Bridesmaid smugness

There is a smugness to wearing a bridesmaid dress at a wedding. A bridal party is a closed group, selected in advance, and the rules for admission differ from bride to bride. The matching dresses indicate elevated relationships to the bride. Guests in clothes that they picked out themselves don’t “get to” wear status markers. The bride sartorially differentiates her inner circle, creating hierarchy: “They’re on the inside. You’re not.”

And with elevated status comes smugness.

On Wednesdays, we wear pink.