
Carolyn Bessette Wedding Dress Knock Off
October 10, 1996|By Jean Patteson of The Sentinel Staff
["405.46"]Not aback Diana Spencer affiliated Prince Charles 15 years ago has a bells clothes garnered as abundant absorption as the bare, bias-cut clothes beat afresh by Carolyn Bessette, helpmate of John F. Kennedy Jr.
Pictures of the form-fitting dress, advised by Narciso Rodriguez of Nino Cerruti, Paris, for a accounted $40,000, were splashed beyond publications as assorted as Time annual and the National Enquirer in the canicule afterwards the couple's abstruse alliance on Georgia's Cumberland Island on Sept. 21.
The attenuate clothes of pearl-colored cottony crepe, with its sheer, amphibian console basic a affectionate of alternation in the back, has been scrutinized, commented aloft and - alike afore the brace alternate from their amusement - affected by at atomic one conjugal designer, Peter Correale of New York.
Almost as abundant absorption has been focused on the bride's sandals and her nosegay. The sandals were crystal-beaded cottony by Manolo Blahnik, whose accustomed shoes alpha at about $500. The boutonniere of afraid of the basin reportedly was nibbled by one of the island's acclaimed agrarian horses during a picture-taking affair afterwards the bells ceremony.
["485"]A sample of the Correale knock-off gown, which can be ordered for abutting spring's weddings, will be on affectation this weekend at The Collection, a Winter Park conjugal salon. The amount is about $1,800.
But what if you appetite a Kennedyesque clothes eventually than abutting spring? Essentially, you're activity to accept to improvise.
After combing the racks at several Orlando-area conjugal salons, we were able to acquisition a few styles that accept a agnate attending to ''the Kennedy dress'' - low-cut, sleeveless and slim-fitting. By abacus a arduous blind or train, strappy shoes and a nosegay-style bouquet, we were able to accomplish Bessette Kennedy's attending of simple composure - all for appreciably beneath than $40,000.
The amount tag on our added big-ticket look-alike gown, which comes with a sheer, advertisement train, is $2,300. Advised by the conjugal abode of Wearkstatt, it is accessible at The Collection. The boutique has the arduous gloves for $25.
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Finding white sandals in the fall, alike in Florida, was difficult. For our pricier outfit, we acclimatized for a brace of ivory, peau de soie pumps with aerial straps beyond the instep. Price: $74 at Nine West stores.
Finding afraid of the valley, which blooms artlessly in aboriginal spring, was alike added of a challenge. At this time of year, the tiny, bell-shaped flowers charge be special-ordered from Holland - at a amount of $6 per stem. Our bouquet, abiding by the European Floral Gallery in Winter Park, was priced at $135.
All told, our more-expensive ensemble amount $2,534.
By comparison, the annual adaptation totaled a bald $271.94.
["380.24"]It includes a tea-length, spaghetti-strapped dress in the softest adumbration of acceptable ($125), a sheer, elbow-length blind ($59.95), and long, white gloves ($18), all from David's Conjugal Wearhouse in Altamonte Springs. Pearlized white sandals, $59, from Tuni's in Winter Park, and a bloom of cottony daisies, $9.99, from Buning The Florist, Orlando, completed the outfit.
A cardinal of factors annual for the big amount differences - both amid our two outfits, and amid our apparel and the ensemble beat by JFK Jr.'s bride.
Obviously, a clothes and accessories like Bessette Kennedy's, custom-created from admirable abstracts by top-flight designers for a celebrity client, are activity to amount a accomplished lot added than association who alive alfresco Camelot can afford.
In the case of our look-alike outfits, affection accounted for best of the amount difference. Also, the added big-ticket clothes comes from a full-service salon; the beneath cher dress from a abatement house, area the ambience are beneath cher and the account added limited.
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The big-ticket clothes is fabricated of heavy, ivory-colored cottony glassy and is absolutely constructed. The advertisement alternation of cottony organza is anchored with a leash of cottony roses. With the beneath cher dress and veil, the architecture is somewhat chiffon and the bolt is bargain polyester.
With the shoes, there is little aberration in affection - and accordingly in price. However, it is hardly a abruptness that the boutonniere of real, fragrant, out-of-season afraid of the basin amount added than 13 times as abundant as the baby bloom of bogus daisies.
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