Apologies for being away so long, but amongst my other time-sensitive things to do, I have wedding planning on the brain. No hired wedding planners for me. No siree, only I can give birth to my evil plan, uh I mean my dream wedding! I am a mad schemer and a vicious dreamer. It's all about research, spending money and picking out pretty and yummy things! It is bedrudgingly detailed work but it will all be worth it in the end.In my search for a timeless, elegant, beautiful, not so stuffy and different dress with which to accouter my bridesmaids, a was sent a little piece of heaven by a good friend (and maid to be) named Peg. The celestial finding is called Two Birds Bridesmaid. Mucho Kudos to Peg! Essentially it is one dress which can be wrapped and tied in more than 10 different ways, creating limitless styles. There are 2 lengths, calf length with a butterfly hem ($270) and floor length ($290). The Two Birds Bridesmaid salon is located in New York's West Village and is owned and operated by Ariane Goldman, who worked for eight years at American Express in marketing before going into business for herself.
Yes, I already know...Two Birds was not the originator of this idea, it was also done by Butter by Nadia which is sold at Calypso, similar versions were done by Victoria Secret, American Apparel and even Speigel sold a Norma Kamali wrap skirt with the same concept. I'm sure countless others have done this dress or a version of it in the past. In fact, the original dress (or at least one of the first versions) I was able to find was done by a designer in the 70's named Lydia Silvestry, they called it, "The Infinite Dress".
The bottomline is, Two Birds is marketing it the right way. SO WHAT if they didn't come up with it themselves! The Ipod wasn't the first MP3 player, should the Apple Ipod not be supported? Ariane has brought the one size fits all, convertible dress to the fashion spotlight. Butter by Nadia's version is beautiful as well, but unless you shop at Calypso, Dolce Vita or other boutique stores which carry it, you might not know this dress exists. I give props to a woman with a brain and mad marketing skills! My bridesmaids loved trying it on and experimenting with the different tie-ing methods. They said is was comfortable and versatile and in truth I will be borrowing it from one of them sometime in the future!
Ariane and the Two Birds dress were recently featured on The Martha Stewart Show this past february. You can also find them in SELF magazine ( March 08), BRIDES New York (Spring/Summer 08), InStyle Weddings (Winter 08), Daily Candy (October 07) and BFF Bridal (September 07).
See it here.... http://www.twobirdsbridesmaid.com/
