Patrons at Maurice M. Pine Free Public Library in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, can, of course, borrow books, but they can also borrow wedding dresses. The library’s director, Adele Puccio, collects previously worn wedding dresses, and her collection is available to anyone who needs to "shop" for a wedding dress. Currently, she has more than 100 dresses in her collection, Today.com reported. The collection continues to grow as more people donate their old wedding dresses.
Adele even added her own wedding dress, which she wore when she married her late husband in 1985, to her collection of dresses available for "rent" at the library.
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In reality, she's not really concerned about whether people return the dresses they take from her collection because new donations come in so frequently now, she explained to Today.com.
Adele told LittleThings.com that she has "always enjoyed vintage bridal fashion," and she likes that her collection is also able to help those who don't have money for a new wedding dress.
"It's great to me that these dresses get recycled and reused rather than wind up in a landfill, and I think it's a good idea to give people the opportunity to find a dress that doesn't break the bank," she told LittleThings.com. "The average price for a wedding dress is 2,000 and not everyone has that to spend."
When it comes to her own wedding dress, she didn't want to leave it sitting in her closet for years. She wanted to give it a new life by letting another bride wear it, she told Today.com. "It should live again," she said.
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Many of the dresses that are part of her collection are vintage dresses from the 1950s to the '70s, she told The New Yorker. She started collecting dresses about 20 years ago, reported Today.com, and she found the dresses at thrift stores and vintage shops.
Because of this, it can be hard for her to offer inclusive sizing options. "Most of what I have is size 0, 2, or 6," she told The New Yorker. "Women used to live on Tab, cigarettes, and diet pills."
But as more people have learned about her collection, she has started receiving dress donations from former brides as well as from bridal shops.
"The sheer number of dresses that have gone out of here this year is incredible," she told Today.com, adding that she has started asking brides to make an appointment if they're interested in looking through her collection.
Dress "shopping" has become pretty commonplace at the library, Adele told the outlet. "Once someone is in a dress, the ladies from circulation come over and comment on it, and sometimes patrons will come, too," she said.
Though Adele's collection is housed at the library, "checking out" a dress differs from borrowing a book in that it's not really a formal process (and you don't need a library card to do it).
"It’s not like I’m slapping a barcode on it and checking it out," Adele told NJ.com. "If somebody comes in and wants a wedding gown, they just have to tell me: yes, they want it, and what they want it for."
