Say yes to the dress atlanta unveiled11/19/2022 ![]() Kleinfeld’s is Jewish-owned and serves a high percentage of Jewish brides, so the final scenes of Say Yes to the Dress often take place in a synagogue or temple, with yarmulkes on the men, a glass trodden underfoot and cries of “mazel tov!” The show calls no attention to this, either way. It also manages to reveal how, for all its separation of church and state, the United States defaults to Christianity. For two brides, the logistical challenge of procuring two complementary dresses, without the brides ever catching sight of one another.ĭriven by its single-minded celebration of the act of shopping, the show reduces all cultural divides to matters of taste. For an Orthodox bride, a special consultant to ensure modesty. For a Catholic wedding, a high neckline and capped sleeve. The brides are of all stripes, marrying within or outside of their kind. If it seems as though it takes place in the land that feminism forgot, it also is a land that racism, homophobia, fat-shaming, ageism, and religious intolerance forgot. Say Yes manages to be both regressive and subversive. Relentlessly upbeat, but never smarmy, he brings the same gravity to, “Ellen is finally ready to shop for a dress, after putting off the wedding so that she could donate a kidney to her fiancé,” as to “Kyra is worried that her self-tanner will stain her gown,” or, “Ashley wants to avoid the dreaded ‘boob mirage.’ ” He would not sound out of place on FX, on a show about man-caves (in fact, he is the protagonist in Resident Evil). One genius element has been with the show since its inception: the narrator. “Each bride is beautiful, and it’s up to us to find her the dress that highlights that beauty.” He completely means it. Upon repeat viewing I have come to admire Randy’s inexhaustible font of interchangeable truisms, and his earnest delivery. Randy must have been good for ratings soon he featured in every episode and began to provide much of the straight-to-camera commentary (and later got his own spin-off show). Does every fashion show need a queer eye? The show gave more screen time to a core set of empathetic consultants (dressed in black so as to never steal focus) and brought in Randy, the “fashion director,” whom I (and not a few consultants) resented bitterly. But the producers soon figured out that the colorful Brooklyn owners and sales director tarnished the mystique of the boutique viewers did not want the down-and-dirty on the bridal industry. In its first two seasons, the show struggled for narrative arc, taking at first a behind-the-scenes business perspective. Each episode ends with the wedding of one of its brides, and a quote from the new husband that invariably begins, “When I saw her walk down the aisle in that dress” and veers into ”beautiful…happy…luckiest man in the world.” In the show’s claustrophobic confines we root for the bridal consultants (saleswomen) to find each bride “her dress,” the one that makes her cry and say, as if scripted, yet each time with wonder, “I feel like a bride.” In other words, we become retail cheerleaders.īrides come and go, several each episode, although the alteration subplot (the dress was meant to have a sweetheart neckline! the lace is a different color than the veil!) reprises a bride who bought her dress on a previous episode. The insular, small-stakes drama at the heart of Say Yes to the Dress is surprisingly effective. It’s as if there are no other stores, no other men. In the world of Say Yes to the Dress, “leaving empty-handed” is what “leaving broken-hearted” is to The Bachelor. Not to mention the $300 veils (bits of tulle or lace with sequined edging), headpieces (tiaras), bridal shoes, jewelry, and other paraphernalia necessary for “the big day.” Downstairs is “Alterations,” a sweatshop of Eastern-European miracle-workers. The custom-ordered dresses start at $1800 and go up to $50,000, although there are “blowout sales” of sample dresses. Say Yes to the Dress is a reality show that takes place entirely within the confines of Kleinfeld, a bridal store in Manhattan (by way of Bay Ridge) that claims to have the largest selection of dresses on the planet. ![]()
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