As you may be aware, living in Israel can have serious consequences.  That’s because the State of Israel commits horrible crimes against humanity every day. These manifest themselves in the form of hideous Israeli wedding dresses.  Since we are knee-deep in wedding season, I thought I’d take a moment to remind you that tomorrow is Hideous Israeli Wedding Dress Awareness Day (HIWDAD), a day that was made up by me just about fifteen minutes ago as I was going through Facebook pictures of Israeli weddings.   To be fair, Benji Lovitt has been valiantly fighting this troubling trend for years.

If you are familiar with Israeli weddings, you know this dress has been popular for the past five years or so.  You know, the one with the barely-there middle that seems the be reenacting the parting of the Sea that exists between the bride’s upper chestal region and her navel.  (yes, chestal.)

collection07_sabina10

The 11th plague. Whorrible.

My question is, why do Israeli women do this to themselves?  Ladies, please.  We may be at war with terrorists.  We are not at war with extra fabric.   Russian Israelis are particularly guilty of adopting this look.
Whoreible.
Oh, the whorror.
I’ve heard from several sources in Israel that this look seems to be dying out.  Is it true?
wedding dress 3

Sleepless in Seeattle

Please spread the word.  HIWDAD is a serious day, for a serious cause.

About the author

vicki

44 Comments

  • Of course no Jewish girl can legally get married in Israel in any of the above dresses without wearing an extra shawl or other tznius coverup while under the chuppah.

  • I salute you as a true activist!
    I think HIWDAD is not only truly worthy of ROIcom backing but also entirely in-line with some of the other projects they’re promoting.

  • Maybe they do this to set themselves apart from the bulletproof frum wedding dresses? Or maybe to earn more as IRC, there’s a Russian custom to “kidnap” the bride and only release her against cash gifts, so they might be trying to get the hopes of the gentlemen in attendance up.

    Get seated though, I’ve foun it can even get worse: http://www.uglydress.com/mtvskank.html

  • worn by the right girls those are beautiful dresses, worn by the wrong girls could be a tragedy.

    I will be sure to steer my borderline zoftig cousins from these dresses on their wedding day, by all means necessary!

  • themicah,
    Which makes me wonder, why are these so popular in the first place?

    Mike,
    Grant-worthy. Also maybe a Twitter account? 🙂

    Froylein,
    OH FOR THE LOVE OF LACE.

    Yoni,
    Thank you for continuing the awareness and spreading it to your family. Unfortunately, these dresses can impact not only zaftig ladies, but skinny girls as well, and have the unfortunate effect of making them look like they are going to a wedding sponsored by Victoria’s Secret. Only there’s not really any secret.

  • Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! for posting this.

    Israeli fashion has been a running joke between my wife and I since we got here.

    I will always remember the day I handed over a check with my whole life savings to the Branch Manager of Bank Leumi’s main Ra’anana office. She (the manager, not my wife!) was wearing a satiny tube top that matched her frosted fingernails and plastic-pearl chandelier earrings.

    It’s been downhill since then.

    Lycra should be illegal away from the beaches.

  • I hate to mention this, but these designs aren’t limited to Israel, anyone who’s seen the TV show “Say Yes To the Dress” knows they’re very popular in the US too. They ain’t cheap either.

  • I didn’t realize they’d spread over to the US, Lisa. When I got married last fall, I guess I wasn’t looking hard enough for Frechaware. Time to take up the fight here as well, I guess.

    Ben-David, you’d think “Lycra should be illegal away from the beaches” would be obvious. Alas.

  • A Turkish student of mine told me the other day her sister was getting a wedding gown like the above ones made in Turkey, bodice set with rhinestones, as it was only 5,000 Euros there. Considering general clothing prices over here, this would compare to a $15,000 dress in the US. I’m not sure what’s common, but that rings me as a lot of money for one-occasion-only dress.

  • “Which makes me wonder, why are these so popular in the first place? ”
    To really understand Israel you must understand that much many of it’s founders and pioneers were teens rebelling from their traditional Jewish parents.
    If these dresses and Tel Aviv beach is not a rebellion against tznious, I don’t know what is.
    You see it’s not just “bad taste” it’s deeper and historical.
    Like people are saying “OK so to get you (the rabbinate) to get us married I will cover up under the Chuppa, but the minute you’re gone I’ll strip down to my belly dancers costume and have some fun.”

  • i thought this was just a russian jewish thing. i apologize on behalf of my community for subjecting the state of israel to this sluttery.

    the 2nd dress (on the runway model) is kinda cute, though.

  • $15,000 for a dress? Egads, froylein. That’s how much whole weddings cost. What is she buying? The Louvre?

    Mia, Thank you for your succinct explanation. 🙂

    Rozi, It’s not your fault. Just spread the word. That’s all we can do against this plague. 🙂

  • Oh by the way, when I was shopping for a dress for my sisters wedding I tried an evening dress in the same style just for fun.
    It was not comfortable at all, and that synthetic lace is itchy.
    BTW I especially hate the last one.

  • I think the men who’ve commented on this post deserve praise for being so self-accepting and comfortable with their sexuality.

  • hmm its not only the wedding dresses that are an abomination have you not seen the ghastly synthetic shiny satin suits worn by the chatans. often plastered with diamante rhinestones and embroidery they are probably the most horrible garments ever made, so different fron the top hat and tails sported by my own dear husband !

  • not really a comment, but who knows, maybe some kind soul will answer this query. Been invited to an Israeli wedding. Can’t go — wrong side of the ocean. What sort of gift would be appropriate to send?
    P.S. — I can guarantee that this bride won’t qualify for the wedding dress horror prizes. A real sweetie.
    Plus,who could top Benjii Lovitt’s entry?

  • Hi JudyK! Gift Registries don’t happen here and so you are left to your own devices when buying gifts. So here are some ideas if you consider cash to gauche… do not buy them Judaica unless you know the couple well. Israel is, as expected, awash in Judaica! I would recommend gift certificates from Ikea or Ace Hardware where they can get stuff they need. It’s not cash but it’s still very handy!

  • I specialize in designing tznius/modest wedding dresses but many non frum Jewish girls ask me to make them non tznius dresses because they don’t dress tznius. The truth is everyone is raised diffidently and we should not judge.

  • judge shmudge. I live in Israel and recently got engaged. Yes, the wedding is here in the hummusland and I AM TERRIFIED that I will wind up in one of these transparent corseted, rhinestoned monstrosities. Thanks for bringing awarness to the cause. (but if I do wind up in one of these, I’ll be sure to send you pictures, to save the next poor Jewish girl from undergoing this trauma).

  • wow ………. I am going to gift that dress to my sister as her anniversary gift.. i like it so much. she will look very cute in that dress…

  • I love the second dress! but agree the others are pretty bad. But what’s wrong with the second one!

  • Since you like to ridicule, and judge…I will fight fire with fire, here is my two cents: You’re pathetic for even posting such nonsense.

  • You are so wrong for this article. These dresses are beautiful in every way, and remind me of my favorite dress designer Galit Couture. You need to remember you are not CATHOLIC but JEWISH !!!!!!!!!

  • I think that these dresses remind me of Panina Torne. They definitely have a different feel to them. I want to make sure that my wedding dress is a little more modest because I think I would be more comfortable in that.