Bridal is Getting Weird

Vera Wang has always been dissatisfied with the storytelling capabilities of runway fashion. "There is always an attitude [in her collections] depending on the mood, situation or story," she tells WWD. "But I couldn’t seem to get that across in a traditional runway show." So instead of sending her Spring 2015 creations to April's Bridal Market, she decided videotape her models in a very different setting. The resulting short film — Wang's first — is a dark, surreal way to show off the collection that feels a lot less "bridal fantasy" than "haunted fairytale."

In the one and a half-minute film, set to the tune "Easy" by Son Lux, a quartet of models with shadowed eyes and stringy hair drift through the wintery grounds of an abandoned mansion, dance inside the bare halls, stroke each other's hands, lay on the floor, hold a burning black rose, and stare intensely at the camera. There are no grooms, no vows, and certainly none of that fabled wedding day glow on the models' gaunt faces.

And that's exactly how Wang wants it. Over at WWD, she sounds almost frustrated with the confines of the bridal market, despite the fact that she's just so good at doing wedding dresses. For this Spring 2015 collection, she insists that the dresses "just happened to be white," and emphasizes that they could be worn for anything, not just a wedding ceremony. Perhaps a cultish meeting between sisters (Wang compared the models to the Brontës) in the woods?

It's understandable that a creative force like Wang might feel a little stifled in the bridal industry, which thrives on tradition and repetition and lots and lots of princess-y glamour. The fashion world doesn't tend to look to bridal for innovation — but they should, and do, look to Vera Wang.

Now, who wants to get married in a broken-down, possibly haunted mansion?

Image: Vera Wang