I don’t really have strong feelings about wedding dresses. I’ve never been married, but when I plan my wedding to Benedict Cumberbatch, I imagine it will be a small affair and I’ll probably wear a very simple white or off-white dress with some kind of fabulous sweater coat, perhaps in grey or light blue. Is this idea terribly offensive to the wedding gown purists?
Well, I have to say – Keira Knightley seems to agree with me, that a wedding dress should just be a pretty dress and if you want to re-wear it, you should. These are some photos of Keira at a charity event last night in London. This Chanel dress – which photographs like off-white but is in reality a pale pink – is her repurposed wedding dress. She wore this dress (sans the sheer sleeves) to her French country wedding to James Righton last year – you can see the wedding photos here. This is actually the third time Keira has worn this dress to a major event – the first outing for the Chanel was back in 2008, to a pre-BAFTA event. Then she recycled it for her wedding, and then again last night.
Is this wedding-gown heresy? I think it’s kind of cool. I like that Keira didn’t, like, go to Vera Wang and have some huge princess gown made for the event. It would have felt un-Keira-like. This is who she is – a thrifty hipster girl who loves her Chanel party dress so much that she re-wears it often.
PS… James Righton looks super-cute in these photos. I have a growing respect for Keira’s taste in pretty boys now that I’ve seen more of Jamie Dornan and Rupert Friend. Right? She likes ‘em pretty and hot.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Hell why not? It’s cute.
I don’t blame girlfriend, I would rework that dress as well.
I actually like seeing celebs wearing the same thing more than once. It makes me feel a bit better about wearing the same pair of slacks to work twice a week. Most of my trousers are black so I can get away with it.
Yeah I’m not a big fan of hers but I think it’s really cool she did that.
It’s kind of like an FU to all the pomp and circumstance behind a lot of (but not all) weddings.
I don’t find her man even a little bit hot though–he looks like a Jonas brother. Frankly, I’m a bit offended that he was included with the likes of Rupert Friend and Jaime Dornan.
Amen to that. I love the dress, I love the repurposing, I don’t love Righton as a replacement/equivalent for Friend.
She looked so much better in this dress with Rupert Friend & His Cheekbones on her arm: http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/keira-knightley-wedding-dress-recycled-1872373
P.S. Homeland is totally underutilizing Friend as Peter Quinn.
I mean she must think of her wedding day when wearing the dress, so I find it really sweet!
@Bored-Friend is the only reason why I’m still watching Homeland and I agree that he and Knightley looked fantastic together.
She’s a doll and I love her. Oh, and on my last date (with a Brit, no less!) I was told, unprompted, I have her eyes 😀
Def. a great compliment. She has gorgeous eyes…
Good for her. She looks great and obviously feels great in it. The vows are sacred. The material things that come with the wedding are not.
super cute sandals too
Um, awesome.
That’s what I came here to say. 🙂
Absolutely. It’s her dress to do with as she sees fit, and if she wants to re-purpose it seven ways from Sunday good for her.
I read that is used be be a thing long ago where high society women would wear their wedding gowns for the year after marriage when going to the opera and such. I loved my tea length lacy wedding dress. My husband teased me about wearing it out after like I might as well be pushing a kitty cat in a baby carriage. I was born at the wrong time in history.
I wish I could do this with mine. Its currently a crumpled heap in an upstairs closet lol. Bravo Keira!
+1!!
Yes!
Yep.
Took the words right out of my mouth, sister. I think this is amazing.
Exactly!
I always had this theory that she maybe had a actual wedding dress that she wore inside the church and then got changed into the Chanel after the ceremony.
Though probably not, I just thought it was a teeny tiny bit strange that she re-used a dress for her wedding.
Not a fan of the sleeves. I like the idea of re purposing a gown – but I know I wouldn’t have the guts to actually do it. I’ll preserve mine or something.
