
My surprise reaction to Angelina Jolie’s wedding dress
I’ve always been on team-Aniston. There’s one main reason: I do not like a man stealer. But I am really, really interested in Angelina Jolie’s wedding dress and I thought I should blog about why.
I actually care about something I didn’t think I cared about – The Dress
I came to this conclusion after I discovered my own reflection: I was hunched in front of the little heater in my room, perched on the edge of the bed at 11pm last night. It was a very cold night in Sydney and I should’ve gone straight to bed, I thought to myself, “I can’t go to bed, and there’s one reason why” – because I am madly scrolling through the interweb – trying to locate a half-decent shot of Angelina’s wedding dress.
In case you hadn’t heard – yup – Brangelina is now officially wedded and about bloody time too, if you ask me. I, like my hero Judge Judy, feel that marriage is important and if you’ve got six kids together – what’s the point of not getting hitched? Kids love the security of knowing their parents are married. Anyone who doesn’t realise this fact has never spent time with real kids or is deluding themselves.
So – on to the dress.
Some stats on The Dress:
- The veil and the dress were covered in drawings done by their children.
- Designer Luigi Massi from Atelier Versace embroidered the drawings into the dress and veil – I am assuming by hand.
- It had a full skirt, with lots of flow to it and was gathered around the bustline in a traditional style.
- A press release said: “[Jolie] was perfect…She accessorised her stunning creation wearing a pair of white Versace silk satin pumps.”
- She told People magazine, “Luigi is like family to me and I couldn’t imagine anyone else making this dress. He knows and cares for the children and it was great fun putting it together.”
The five reasons I am obsessed with Angelina’s wedding dress + surrounding issues
Anyway – I was really surprised that I cared so much, quite frankly. Why would I be so interested in it? I thought I should spend some time working out why finding out more about the dress was so essential to me.
#1: Embroidery is interesting
Yuh, I really like embroidery and I really wanted to find out if the drawings were hand-sewn. It reminded me of blankets I had seen pictures of that wives sewed during the wars. The soldiers would all sign wool blankets and women would embroider over the signatures so that they remained there for the lifetime of the blanket.
#2: I’m glad that they’re getting hitched
Finally. Jeez – if you’re committed enough to have 6 kids together (including overseas adoptions) then give your kids the stability they deserve. According to For Your Marriage website (hey, they’ve got an invested interest in this stat!) “Both men and women have higher life expectancies when married than those who are single or divorced.”
#3: I finally feel OK about Jennifer Aniston
There was an awesome piece in my local rag, the Sydney Morning Herald the other day by one of my fave writers, Kasey Edwards. Aniston made some very important statements this week about not being defined by the fact that she is or isn’t a mother. “I don’t have this sort of checklist of things that have to be done. [It’s as if] if they’re not checked, then I’ve failed some part of my feminism or my being a woman or my worth and my value as a woman because I haven’t birthed a child.”
#4: A woman should not be defined by marriage and kids alone
She also went on to say that she feels that she has in fact birthed many things in her life. Edwards the writer of this article points out that by constantly focusing on Jennifer’s “empty uterus” we are “reinforcing an attitude that any achievements or contributions women make prior to, and after, having kids are just dalliances to fill in time.”
#5: Your career will dip either way
Edwards says in her article that the American Sociological Review looked at data from 13 European countries and found that, “women take a dip in career status after the birth of their first child and in most cases they never get it back.” Aniston and Jolie have both had stellar careers. Aniston is #77 and earned #31 million according to Forbes and Jolie earned $18 million according to their stats for 2013-14.