How To Re-Wear A Long Bridesmaid Dress
It’s hard to get over a long, lovely bridesmaid dress. You’d feel like it’s such a waste to wear it once. Though we get it that ladies out there feel off wearing their bridesmaid dress for the second time, But what if we tell you that a little tweaking can go a long way? It's perfectly acceptable to reuse it. People won’t even have a hint that it used to be a bridesmaid dress. All you need is some dress-makeover knowhow and this guide on how to re-wear a long bridesmaid dress.
Post-Wedding Uses of Your Bridesmaid Dress
Check out the many ways you can reuse those dresses with the following tips on how to re-wear a long bridesmaid dress.
As a Fancy Dress for Fancy Occasion
That long dress of yours surely doesn't bear the tag 'bridesmaid dress,' and so wearing them again for occasions such as galas, proms, dances, and other similar events is perfectly okay. You can even wear it for personal photoshoots if you feel like doing so, and no one would know!
Wear It at Someone Else's Wedding
If the wedding theme suits the dress's formality or vice versa, you sure can wear that dress again. No one’s going to judge you. Let’s give you some pro tip, though. If you're planning to wear your bridesmaid dress for another wedding, try knowing what dress color and design the bridesmaids will be in, to be sure you don't accidentally blend with them and be like the ‘uninvited’ bridesmaid. That would be pretty awkward.
Mix and Match
Most bridesmaid dresses are plain and are seldom accessorized. So to camouflage that bridesmaid dress, you can mix and match it up with other items from your closet. Do you have a belt that goes well with that dress? Perfect. You can put it on. You can even match it with a jacket to tone down the dress a bit. When it comes to mixing and matching dresses and accessories, let your imagination be your limit.
Don’t Do a Hair-Do
Again, when wearing a long bridesmaid dress for another's wedding, the goal should be not to match the bridesmaids' dresses. Here's another hack you can do, wear your hair down. Most bridesmaid will have their hair beautifully fixed, or blown up, matched with a glamming makeup look. Hence, keep your hair and makeup simple.
Upcycling Tips for Long Bridesmaid Dresses
So you're just not into wearing that long dress again as you're photos donning it are already in all your social media accounts. There’s that no way you’re going to reuse. Should the dress now banish to oblivion? Just not yet. Here are ways on how to re-wear a long bridesmaid dress to reuse them without anyone ever knowing it's that old long bridesmaid dress.
Cut It Off
This advice is old but gold. Cutting the length of that long dress will make it more casual than fancy. Now that it’s shorter, you can now wear it more flexibly. There’s now more than one occasion where you can wear that used-to-be-long dress turned cocktail dress.
Match It with Denim and Shoes
Now that you’ve cut the dress shorter, but the front design is still classy, you can put a denim jacket on and pair the outfit with flat shoes. It tones down the dress to a whole new level. You can now go to a theater, the mall, park, or anywhere else with your bridesmaid dress, and no one will have a clue.
Dye It
If the bridesmaid dress color is on the peach and pink side of the color pallet, it would be kind of hard to find an occasion to wear them again. But that dress isn’t hopeless. You can dye it to a more neutral color using fabric dye. Here are the steps:
- Take a bucket and fill it halfway with a scalding hot or boiling water.
- To dye cotton and linen fabrics, add ¼ cup of salt into the water. To dye wool and silk, add white vinegar into the water to help the fabric absorb the dye better. Add your dye.
- Wet the dress thoroughly. To do this, you can run it a few times in the washing machine.
- Immerse the dress in the basin, making sure every part is wholly submerged, so there are no uneven spots.
- Soak it for 5 to 15 minutes while stirring it all the time using a stainless steel spoon. Allow fabric to go two notches darker than the color you want as rinsing will fade away some of the dye.
- Slowly take the fabric off the basin and rinse it with warm water first and then colder water later until the water becomes clear.
- Wash the dress on the cold cycle using just mild detergent and allow it to dry.
Go to a Tailor
Can't think of anything to tone down the dress? Go to a tailor and give the dress a total makeover. They’re experts at it and can do the job in no time. So, stop sweating the small stuff and let the pro do the styling for you.
Donate
Donate. Didn’t like anything mentioned from our tips on how to re-wear a long bridesmaid dress? Don’t throw that dress right away. Someone else might find a better use of that dress. Donate it.
Conclusion
Even an old dress can have a new life. It can be done with some tweaking and upcycling, or maybe by finding a new owner. Let these tips on how to re-wear a long bridesmaid dress be your guide. Here's how to learn more about wedding dresses.
