[Annea]

They are both pretty dresses, but with the lace/tulle dress it gives you more options to customise. I was looking at the sunday papers and there was a feature on chanel haute couture and there was a dress with lots of beaded lace, tank style top and armlets , and a high/low hem (couldn't download the pics, copyright!)
I've tried dye on dresses before and had terrible results, what about fabric paint it would give you more control over the colours. Try adding more beads/colours to get away from the bridal look, and thinking of a dress thats been entombed what about some discret bugs.

 

[Annea]

I bought these 2 dresses earlier this year hoping to use one as my halloween costume, twhen they arrived they still had the store tags with prices ( 1200€ each) and were in immaculate condition so i sent them to a shop in paris to be sold! One dress was 35$ and the other 50$, the designer is Novissima from Madrid and the quality of the fabric is excellent, i think there is on for sale on ebay for around 40$ but they run small in the sizing!