The Best Wedding-Guest Dresses, According to People Whose Taste We Trust

Norma Kamali’s Diana dress may be to wedding-guest dresses what Chapstick is tolip balm. (Apparently,thousands were sold in a weekwhen it made an appearance onAnd Just Like That …in baby blue.) It’s got a lot going for it, namely a stretchy poly-Lycra blend. As writerHannah Johnson, who wore one to a ceremony on a Mexican beach, says, “The ruching was definitely forgiving after a long night of margaritas and tacos.” It also comes in colors that aren’t particularly bridesmaid-y: cappuccino, asparagus, and plum.

The wedding of her boyfriend’s friend at a country club in Cincinnati (with a scene that was “string lights, Champagne flowing, and someone’s Aunt Linda showing off her dance moves”) necessitated a new dress, says writerJo Rosenthal. (“I always like to be the most fashionable person at the weddings I attend,” she admits. “Move over, bride.”) Because there wasn’t a dress code, “some guests dressed as if it were prom, while others dressed as if it were a summer barbecue,” she says. This A-line, mixed-fabric frock was the right choice. It has a “dance-friendly length, and it hides all crumbs,” she tells me. Well, at least in navy — it’s also available in butter yellow, poppy red, and a sky-blue–chocolate combination.

Elizabeth Cardinal Tamkin, author of the newsletterThe Corner Boothand content director atKule, wore this red number for a wedding on the waterfront in Portland, Maine. Because it was early May and still a little chilly, she found the gabardine fabric (which should feel similar to a Burberrytrench) kept her from freezing (as did a cashmere shawl). The dress didn’t need to besteamedafter hanging for a mandatory 24 hours before the ceremony, either. “It felt ceremony-party apropos, which is what this wedding was,” she says. It’s figure-hugging with a drop-waist silhouette and ruching along the bustline. “I’m not sure how it would be for someone with a chest,” she says, but as someone with a small bust, she felt supported.

“I don’t personally love renting dresses for formal occasions because I feel like the quality of so many rental sites has dropped, especially on high-rotation items,” saysOset Babür-Winter, founder ofPrix Fixe. Her priority instead has been to find more versatile pieces. In anticipation of a wedding in March at a Mexico City contemporary-art museum, Babür-Winter bought Sézane’s Simona dress. “Some dresses feel like they’d be fun for a wedding on paper, but then you actually put them on and they’re clearly more for going out, you know?” she says. This won’t be restrictive (for moving around at a cocktail hour or being “an active participant on the dance floor”) with its cotton-knit composition (she has gotten a lot of good cotton knits from Sézane). The wedding date also happens to be around six months after the birth of her daughter, and she feels the higher, Empire-style waist will be flattering then.

For a black-tie reception in Rhode Island, influencerHeather Hurstinitially went down a secondhand rabbit hole. “I was at my wits’ end on page 59 of every site,” says Hurst.
Until she foundthis. “It makes me feel very feminine, almost Grecian, and the red feels daring without leaning ostentatious,” she says. It was styled with a messy Sienna Miller–inspired updo and a pair ofmesh flats. As it’s one-shouldered and voluminous, “it’s “perfect for long bouts of dancing and eating.” She took it out to dinner with her parents afterward.

Strategist senior editorHilary Reidattended a wedding in Greece wearing the Sorbae dress from Astr the Label. “The chiffon-y fabric felt just the right amount of formal,” she says, while the cascade of ruffles was “slightly sexy without being over the top.” Reid was a little nervous that the straps, which tie at the shoulders, might come undone while dancing, but she danced until 4 a.m. and they stayed exactly where they were at the beginning of the night.

Helpfully, the bride and groom of a wedding that personal stylistMeredith Fergusonrecently attended had created a mood board for guests to know what to wear. Ferguson also did some more homework: “I looked up the venue. I am a freak who dresses to match the setting.” She knew the pattern on Resa’s Chelsea would work against the view of the Majorcan mountain landscape. And while she went with a taupe-brown polka-dot print, the Chelsea is also available inWarhol-esque flowersand awatercolor-y tie-dye. It’s figure-hugging (necessitating someno-show underwear) with a plunging neckline, halter-tie, and lowV-shaped back.

“I could nap in this thing,” says artistMelly Wirtesof this one-shoulder jersey Rohé. It may be made of what’s called “scuba” material, but it reminds Wirtes more of a windbreaker. “Seems like the fabric would be forgiving for sweat,” she tells me. “I would say ‘when I tear up the dance floor,’ but let’s be honest, I don’t dance.” She ordered it for a party celebrating the launch of a friend’s interior-design business (and ended up wearing something else instead), but she’ll consider it for the next wedding she’s invited to. Or maybe a members’ event at the Frick, whichever comes first.

