?zmir: Capital of bridal gowns and divorce

Erospolis explores how the city that has the highest rate of divorce in Turkey manages to produce every three out of four wedding gowns made in TurkeyWe seem to be floating in a sea of white tulle, lace and silk, with semi-precious gems, beads, sequins, butterfly wings and silk roses in pale colors thrown in. Mercilessly surrounded by a wide variety of wedding gowns, we conclude that anything goes: Turkish, Italian, décolleté, sequined, head-scarved, fluffy like a cream puff, slim like Audrey Hepburn's ball gown in "My Fair Lady," or a pants suit that faintly resembles the Bride's attire in "Kill Bill." We are at the "IF Wedding Fair" in ?zmir, the largest fair of its kind in Turkey and the third largest in Europe, with 40,000 square meters devoted to wedding gowns, groom costumes, wedding wear and accessories. 

A long-limbed girl covered head-to-toe in black, with sequins in silver at her throat, waist and hem, passes by. I cannot resist asking her whether this is a bridal gown and she replies seriously: "Not this one. But you can find the same model in white, too."

My companion, a LSE-trained lawyer of international experience who is tough with intellectual property rights but soft on anything remotely romantic, is dazzled. She points out one gown after the other, with a particular sympathy to the gowns by the fair's guest of honor, Alessandro Rinaudo, and a new, young producer of bridal wear, KnightandBride, which targets "natural" brides with its organic silks. I got the feeling that she was not only choosing her own wedding gown but the dresses of the bridesmaids.

I, on the other hand, am her anti-thesis. For my first wedding, I solved the problem by wearing my mother's wedding gown. For the second wedding, a beach party, I...