I’m totally gonna get a wedding dress that I can do a Marge Simpson and re-purpose several times before it falls apart. I wanna get my money’s worth!
Oh, and my mum had to throw her wedding dress away because it sat in a box somewhere and went all yellow and rotten. So, worn once only to rot away. I’ll totally get my money’s worth!
Amazing, hands down. Check out this great effort to ‘re-purpose’ wedding gowns here in my hometown:
http://thebridesproject.com/
I’m really sorry for how much that rhymed.
It’s fine…we don’t mind: it wasn’t timed. That website shines…you seem very kind!
That made me laugh, pre-coffee. Brava to you 🙂
Lol. I almost shot tea out of my nose hahaha!
Hehe! That was cute as hell, ladies.
It looks horrible with that shirt thing she’s wearing under it.
I agree. If it were me, I’d also wear a better bra under that dress.
I don’t have a problem if she likes her dress so much that she wants to wear it over again. I think a lot of attractive things could have been done to revamp or revitalize this dress. However, slapping on the sheer sleeves, with the ugly exposed seams, and lace/beading, just is was not one of them. With all due respect, it looks kind of like a challenge on Project Runway to me.
When I do get married, I don’t see myself re-purposing my wedding dress, it’s a big part of what will be a truly special and life-changing dress for me.
That said though, seeing as she wore this dress even before her wedding, I think for her, it’s special but at the same time, it’s just a dress that she really seems to love wearing so I’ll give her a pass (not that my opinion matters, her dress, her body, her life).
Love her. That is all.
I love my wedding dress so much I would wear it every day if I could. That whole train thing wouldn’t really work in the office though.
I think this is awesome.
You made me lol.
I totally agree, L. More of us should do it. I understand some people do have an emotional attachment to their wedding dress, and Keira obviously does, too. She’s just taken it to a whole new level. Rather than just packing it away in a box, never to be worn, or sometimes, even looked at, again, she wears it again and again. It’s a fabulous idea, and I love her for not giving a toss about the sentimentality and sacredness of a bloody dress.
My emotional attachment to my dress manifested in me buying a dress I could wear again. It’s just a cute, short white dress I bought in a mall and it looks amazing for nights out. To me I guess it’s a little bit of reliving the wedding each time and that’s what makes it special. I love the idea of making wedding dresses more useful, if mine was more ‘weddingy’ I’d have donated it for sure.
Some people have an emotional attachment to the dress and want to keep it forever – great! Some people want to help other women have a more affordable wedding/get some money back and they sell their dress – great! People should do what they want with their own wedding dress. Keira looks gorgeous here and I have a lot of respect for her being somewhat less wasteful and wearing the dress again.
+1 to everything, I’m one of those “it’s-so-sacred” people but like you’ve said, people should do whatever they want with their dresses, there’s nothing offensive about it at all.
My wife and I flew to a state where we could be married, and because of the flight I chose to go with a short little dress. (I wasn’t checking ANYTHING wedding related, as far as I cared they could lose my clothing and all but NOTHING FROM THE WEDDING!) A year after we were married I was super excited when we got a party invite and I could wear my dress again! My wife, who never cares and is very much the “butch” partner almost died! She was BEYOND upset that I would even think of wearing it to a party and insisted it get boxed and sealed. I was shocked that she reacted at all much less that her reaction would be so strong, but I understand that some people are more attached to the meaning of it!
It’s pretty much the only think I have ever seen her have such attachment to in our eight years together, even the kids drawings and writing that I hoard she’s kind of like pick a few and get rid of the rest! lol
If I had that dress I would wear it as often as possible. I think the dress and Keira are awesome.
ita
i love every detail of this story
I like it.
Granted, I know a wedding has different meanings for people, but I think with her the vows were enough.
This is just a dress, one she likes, so she wears it.
Im not a Cumby fan (y’all know that) but I can’t knock him for reusing a perfectly good suit! Kudos to her as well.
