J Crew wedding collection: the good, the bad, the unbelievable

Silk taffeta gown

Thanks to Michelle Obama, J Crew designs have risen in popularity within the last few months. During the inauguration of President Obama, newscasters repeated over and over again that the Obama children were dressed in clothing from J Crew. The first lady even wore a J Crew cardigan and skirt when she made a very important visit to 10 Downing Street in London to visit the British Prime minister. Her love for J Crew garments has stimulated a lot of interest in the clothing company including their wedding and parties collection, so I decide to visit one of their stores to find out if they really deserve all the great press they have been receiving.

The good -Their clothes are truly great quality pieces, that look and feel luxurious. They are well tailored garments with a graceful sophistication, once you try them on you never want to take them off. The entire bridal collection is designed for the modern woman, with a chic fashion-forward simplicity about them. Best of all they are made out of the most exquisite fabrics that silently scream out how superior their collections really are. Their bridesmaid dress collection is bursting with deliciously warm colors that are perfect for fall and are very complimentary to the wedding dresses.

Orion gown with hand detailing.

The bad- Their bridal collections were not available in the store that I visited, in fact they only have one store in the entire tri-state area that actually has wedding gowns. This store is at the Rockefeller Center in New York and only recently began to stock a tiny selection of their bridal gowns. This can be exasperating for brides-to-be who want to be able to try on several gowns till they find the perfect one, with J Crew the only way most brides could make a purchase would be to trust their measurements and order it online in the hope that it fits just right

The unbelievable- The prices on the gowns are jaw dropping. The silk taffeta tank style dress featured above costs $1100.00, which seems like quite a lot for such a simple silhouette. The Orion gown is hand embellished with sequins to create an antique shimmery pattern all over the gown and costs $2800. One of my favorites in the collection is the Dominique gown; it costs $2850.00 and is a modern take on a traditional A-line wedding gown, made of pure silk with an exquisite floral jacquard weave. J Crew gowns are simply not for brides on a very tight budget, the lowest price gown costs $295.00 and is a painfully simple silk tricotine dress that would work well for a destination wedding but would look too simple for a big church affair.

Dominique pure silk gown $2850.00

Silk tricotine Sophia dress $295.00