Glamour Closet/ A not-quite-new dress

So, I'm sure a review of a second-hand gown store in the USA isn't terribly relevant to most of my readership, but I'm going to give it anyway. Well, the focus will be more on the pros and cons of the second-hand gown market. It's not something that's terribly common in Australia, but given my exposure to US blogs, I'd already been poring over OnceWed and PreOwnedWeddingDress.

I'd first considered a vintage dress, but I own a few frocks from the 1940s onwards, and vintage invariably does mean some imperfections and greater delicacy. Well, a second-hand or sample gown isn't much different from vintage, aside from the age. It would give me the opportunity to wear a gown I couldn't otherwise afford (how great is this Vera Wang at about 75% off?). And re-using is definitely an environmentally friendly option.

So, Glamour Closet. The gowns varied, from really very, very lightly worn, to 'Oh my god, you're trying to sell this?!' (I picked out a beautiful crochet lace gown, only to find out it had gaping holes down the front). The variety was nice. I found the prices to be high compared to the online sites, but I quickly worked out that often what you can't tell from a picture, or the gown on the rack, how it will look on you. So I really appreciated to chance to shop other than online.

I did find a very pretty dress, at $2700 from around $8000, I believe. But it made me feel like an ice princess - beautiful, serene, shy. To be honest, on my wedding day, I want to feel sassy. I want to saunter down that aisle, not tiptoe. Also $2700 (+ sales tax + currency conversion) was more than I wanted to pay. So it was not the gown.