Good for her. It’s a lovely dress and she looks beautiful in it. In a world were the kardashion’s spend $250,000 on their fam Xmas card, it’s good to see a celeb receycle their outfit and yes, even their wedding dress.
Right? It’s good to see that some celebs actually spend money wisely.
I agree with you 100%, Aussi girl.
She looks lovely and this world needs more recycling as opposed to rampart consumerism.
Cool idea, but I don’t like the design of the sleeves.
I actually love the idea. My thoughts are it is too monumental a day to never wear again. I bought a purse and shoes for my wedding day that I bust out occasionally. The purse was my “something blue” and my shoes were high heeled silver sandals. Every time I use them I think of that incredible day.
Why not? I don’t get the big deal. Although I think the dress was far more lovely without the re-purposed sleeves.
Sure, why not. Hell if I found *the* dress for me and it also happened to be Chanel couture, I’d be quite the Havisham about it. They’d have to peel the tatters from my lifeless body.
I have a pair of sandals like that.
The dress is lovely.
I wish I could’ve recycled my wedding gown! If I could I’d wear it around the house while doing the dishes or something. Like that episode of Friends.
Haha, I think its great. However it fits a bit oddly in the bust area but I do love the sleeves.
I think it’s really cool that she had a wedding dress that actually could be worn for other occasions. It should be a dress that makes you feel amazing and that you’d want to wear again and again. I’ve never even had that luck with bridesmaid dresses!
SO. COOL.
I think it’s adorable! Why not? Whenever I look at my wedding dress, I cringe!! It was a corset on top with a big poofy skirt. It just wasn’t the right kind of dress for my body type. But that was the style back then. Ugh. I wish I had gone for a much simpler dress.
I love it so much. Timeless dress
“I imagine it will be a small affair and I’ll probably wear a very simple white or off-white dress with some kind of fabulous sweater coat, perhaps in grey or light blue. Is this idea terribly offensive to the wedding gown purists?” LOL! Sounds wonderful Kaiser! Wish more brides would do this.
Not tacky at all. My wedding dress was a simple $50 khaki shirt dress, and I wore it to Thanksgiving this year.
My prom dress eventually became a nightgown. I’ve always liked simple dresses that can be worn again and again, even if it’s a ~special occasion~ 🙂
Not into her but TOTALLY INTO THIS SITUATION
Also Props to another Graduate of the Lisa Bonet Institute for Sex: Mama Doesnt Fuck Ugly Men!
I think she looks cute in this dress 🙂 Besides, this is her wedding dress, she can do whatever she wants with it.
Love the dress and it looks great on her! Good for her!!!!
I see no problem. Why let it hang for 30 years in your closet. It looks adorable on her.
And that reminds me of something that irritates me. I have to say it really bugs me this new trend of brides putting on their wedding dresses for a photoshoot where they go in the ocean and ruin the dress. There are so many underprivileged women in this country getting married that can’t afford it and could really use a nice wedding dress or organizations that can do good with your dress, like one of the options below that uses the sale of wedding dresses to build a school in Haiti. Instead of ruining an expensive wedding dress, why not do some good with it? That’s what I did. Just a pet peeve of mine.
A list of great organizations that do great things with donations of wedding dresses.
http://www.wikihow.com/Donate-a-Wedding-Dress
I think it’s a bit of a weird trend too and wasteful, but I guess if someone wants to destroy a dress the bought, then they can do that lol. I got married last month and I’m planning on wearing my dress next summer for a photo shoot out at my parents farm, in the yellow canola fields. Sounds silly and vain, but why not throw it on again while my dad snaps a few photos of me and the huband.
Amazing. It’s a great dress and it looks fantastic on her. And props to her for not giving a fuck!!!
Adorable! Very cute and appropriate!
Her dress looks beautiful, I would wear it again if I had that.
I like it!
