What Is Trash the Dress?

Trash the Dress is a personal fashion statement. Glamorous in a completely unconventional way, taking a wedding dress or other special dress out of context for the experience is what “trashing” is all about. Some women do it because they got divorced and they are doing something to make themselves feel sexy and special again. Some women do it to celebrate anniversaries – to say that they are happily married and the concept of the “bride” is over and done with for them. Some women do it because their dress was damaged and couldn’t be resold. Or, as my first trasher said, her dress was taking up a 2×2 foot space in her closet.

But really, people do it for the heck of it. I had a lady ask us what the purpose was. If you’re asking that question, trashing is probably not for you. It’s for the kind of person who has the immediate reaction of, “That’s AWESOME.”

And for me as a photographer, there’s almost nothing I’d rather do than take that wild ride with a woman and make her look sexy and beautiful and just plain cool.

Trash the Dress has barely been around five years. John Michael Cooper, a Las Vegas photographer, is credited with starting the movement. He wanted to do something totally different. So he did some research and then lit a bride on fire and her flower girl wearing flower girl dresses. (Safely, I must add, I think he had a friend who specialized in pyrotechnics.) The photograph became instantly famous and gave the man his current career. I would be honored to light a bride on fire myself. I too happen to have a friend who is an expert in the safe and ridiculously fun uses of fire, so if you want to do it, I can probably do this AND keep you safe. But so far, the ladies coming to me want art, and I am having a great time.
Look for a video of photos from my last Trashing coming soon.

Hosted on Panda Cloud