Long sleeve wedding dresses are having a moment. Scroll below for celebrity style inspiration, shopping tips, and answers to all your questions.
It is no secret that some of the most iconic wedding dress looks in history are adorned with long sleeves. Long-sleeved wedding dresses, especially with lace, are one of the most popular choices of celebrity brides such as Grace Kelly, Nicky Hilton, Allison Williams, Audrey Hepburn, Princess Diana, Brigitte Bardot, and Olivia Palermo.
Like these iconic wedding dresses, for the bride who prefers a more modern, structured look, long-sleeved wedding dresses are a trend to embrace immediately. Long sleeve wedding dresses are ideal for brides in spring, fall, and winter weddings. Pair long lace sleeves with a Ball Gown or A-line silhouette for that perfect princess wedding dress, or with a subtle Mermaid or Sheath silhouette for that more understated look.
In the past several years, we’ve worked with thousands of brides to create custom long sleeve wedding dresses to their unique style and measurements – all through an online process.
Can’t find your perfect long sleeve wedding dress at boutiques? Take Anomalie’s Bridal Survey to see if custom is the right fit for you.
Below are some of the most popular long sleeve celebrity trends we’ve seen from our brides – with the celebrity picture and custom Anomalie dress side-by-side:
1. Grace Kelly’s Romantic Ball Gown Wedding Dress with Long Sleeves
This classic and elegant wedding dress featured silk netting, lace, and taffeta. In the right photograph, this Anomalie bride designed an inspired long-sleeved wedding dress look with guided help from Anomalie stylists and added her own personal twist, stunning with the scallop edges to the sleeves.
2. Allison Williams’ Illusion Long Lace Sleeves
With illusion floral sleeves and organza flowers on the skirt, Allison Williams wows in her wedding dress. On the right, this Anomalie bride wears a wedding dress with scattered lace sleeves. Skin tone illusion sleeves are the perfect choice to really make your lace applique stand out!
3. Audrey Hepburn’s Classic Bishop Long Sleeve Wedding Dress
Audrey Hepburn’s first wedding dress, a Balmain gown with ¾ bishop sleeves, was paired with long silk gloves, giving her a timeless look. Similarly, this Anomalie bride’s soft white sheath gown is accented with floral lace on her bodice and billowy bishop sleeves for an added flare.
4. Princess Diana’s Royal Puffy Long Sleeved Wedding Dress
Perhaps Princess Diana’s 80s gown is your desired look. While these sleeves are incredibly specific to its era, this Anomalie bride decides to take on a more modern and understated wedding dress approach with these long sleeves. Accented with scallop lace-edged butterfly sleeves, this beautifully ruched circle skirt dress is a nod to a past decade. For more boho looks, click here.
5. Olivia Palermo’s Simple Long Sleeve Wedding Dress
Opting out from lace, Palermo dons a wedding dress with simple sleeves. With simplicity in mind, our bride designed her dress; the long-sleeved wedding dress is created with Silk Georgette used for the bodice, skirt & even the sheer long sleeves.
6. Kate Middleton’s Famous Long-Sleeved Wedding Dress
One can’t speak of long-sleeved wedding dresses without mentioning the most famous wedding dress among celebrity gowns. This Anomalie bride designed her own wedding dress from scratch with lace sleeves paired with a Ball Gown, perfect for winter weddings!
7. Kim Kardashian’s Laced Long Sleeves with Open Back
Kim Kardashian’s couture Givenchy sleeved wedding dress has all-over lace. Our beautiful bride made her Vintage Rose gown uniquely hers by adding a layer of lattice to make her classic floral lace really pop.
8. Haley Bieber’s Off-the-Shoulder Sleeves
Haley Bieber sported this lace wedding dress with a long, dramatic veil. For a more modest approach, our bride chose to design this soft-white A-line that is a classic look with a little something unique: off-the-shoulder long, fitted illusion sleeves! These sleeves really showcase her beautiful lace.
9. Sophie Turner’s Long Lace Sleeves
With a deep V-cut and tulle embroidered with flowers, the actress’s unique bridal look is completed with her long lace sleeves. Just as special, this Anomalie bride added a pop of color by using one of a variety of Anomalie’s colored Tulle Stackups for her wedding dress while also incorporating the colored tulle with lined sleeves. Similar to this bride, if you’re a bride on the smaller side, check out these wedding dresses for petite brides.
10. Kate Upton’s Sheer Lace Sleeves
Kate Upton’s Valentino wedding dress was a ball gown with sheer lace sleeves. Similarly, to make her one-of-a-kind wedding dress, this Anomalie bride designed a dress with soft and beautiful Chantilly lace accents. These Soft White illusion sleeves give this bride the perfect all-over lace look!
11. Nicky Hilton’s All-Over-Lace Wedding Dress
Just as Nicky Hilton was inspired by Grace Kelly’s emblematic wedding dress, you can also be inspired to design your own original wedding dress. The socialite wore a Valentino gown with all-over-lace. On the other hand, the Anomalie bride on the right chose to design a wedding dress with sheet lace, the perfect choice for a soft subtle lace design.
12. Solange Knowles’ Caped Jumpsuit
Finally, we wrap up our list with Solange Knowles’ cape sleeves and jumpsuit outfit. The plunging ivory jumpsuit had an attached cape. Slightly changing this look, the Anomalie bride chose a more traditional dress while still being experimental and unconventional. Her cape sleeves were luxe Satin-folded band off the shoulder straps-sweetheart-box pleats. This sleek look can also be achieved with a different silhouette, such as the sheath wedding dress.