You can’t miss the Adri mini from Kika Vargas. It’s made of taffeta (a blend of polyester, nylon, and elastane) with ruffles that seem more like wings than sleeves. “I get a million compliments every time I wear this dress,” saysMbiye Kasonga, a podcast producer. Kasonga has been to 15 weddings in the past four years, and the dress made an appearance at a few that were black tie. Not only does it have tons of room for cake eating, it haspockets. But “it’s definitely on the short side,” she says. “So if you’re taller, you may need to size up for length.”

Branded-content strategistMaria Del Russoalways rents her wedding-guest dresses. And renting the Roy from La DoubleJ saved her nearly a grand (for comparison’s sake, it costs $1,200 to buy and $162 to rent for a weekend). The wedding she went to in it was just outside of Lisbon at the Palácio do Correio-Mor. “The wedding itself didn’t have much of a theme beyond “We’re getting married in a castle in Lisbon, and we plan to not go to sleep until the sun rises,” she says. So the orange, pink, and red hues of this dress worked. It’s like a caftan, and even though “it’s basically a colorful sack, the one-shoulder gives it a touch of sexiness,” she says. Perhaps more important, it doesn’t require anyshapewear. “If you prefer something that slinks along the body a little more,” she recommends sizing down.

If you’re looking to rent, there’s Bardot’s Verona on Nuuly. ArtistTaylor Quitararented it for a holiday party and ended up buying it instead of returning it. It’s been much worn ever since. The show-stopping sequins make her feel like a “sparklymermaid.” With sequined garments, “the fit can be a bit unflattering sometimes, but I love how formfitting this is,” she says. Just be careful with whatever else you wear so it won’t be snagged by a sequin.

Filmmaker (and formerNew Yorkphoto editor)Stella Blackmon’s event outfit of choice is Beaufille’s slim-fitting, skin-baring Baes dress. “It’s cut in a way that sort of swings away from the body,” she says. It features a cutout on top, with a bra built in — for her smaller chest, she doesn’t have to keep pulling it up, as there’s boning on the sides. “My friends tease me that I’m in a cutout-dress phase, and I think I actually am because those are the dresses I get the most compliments on,” she says.

To a friend’snuptialsat the Boathouse in Prospect Park, Wirtes went with Stine Goya’s Mille Dress: “We all went to art school together, so the fashion at this wedding was top tier.” Thanks to a torrential downpour, guests were ushered into a “moody, candlelit, tiled room.” And on “a fairly rainy, dreary day, I found this dress is perfect for transitional weather. The sleeves have a bit of cover, while the fabric is still light,” she says. Hers has apainterly tulipprint on it. It’s regularly restocked in different patterns (seehere,here, andhere), and, as she tells me, “Literally, I’m sure others will be available by the time you go to publish.”

Some sources recommendedJ.Crewto me last year. “Heading to a desert wedding in Santa Fe or Palm Springs?” askedWall Street Journalart editorAlexandra Citrin-Safadi. Get aMaryam Nassir Zadeh collaboration. AndAnna October x J.Crewwas cheaper than thetulip-cuppedAnna Octobers Sullivan has seen on the wedding-guest circuit. This year,the Weird Real’sAlisha Bansalsuggested the J.Crew Collection.“People really sleep on their occasionwear,” she says. “It’s well priced and usually on sale.” This one would make a great wedding-guest dress. Bansal thinks the “chiffon bottom creates a nice bit of motion, and the asymmetrical top would look great with a shawl.”

As a rule of thumb, Strategist writerBrenley Goertzengoes a little more formal than the dress code on an invitation requires. (But she says she always “stays away from bold colors or patterns because you don’t want to draw attention to yourself.”) So for a semi-formal wedding at a resort in Punta Maroma, Mexico, she went with House of CB’s square-necked, midi-length Dorothy. The boning might’ve made the dress slightly heavy, but it was waist accentuating. “It really made me feel like a princess,” she says. A friend even commented on her resemblance to Cinderella. The dress survived dancing barefoot and jumping into a hotel pool post-reception (with no missing glass slipper at midnight).

For her best friend’s November wedding at a hotel on Miami’s South Beach, Sullivan “couldn’t imagine something more perfect” than this. Not only for the bold solid color but thefit— as she realized when she tried it on for the first time. “I’m gonna borrow language from a friend who called it a modern Botticelli dress,” she says. (Or “snatched but not snug,” in her own words.)