In the old days ladies used their wedding gowns to make their babies christening gowns. I wish i had done that but i cannot sew! My gown sits stored in a box in the basement for no reason. Good for Kiera – she does what she likes. Also, good for her standing up to say don’t photoshop my breasts bigger. I think she is a good role model for girls.
I love Kiera’s beautifully petite bust! However, she’s going against the tide.
Taking the typical Hollywood route of breast augmentation, Kate Hudson is more the norm. She looked so much prettier before her implants, and I’ll never understand why anyone would risk losing their nipples’ pleasurable feeling just to conform to society’s mold of ‘sexy’. Personally, the only exception that makes sense to me for either bolt-ons or breast reduction is for health reasons.
Don’t get me wrong here, I’m all for having any procedure that makes your life better. My wish though for women is that we’d not only see our au naturale selves as the epitome of beauty, but we’d love and cherish ourselves for our unadorned radiance.
Patriarchy sucks so hard. As a celebrity, Kiera clearly is an outlier in the best sense of the word!
so true Sloane, I say this constantly. I went in for a lift and evil dr breast talked me into “small implants”. I was dumb and vulnerable to his “expertise”. They were too big and dropped to my waist in a few months. (2) more surgeries later to correct said error, and they exploded! Now i have a nice lift but ugly huge scars. Patriarchy six!! We need more petit sized celeb examples like Kiera, I so agree.
I’m so sorry, homegrrrrl! Thank you for your personal story.
I love people who don’t make a big deal out of their wedding. It’s a special day yes but some women can really become bridezillas and transform something that should be a family event into a freak show. I love the fact Keira has used the wedding dress before the wedding and that has now been transformed into a nice wearable dress for any occasion.
When I first saw the headline “Kiera Knightly repurposed her wedding dress for a red carpet”, I thought “Wow! She’s made a carpet out of her wedding dress! (Like Carol Burnett making a new dress out of the curtain rod in the ‘Gone With the Wind parody’.) How cool and unusual!”
This makes me like Kiera more! It takes verve to literally make a dress your own, let alone have repeat wearings in the public eye. I don’t see her with a ‘Cribs’ over the top opulent series of mirrored rooms as her closet. It’s so refreshing for a wealthy actress to shun conspicuous consumption, when we’re bombarded everyday with the shallow materialism like it’s some kind of compulsory religion!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Nt0yi4wbro – Carol Burnett Show- Went With the Wind, Part 2
I like it too, it’s a really cute idea and her dress was perfect for “repurposing”.
I like that Keira is classy and fame and fortune hasn’t gone to her head. I think it shows that she was likely the same way before she was ever successful. She is the complete opposite of the Kartrashian’s. Everyone expects tacky from Kim and PMK and that is what we get. From their wedding to her clothes to her babies make to her proposal. Whereas Keira isn’t a famewhores and on her honeymoon the pics showed her being super chill wearing overalls.
I wish I could have repurposed my reem acra wedding dress and worn it over and over again. I loved that thing. It made me sad that it was just for the short walk down the aisle, so yay for her! The dress is super cute and suits her.
Love her even more after reading this story. Good for her getting additional mileage out of her wedding dress because let’s face it, most brides wear their wedding dress only once, then it’s packed away forever. Me included. All that time spent selecting the perfect dress for only a few hours of actual wear. LoL
The dress is beautiful and she looks beautiful in it.
I think she’s so beautiful. I just love her bone structure. . .
I think she looks GORGEOUS here, and the dress is a very big part of it! 🙂
I really like the fact that the dress has meant so much to her since ’08 that she wears it to many different special events in her life-including her wedding. I mean, why not? (I’m a wedding-loving girlie lady through & through, but I’ve always thought that one of the most ridiculous wedding traditions of all is 1. That we would willingly spend thousands of dollars on a dress meant for a single day. And 2. That you spend that much money on a gown and then keep it forever locked away in a plastic bag in your closet. Why??! So dumb…)
The prettiest girls are simply happy girls and you can see that in Keira. She is comfortable with herself, she found her man, she doesn’t feel the need to prove something to anyone. I admire her!
