's nothing remotely fashionable about it).

jill 6-12-2007 @ 2:32PM

This is interesting..

jo. szuba 6-12-2007 @ 2:46PM

I can only describe it in one word "idiotic"

billie 6-12-2007 @ 2:49PM

If you don't want to keep the dress for your daughters, you could turn it into a nice quilt instead of just trashing it. What a waste to be that destructive...

rj 6-12-2007 @ 3:02PM

What and idiotic, hedonistic practice! If your future bride wants to trash her wedding dress, take that as not a good signal for the longevity of the marriage. She doesn't want to save it to share with your future children? If she no longer wants the dress, the very best idea would be to donate it to charity. Sounds like an unstable Bridezilla to me!

SCOWL 6-12-2007 @ 3:01PM

What a stupid idea.

Nancy Wrenn 6-12-2007 @ 3:04PM

THIS PUTS THE ICING ON THE CAKE THAT WE IN AMERICA HAVE GONE BOONKERS!!!

WHAT INSANE, IDIOT, STUPID, MENTALLY CRAZY, ABSURED, RIDICIOUS,
IDEA WILL THEY COME UP WITH NEXT???

FOLKS, THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE SUPPOSE TO BE "INTELLIGENT"
PEOPLE. THEY ARE SUPPOSE TO BE OUR EXAMPLE SETTER.

OUR GRANDMOTHER'S THOUGHT THE WORLD WAS GOING BAD. THEY DID NOT KNOW ANYTHING YET.

I CAN ONLY SAY "GOD HELP US!!".

sanbreakity 6-12-2007 @ 3:26PM

Anything that's "all the rage" is no longer "unconventional."

sailorknightwingwing 6-12-2007 @ 3:30PM

Or you could give the dress to your daughter. Or you could give it to charity for a woman who maybe can't afford a gown to have. This seems more like something you would do after going through a bad divorce. It looks to me like trying to destroy memories of your marriage to the person.

sumstarles 6-12-2007 @ 3:39PM

I am doing this and I am very excited about it. It will give me another chance to wear my dress and get some fantastic pics. I'm doing some on the beach here in Florida. I don't plan on having children and I don't sew.

riggan300zx@aol.com 6-12-2007 @ 3:46PM

WHAT!!!!!!!!! Have any of you ever heard of donating the dress? If you don't want it for your kids or never plan on having kids(I didn't either, now I have two wonderful daughters) and you don't sew (you might decide to learn latter, I did) Donate it there are plenty of brides without the means to buy a new one who would feel blessed to find one at thier local Goodwill store or other consignment shop. I'm not an "enviromentalist" but lets stop the wastefulness of our society!

galvin 6-12-2007 @ 3:49PM

wonderful. These dresses are enormously expensive. Why not "trash" the entire wedding and send the sickening sum of money you might have spent on your "edgy" wedding to a needy cause. Now that's unconventional

Capt. Al 6-12-2007 @ 4:04PM

Next they'll be telling photographers to trash their cameras after the last photo of the wedding is taken...

jaenjain 6-12-2007 @ 4:02PM

How about donating the dress instead, so someone who can't afford a nice dress can still wear one...

Christine 6-12-2007 @ 4:15PM

Some of you should take a few minutes to actually look at the pictures. Not in every picture are they literally "trashing" the dress, they are just taking photos in unconventional places. Rather than a garden with flowers they are somewhere that you wouldn't expect to see someone dressed in a wedding dress. It's very high fasion photography if you look in fashion magazines of any sort. Even if they did trash the dress, who cares? You will never wear that again, and quite frankly, I doubt your daughter will care if she ever sees your old wedding gown, my mother showed me hers a long time ago and I thought it was hideous on a hanger. Not all wedding dresses are insanely expensive if you know how to shop either. Don't be so uptight, try to appreciate art for what it is. I'd love to add some flavor to an otherwise "typical" wedding album with something like this. I might not set myself on fire, but some of the other photos are very appealing.

Kaz 6-12-2007 @ 5:08PM

Call me a stick-in-the-mud, but I think the Burn Unit is a poor choice for a place to spend one's honeymoon.

BuhbyealyW 6-12-2007 @ 4:33PM

I could not afford a nice wedding dress when I got married, donating the dress would be a much nicer idea. I am all for fun and games but for this much money it seems silly and wasteful.

rachel 6-12-2007 @ 4:41PM

love this idea - the stuff in the slideshow on the nytimes by heather reed and esp susan stripling are amazing!

Mia 6-12-2007 @ 4:48PM

Clearly, the "bride on fire" is a great photoshopped photo not an actual bride on fire!
I think it is a great new trend!
Save the dress for your daughter??How many people are wearing their mother's dress? And remember when your mom brought it, the dress was fashionable and cool looking not hideous.
Why not have a little fun with your dress!?!
Afterwards, you can always clean it and then donate it.