How CBK, slick-back buns, and millennial cringe have added a whole new anxiety to wedding gown shopping.
If you’re pop culturally inclined, getting married, or a girl between the ages of 22 and 45, you have probably had some kind of conversation about Carolyn Bessette Kennedy within the past week.
The airing of American Love Story, specifically the “Wedding Episode” that aired last week, has yet again brought the famous pic of CBK in her Narsico Rodriguez gown to the forefront. You know this one.
(Although in my humble opinion, it’s not even the best photo of the gown! You can barely see the neckline, and that gown is all neck… That's this photo.)
But if you’re in the wedding orbit, that photo is basically the Declaration of Independence. Always referenced. Often incorrectly.
The word that rings when brides describe the look is the word all brides strive for - “It’s so timeless.”
A word so regularly flexed in the wedding fashion world, it’s lost all meaning. See also: Classic & Chic.
The pursuit of a “timeless” look has recently taken another casualty.
Slick back buns. Once themselves deemed classic, are now debatable.
TikTok is filled with 2026/2027 brides who’ve already ordered their gown - but before it's even tailored - the fear creeps in that it will appear “dated.”
God forbid you become the poster child for whatever the 2026’s equivalent of millennial mason jars will be.
Here’s the argument I am here to make: Weddings are inherently traditional. Wedding gowns are traditional. But like all traditions they evolve and change.
Wedding gowns are at the end of the day, pieces of clothing. Clothing styles, technology, and access change.
A 1920s slip dress won't have a zipper in sight.
A 1950s fit-and-flare is bound to have a heavy-duty metal zipper and some newly discovered polyester.
A 1960s scoop neck is always going to be higher than a 1990s scoop neck.
Styles change. Tastes change. Politics change. (And wedding gowns are not immune to political change - look no further than the gowns made of Parachute silk during WWII.)
No wedding gown is immune to the cycles of trends or the march of time.
Nowhere is this more evident than at Happy Isles.
A Basque waist 90s Catherine Rayner gown. A 00s Ralph Lauren plunge column gown. A 20s slip. All wildly different. All “classic” in the eyes of a certain bride.
But wedding gowns should speak to their time and your style! Who doesn’t love looking at photos of their Mom, Grandma, and Aunts in puffed sleeves and audacious headpieces? Even CBK's gown. It screams of mid-90s minimalism.
Weddings are, in the end, a moment in time.
This isn't a piece of clothing that needs to serve you for years to come. This needs to be the perfect gown for that moment.
A sentimental act, one of hopefully many throughout a long and happy relationship. There’s so much more your wedding gown can do than be “classic” or “timeless.”
Your gown can speak to your love story, personality, heritage, and style.
When you let go of the fear of your gown not “aging well” (in the eyes of whom?), the possibilities are endless.
There’s enough to cause anxiety while planning a wedding.
Putting your relatives who don’t get along far enough from each other at dinner. How to get people to that remote mountainside where the ceremony absolutely must take place. Curating the vibe of the dance floor.
Don't add worrying about if your gown has an expiration date.
