1. Never wear white after labor day.
2. Don't mix stripes and plaids.
3. Don't wear your underwear on the outside of your pants (unless you're a superhero)
4. And, if you're a girl, never wear black to a wedding.
Ok, I understand most of these rules (except the lame Labor Day one), but I wanted to dispel the rumor that a woman can't wear black to a wedding.
Why is this a rule? Well, I looked it up, and it seems wearing black to a wedding is considered bad luck to the bride and groom (except for Chinese/Korean weddings, where it is bad luck to wear white...the bride in these cultures usually opts to be draped in a red dress, or a dress made of egg rolls.)
In trying to pick out a dress to wear to my friend Brian's upcoming wedding, Becky pulled a black dress from the closet, and proceeded to ask what I thought about it.
I thought it looked great!!
"But, it's black, and I can't wear black to a wedding!!"
Or could she?
I told her I would take a poll at work to figure out if black was appropriate for a wedding. I strolled over to the Accounting department, which housed the highest concentration of women, and began to bounce from desk to desk asking the simple question:
Is it ok for a woman to wear a black dress to a wedding?
The most common response was, "Is this woman the bride?" To which I would hit them over the head with my clipboard and proclaim them "Queen of the Idiots."
After I polled 11 people, the numbers were staggering:
Yes, it is Ok for a woman to wear a black dress to a wedding = 9
No, it isn't Ok for a woman to wear a black dress to a wedding = 2
The black dress wins!!
The evidence was overwhelmingly in favor of the black dress. I noted that the two NO votes came from woman over age 50, while a majority of the YES votes came from younger women. Maybe it's just a generation thing. Maybe the stigma has faded. Maybe black is the new "It" color for weddings. Maybe I work with a bunch of Marilyn Manson fans.
Friday night, I took my polling data to Becky, so she would know it was indeed acceptable to wear black to a wedding.
Friday night, we went and bought a green dress.
I guess sometimes popular opinion just doesn't matter.
1 comment:
I have to say I have wondered the same thing as Becky about wearing black to a wedding. Then I consulted my personal stylist, okay so it is my 24 yr. old sister who is always up with the latest trends,and she said it doesn't matter, it is what you are comfortable with. I did end up wearing black. I totally understand Becky though, in the end she is going to be more comfortable in her green dress then she ever would have been in her black one because she would have that in the back of her mind if it was really okay. At least that is how I would be. I am glad Becky went with her thoughts and bought her a new dress, that wasn't black so she is comfortable. So in my opinion, I do think it is okay to wear black to a wedding, but what matters more than anything is that you are comfortable with what you are wearing. Seriously though...who am I to say really?
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