Trash the dress
Encyclopedia
Trash the dress, also known as fearless bridal or rock the frock, is a style of wedding photography
that contrasts elegant clothing with an environment in which it is out of place. It is generally shot in the style of fashion
and glamour photography
.
"Trash the dress" is the art of destruction or deconstruction of a brides wedding dress to create a new "artwork" that the bride would be proud to display on their wall. This new "masterpiece" is formed in the creative destruction of the dress. This will normally be portrayed in a sequence of images or simply a single image.
Usually brides decide to have pictures taken on a beach, but other locations include city streets, rooftops, garbage dumps, fields, and abandoned buildings.
Some sources claim that the trend was originally started in 2001 by Las Vegas
wedding photographer John Michael Cooper. However, the idea of destroying a wedding dress has been used in Hollywood symbolically since at least October 1998 when Meg Cummings of the show Sunset Beach
ran into the ocean in her wedding dress after her wedding was badly interrupted. Since then the style has spread around the world and most notably in the UK, with photographers like Steve Gerrard and Mark Theisinger, amongst others, shoot their unique ideas of Trash the Dress.
Brides are increasingly expecting more from their weddings photos, and trash the dress is an example of these expectations. Brides and grooms want to feature in the art on the walls of their homes.
A model often wears a ball gown
, prom dress or wedding dress
, and may effectively ruin the dress in the process by getting it wet, dirty or in extreme circumstances tearing or destroying the garment.
It may be done as an additional shoot after the wedding, almost as a declaration that the wedding is done and the dress will not be used again. It is seen as an alternative to storing the dress away.
In a Mass Trash The Dress event September 9, 2009 more than 150 women wore their wedding dresses once more and were pictured on a beach in Scheveningen, Netherlands. Fine art photographer Melanie Rijkers (MeRy) initiated the act after she found out about the American phenomenon on the internet. First mass Trash The Dress: 08-08-'08. Future dates: 10-10-'10, 11-11-'11 and 12-12-'12.
A mass Trash The Dress event was held in Adelaide
in South Australia
6 February 2011.
14 August 2011: 1st Annual Niagara’s Running of the Brides to support Wellspring Niagara, Canada
.
Wedding photography
Wedding photography is the photography of activities relating to weddings. It encompasses photographs of the couple before marriage as well as coverage of the wedding and reception...
that contrasts elegant clothing with an environment in which it is out of place. It is generally shot in the style of fashion
Fashion photography
Fashion photography is a genre of photography devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items. Fashion photography is most often conducted for advertisements or fashion magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair, or Elle...
and glamour photography
Glamour photography
Glamour photography is a genre of photography whereby the subjects, usually female, are portrayed in a romantic or sexually alluring way. The subjects may be fully clothed or seminude, but glamour photography stops short of deliberately arousing the viewer and being pornographic photography.Glamour...
.
"Trash the dress" is the art of destruction or deconstruction of a brides wedding dress to create a new "artwork" that the bride would be proud to display on their wall. This new "masterpiece" is formed in the creative destruction of the dress. This will normally be portrayed in a sequence of images or simply a single image.
Usually brides decide to have pictures taken on a beach, but other locations include city streets, rooftops, garbage dumps, fields, and abandoned buildings.
Some sources claim that the trend was originally started in 2001 by Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
wedding photographer John Michael Cooper. However, the idea of destroying a wedding dress has been used in Hollywood symbolically since at least October 1998 when Meg Cummings of the show Sunset Beach
Sunset Beach (TV series)
Sunset Beach was an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on January 6, 1997, and last airing on December 31, 1999. The show followed the loves and lives of the people living in a fictional coastal city named Sunset Beach, on the coast of California...
ran into the ocean in her wedding dress after her wedding was badly interrupted. Since then the style has spread around the world and most notably in the UK, with photographers like Steve Gerrard and Mark Theisinger, amongst others, shoot their unique ideas of Trash the Dress.
Brides are increasingly expecting more from their weddings photos, and trash the dress is an example of these expectations. Brides and grooms want to feature in the art on the walls of their homes.
A model often wears a ball gown
Ball gown
A ball gown is worn for ballroom dancing and only the most formal social occasions according to rules of etiquette. It is traditionally a full-skirted gown reaching at least to the ankles, made of luxurious fabric, delicately and exotically trimmed. Most versions are cut off the shoulder with...
, prom dress or wedding dress
Wedding dress
A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. Color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants.- Western culture :...
, and may effectively ruin the dress in the process by getting it wet, dirty or in extreme circumstances tearing or destroying the garment.
It may be done as an additional shoot after the wedding, almost as a declaration that the wedding is done and the dress will not be used again. It is seen as an alternative to storing the dress away.
In a Mass Trash The Dress event September 9, 2009 more than 150 women wore their wedding dresses once more and were pictured on a beach in Scheveningen, Netherlands. Fine art photographer Melanie Rijkers (MeRy) initiated the act after she found out about the American phenomenon on the internet. First mass Trash The Dress: 08-08-'08. Future dates: 10-10-'10, 11-11-'11 and 12-12-'12.
A mass Trash The Dress event was held in Adelaide
Adelaide
Adelaide is the capital city of South Australia and the fifth-largest city in Australia. Adelaide has an estimated population of more than 1.2 million...
in South Australia
South Australia
South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...
6 February 2011.
14 August 2011: 1st Annual Niagara’s Running of the Brides to support Wellspring Niagara, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
External links
- WedPix Trash The Dress Article
- http://www.forevercherishedproductions.com/wendy-and-chris-same-day-edit-paint-the-dress/ Trash the dress sample
- More about the Mass Trash The Dress in the Netherlands "Scheveningen/Geertruidenberg, the Netherlands" 09-09-'09/10-10-'10