If these floor-length wedding dresses aren’t your cup of tea, you may like short wedding dresses more.
Where are the best places to buy a wedding dress with sleeves?
From Morilee to Monique Lhuillier to Oscar de la Renta to Marchesa to Vera Wang, there are many different well-known wedding dress designers who create wedding dresses with sleeves. These wedding dresses are sometimes only sold at a few particular boutiques and can have a fairly high ticket price. Starting at $2,000 without customizations and alterations, wedding dresses from these designers can reach $10,000.
On the other end of the spectrum, brides can try to spend below $1,000 on a long sleeve wedding dress at David’s Bridal. Another option, BHLDN, is one of the few chain stores in the market that has a selection of a variety of both long and short sleeve wedding dresses. These dresses offer a price range between David’s Bridal and upscale boutiques.
However, these wedding dress retailers often don’t have a bride’s perfect design elements and customizations. The modern solution for the bridal process is designing a custom wedding dress. Making custom wedding dresses more accessible to brides everywhere, Anomalie has worked with thousands of brides to incorporate sleeves into their dream wedding dresses. Here’s the story of a bride who designed a wedding dress with capped sleeves:
What wedding dress styles work best with long sleeves?
Long sleeves work best with wedding dresses for the cooler seasons, such as fall or winter. If you choose to have sleeves with your wedding dress at a summer wedding, our stylists suggest opting for a more breathable, lightweight fabric for short sleeves.
Sleeves can be added to any silhouette of a wedding dress, regardless of material or style. From the classic A-line to a more modern, mature fit-and-flare, sleeves can change the style of a wedding dress.
Check out inspiration for types of wedding dress silhouettes with long sleeves from this bride:
Can I add lace to my long-sleeved wedding dress?
Lace on illusion sleeves is one of the best things a bride can do to achieve that romantic look on her wedding dress. When shopping for this style of dress, make sure that the illusion matches your skin tone. If the illusion matches perfectly, it gives the effect of the lace popping off of your skin.
If you know you want to alter your wedding dress or haven’t found the perfect dress, customizing your gown with an expert stylist team may be the right choice. To celebrate weddings returning, Anomalie is offering free fabric samples to new brides. In the survey, we’ll ask about your skin tone and send illusion mesh options to match. You can also check out our Lace library for more inspiration.
Check out how Anomalie bride Makita designed the perfect lace sleeve wedding dress with her stylist:
Are detachable wedding sleeves possible?
If you are purchasing a sleeveless dress from a boutique, Etsy offers detachable sleeves that can be added.
At Anomalie, brides have the option to fully customize their wedding dresses and work with stylists to create detachable sleeves for their wedding dresses.
Can I create a long sleeve wedding dress with colored fabric?
Yes! Anomalie specializes in creating wedding gowns with sleeves and colored fabrics – from black wedding dresses to Lilac to everything in between.
What wedding dress elements are best for a winter wedding?
Lace and long sleeves are the most popular attributes of winter wedding dresses. The most popular silhouettes for winter weddings are Mermaid long sleeve wedding dresses, A-line long sleeve wedding dresses and Ball Gown long sleeve wedding dresses.
Can I wear a long sleeve wedding dress in the spring or summer months?
It is important to note that long sleeve wedding dresses aren’t just for cold seasons. We are seeing an increasing trend of summer brides opting for sleeves. Do you!
What is Anomalie?
Anomalie is a wedding dress company with a team of expert stylists, manufacturers, and seamstresses all working together to help brides design their unique, one-of-a-kind wedding dress soulmate.
How does Anomalie ensure a wedding dress ordered online will have the perfect fit?
Every bride has a different body type and bridal needs, so every bride should have a more personalized and customized approach to the wedding dress shopping experience. Anomalie’s two different fit processes allow brides to have a better experience, especially when it comes to fit. Whether an Anomalie bride chooses from 50 available sizes with fitting shells or the made-to-measure process, stylists will guide brides to the right fit throughout the entire process (including the sleeve measurements). The Anomalie process may be helpful for brides who can’t find their perfect fit, such as plus size brides.
Should I trust an online wedding dress retailer?
At Anomalie, our company started when our founder couldn’t find her dream dress (a Ball Gown with long illusion lace sleeves) in stores.
In the past several years, we’ve worked with thousands of brides to create custom long sleeve wedding dresses to their unique style and measurements – all through an online process. To hear from the personal experiences of Anomalie brides, you can read reviews on WeddingWire and Reddit, or Anomalie’s featured articles on Vogue and The New York Times.
Anomalie’s award-winning process helps brides across the US and Canada with their wedding dress needs. With a fabric swatch kit, dedicated design stylist, and custom sketch, Anomalie connects brides to the highest quality solutions for wedding dresses.
Want to create your own original long sleeve wedding dress like these celebrities? Anomalie has helped thousands of brides design custom, sleeved wedding dresses for under $2,000. For a limited time, we are offering free fabric samples and a sketch. Get started here.
If you’re looking for more information, check out these other blog posts!
- Wedding Dress Sleeve Trends
- Be a Queen With Off-the-shoulder Sleeves
- Why Buying a Wedding Dress Online is Easier than Ever
- 20 of the Best Online Lace Wedding Dresses You Can Customize