Authentic style–fashion–dress negotiations of married lesbian couples on their wedding day

Abstract

In 2015, a United States Supreme Court ruling allowed same-sex marriage in all 50 states. Since that time, there have been over one million same-sex marriages in the United States, and the number of same-sex marriages has increased every year (Romero, 2017). With this work, we conducted an in-depth, exploratory study on how lesbian married couples in the United States negotiated their style–fashion–dress on their wedding day. The work was guided by theory exploring authenticity as related to self-expression through appearance, and in particular, the notion that individuals mobilize a diverse array of products within the consumer marketplace to articulate an authentic identity or self. We conducted a single, semi-structured, in-depth interview with a photo-elicitation component with 10 lesbian married couples. Our analyses revealed themes that interconnected with the overarching concept of authenticity. Specifically, analyses demonstrated that, as participants sought to articulate an authentic identity through their wedding day style–fashion–dress, they often became entangled in gender and other symbolic negotiations that prompted feelings of empowerment as well as experiences of ambivalence and/or the need to engage in various forms of emotional labor or renegotiations of meaning. Four themes that emerged included (1) ambivalence, renegotiations, and labor surrounding the identity or concept of “bride” or what it means to be a bride; (2) gender expressions and experiences as central to the negotiation and construction of style–fashion–dress for the wedding day; (3) representations of the authentic self in wedding day style–fashion–dress; and (4) heteronormative experiences. Findings from the present study also revealed that lesbian couples sought to redefine what it means to be a bride/person getting married, a form of political action enacted through wedding day style–fashion–dress. Findings suggest implications for lesbian, queer, and heterosexual–focused wedding retailers and event planners to consider in order to provide an affirming experience for the increasing number of same-sex married couples in the United States.