Is The Guardian trolling us with this wedding guest fashion edit?

[alwaystimeforteatime]

Has anyone else seen The Guardian’s "Best Wedding Guest Dresses" article from last week? It's so bad... Even the opening image is a weird choice! (One girl actually looks like she's in pain??) And the clothes are all awful.. Not a single thing I’d wear and most of it looks horrendously unflattering. Am I the only one who thinks this is a list of what NOT to wear to a wedding??

www.theguardian.com/thefilter/2025/jun/06/best-wedding-guest-dresses-uk

Be reasonable - they’ve got women wearing these dresses. Not stunning & brave ones. PR shots come like that, bad luck boyos.

I’ve got their last dress, the 90 percent one, in cream not despair brown. It’s vair comfy and good with sandals.

I love that too. And that would actually be quite good as a wedding guest outfit.

That one is fine to be fair. But some of the others are quite astonishing (and I am quite adventurous in my clothing choices/open minded about different tastes)

The first one 😳

For anyone considering the hessian-dungarees-that-a-toddler-has-handpainted, it also comes in a prison uniform version:

emikostudios.com/products/painted-nori-shirt-in-khaki

That's hilarious - and a snip at £155, matching trousers extra...

Good grief. I was going to say it looks like something from an A Level textiles project but I think you'd fail if that's what you submitted.

I think the prison sentence was for wearing the shoes

The writer is referring to a "chore jacket". It's a pretty mainstream term.

I’ve never heard it! (Not disagreeing with you, just surprised). They should explain terms like that for a newspaper with such wide readership

Haha I've only seen the first one and already I'm laughing
"It might not be one that you'd normally have down as wedding guests attire...."
No shit!
"Statement jewellery and shoes are all that’s needed to take it from everyday to wedding-worthy"
Unless the jewellery is big enough to make the statement "all my other clothes were burned in a fire and I rescued this smoldering rag which explains the weird black splotch on the front" then nope

And I've never heard of a chore jacket!

😂😂 😂

The reference to a chore jacket is the least of the worries when it comes to this entry (agree it's fairly mainstream)... It's the general quality of the writing (not to mention that a supposed fashion editor is calling a fairly hideous bright purple jacket a "versatile beast"?! Unless you're Jeff from the Wiggles I find this a highly questionable claim...)

Like others I'm staring in fascination at the header photo. At first glance they look more traditional wedding guest outfits but the closer you look...
From L-R
1 - cosplaying as an actual monk completed with rope belted cowl sack dress and bare feet
2 - completely misunderstood the term fishnet- usually tights, not an actual rope net nicked from a trawler and draped over your crotch. Also how long is that arm?
3 - ironically given the caption about not outshining the bride she is the only one who looks vaguely normal
4 - howling at the moon. Very odd haircut.
5 - in actual torment. Possibly due to noise emitted from friend next to her
6 - probably the least weird of the bunch and the only guest who is at least wearing shoes albeit lace up dm type sandals are an interesting choice for a wedding....

I'm assuming this was a stock photo so what the hell was the search term? I'm on my phone but please can someone do a Google image search?

2 and 4 are def trans women, right? Which, you know, fine, they need nice clothes to wear to weddings as well but a) the fact they aren't wearing shoes tends to suggest they can't find any women's ones to fit and b) it makes the rope netting around the crotch a particularly odd choice

That website has some beautiful bridal options too…

@IlovethedramaMick I kind of wish I was planning my wedding just so I could wind everyone up by saying I was planning to wear that!

Wedding guests?

@BoredZelda Obviously, but more specifically, look at their ages...

@bunnybunnybunnybunny Even when I was young I was always very aware there was a huge gulf between fashionably stylish and fashion victim

Maybe huge toddler sack cloth splodge dress is the height of fashion, but it's not got any redeeming qualities.

Are any of these options even fashion victim? Half of them are just look deeply unfashionable / ridiculous and unflattering or completely boring. I also don't think most of them are remotely suitable wedding guest attire (maybe the Arket one and the green striped one)

Oh I agree, but I think bunny is trying to imply that we only think they look awful because we are so old

😂I'm 39 (so old!) but I do work with a lot of artsy / fashion people in their 20s and – while I do see some questionable trends on occasion – I can't see any of them wearing anything on this list!

I think all of those dresses could be put into one of these categories

• from Peacocks / Bon Marche
• Something Grayson Perry would wear
• Medieval sack cloth

I’ve just clicked on the link, how utterly bizarre all these dresses are!

Definitely would not choose any of them for daily/evening out let alone for a wedding!

DH has received a Save The Date email from a friend who is getting married next spring.

Choose me an outfit, ladies!