I think it’s great. I never had a wedding dress but if I had I wouldn’t want it to just sit in a closet.
I think it’s genius. Wish I’d thought of it.
Good for her. It’s a lovely dress, it suits her and she’s obviously down to earth.
I LOVE the dress and love that she wore it again. How could she not?
My fave Kiera movie is ‘The Hole’. All should see it!
Love the dress, too.
I want to dye and shorten my wedding dress and repurpose it.
I would have done the same but..alas, I’ve no red carpet to walk 😉 kudos to her for doing that though.
The dress looked beautiful – like a fairy dress, but in a good way – when she wore it for her wedding, but it’s fugly with the cheap looking sleeves attached.
BTW I hardly think a woman who gets gifted Chanel dresses worth thousands of quid can be described as ‘thrifty just because she wears them more than once. I wish I had the opportunity to be so thrifty!
It’s a darling idea, she looks great & the days of handing down wedding dresses is largely a thing of the past
Smart and she looks darling!
Good on her. It’s a cute dress. Cute couple too.
She’s so pretty and a Chanel dress? I’d wear it as many times as possible! She looks great!
For the girls who have packed your dresses away, rip those boxes open! During some of parents anniversaries, my mom would put on her dress even though it didn’t zip up and my dad would put on parts of his tuxedo and they’d dance around while the kids would clap and toast them with apple cider. Good memories.
It’s ridiculous to hold onto a boxed dress because you might have a daughter one day, who might share your style, might be the same size, and might want to wear it instead of getting her own dress. That’s a lot of maybes. Have fun with the dress instead!
I’ve reworn part of my wedding dress. My mother had a beautiful skirt that she wore for her wedding, and I knew I wanted to use that, but I needed something on top. Since it was a long full skirt I figured I might as well buy a dress I liked (it happened to be orange) and wear the wedding skirt over the bottom half. I loved it, and it meant that I could both wear part of my mother’s dress, and have a new dress that I could wear again for special occasions (I wore it on Easter of this year).
I guess it never seemed strange to me because mom would wear the lace top she wore for her wedding on special occasions too.
OMG, beautiful gown! I wanted to see what it looked like before she altered it, though.
I’m pretty sure it’s Rodarte and not Chanel…
Good on her for wearing it more than once!
What I most like is the fact she hasn’t gotten a boob job…
[fingers crossed…]
That material makes me cringe like “nails on a chalkboard” ! AH
It’s Chanel. And it’s beautiful. If I looked as good as she does in it, I would wear it everyday, even to the grocery store.
Nice dress. I would do the same.
I would re-purpose mine too if it wasn’t a tacky POS that I purchased last minute for my shot-gun wedding.
I was 9mos preggerz, haha, and there is actually a website for pregnant brides. I called up, and a rep asked for my measurements. I busted out the carpenter metal thing to measure (who has real measuring tape anymore?) and apparently I was about to spend a fortune dressing up a giant easter egg. ( me)
So I went to some chola shop where the Mexicana granny found something that fit and said,
“no whun will ayveer know! (I can mock this accent/store because I’m latina)
So I threw it away a few months later. Whalah. Repurposed a la landfill!
She looks painfully thin.
It’s all sorts of amazing
EAT, bitch!!
i don’t see how it could be heresy to repurpose or reuse a wedding dress. lots of big designers, such as viviene westwood, offer a service to dye their white wedding dresses after the wedding to make them more wearable in future. if you spend a lot of money on a dress, why not make the most out of it?
I definitely love this. I’ve always known that when I get married, I’d get a dress that I could wear over and over. I’d love to have someone compliment my dress one day, and I’d get to say, “Thanks! I got married in it.”
“pretty and hot”? James Righton looks like a zombie, wtf