Wirtes says she sees Staud’s Calluna dress “quite literally, without exception, at every wedding.” That’s everywhere from a Washington, D.C., ballroom to a New Orleans church. “Aside from it beingavailable to rent, I imagine the universal appeal is that the floor-length, billowy silhouette is super-forgiving on all body types,” she explains. Plus, it’s “extremely elegant — what more can a girl ask for?”

Lettering illustratorJessica Hischeloaned a Pleats Please dress to friend Kelsey Keith, writer of theGround Conditionnewsletter and creative director at MillerKnoll, for a pre-wedding event. “Because Pleats’ sizing is so forgiving, it feels like aSisterhood of the Traveling Dresskind of situation,” Keith says. She has seen plenty of tank-style Pleats Please in nearly every color at the weddings she’s been to, and she borrowed this one in the brightest, highlighter-iest hue. “The neon lime green is an outrageous color that looks good with a tan,” she adds. (I linked to a similar version since hers has since sold out.)

Costume designerMichelle J. Liborrowed the brand’s Madame-T stole (likethis) for a Balinese affair. “It’s actually a rectangular-shaped stole with a hole in the center,” she explains. “I doubt I could ever tie it the same way again.” It took about an hour of playing around with the fabric (with the drape “held together by color-matched bungee cord, fashion tape, andlotsof zhuzhing”). But it didn’t wrinkle. If you want a look that’s easier to put together, you could use a shorterMadame-T stoleover a Pleats Please basic.

If she were braver,Julia Harrison, a writer atArchitectural Digest, jokes she would have “Pippa Middleton–ed her sister’s ass” withthis(especially after her sister vetoedthis) for a small family affair with no wedding party (“just an instruction for the family members to wear blue or green”) happening in Charlottesville, Virginia. Harrison “was shopping for something that wouldn’t draw too much attention without being too Reformation-coded or bridesmaid-y (you know — silk, A-line cut, cowl neck, ruched slit).” So she settled on the Garment’s semi-sheer Gilian gown. “Everyone is saying I look like that still ofAriel emerging from the water in a sheet wrapped with rope, which I take as a compliment, though it’s not meant to be,” she says.

Editor’s note: The Garment Gilian Gown is more discounted atShopbopandSt. Bernardbut in limited sizes and quantities.

“At 46, I get invited to fewer and fewer weddings these days, which frankly is a-okay by me,” saysMonica Khemsurov, co-founder ofSight Unseenand founder ofPetra. But she did just receive a “save the date” card for one in Miami in March. This cotton-poplin Ganni mini is what she’ll likely wear. “When I go to weddings, I like to eat and I like to dance, so you won’t find me in anything super-bodycon or constricting,” she says. This one is helped by a ruffled hem. “It’s the perfect amount of cute and edgy,” she adds. “I don’t do girlie girl. This little ruffle is all you’re gonna get from me!”

If the invitation reads more formal, Khemsurov might go for this La DoubleJ. “It’s nothing like what I would usually wear,” she says. “It’s almost one step too far for me in terms of girlieness, but I’m willing to forgive that bit.” When she tried it on anyway at the store in Milan (despite her misgivings), she “felt cute, a little flirty, and a little fancy.” It also holds her in all the right places, and the florals remind her of old German book illustrations (“Maybe hence the Gingerbread name?” she wonders). “I immediately categorized it in my mind as a garden-party dress, something I’d wear to a villa in Italy in July, but I think it suits a Miami wedding just as well,” she adds.

Permanent Collection’s Fanny Singer calls Anaak’s Airi “a liberation from the idea of what formalwear has to be.” She owns a few, including a peony number that “feels weddingish without being white or getting too ‘bridal,’” while afuchsiais “to die for and couldn’t be more celebratory.” Because the label prides itself in making thingslimited edition, these colors change seasonally — and once one is sold out, it’s not often restocked. “It’s a flash of featherweight color that billows like a sail,” she says. “It’s pure romance.” It also comes inmini form.

Citrin-Safadi was in a wedding party (for a friend who got married at Milk & Roses in Greenpoint), and everyone wore pink. For her turn as maid of honor, she ordered the “sugar-spun dream” that’s the Tabea from Chelsea Mak. (It’s still available inblackandwhiteif you happen to be attending an all-white event.) Since it was an investment, it will be worn more than once, and Citrin-Safadi happens to have another wedding at Elsewhere in Bushwick a few weeks before her due date. “So per my physical size,” she says. “I will be wearing it again!” (It fits like a tent, she explains.)