Retro Wedding Dress

[Papillon]

Any other brides out there looking for a retro 1950s tea length wedding dress? Did you find it? WHERE? I'm hoping for a VR in 18 months - to celebrate 25 years. I can't seem to find a retro dress, except for Candy Anthony, in LONDON.

 

[lurkyloo]

That's exactly the kind of dress I wanted - great choice!

Every day on my way home from work, I drive by Paper Bag Princess, a vintage couture clothing shop in Beverly Hills. I always told myself that the moment I got engaged, I was going there to buy my dress. Well, the day came, and as I was thumbing through the racks of vintage bridal gown, this snotty salesgirl came up to me and told me A) that I wasn't allowed to touch the dresses and B) none of them were going to fit me anyway.

I marched right outta there and ended up buying a brand new dress... so there's no moral to this story except that Paper Bag Princess has a website and eBay store, and by dealing with them exclusively online, you'll avoid the snotty sales staff!

You could also check out ReVamp (new clothes made from vintage patterns). And if I were doing it all over again, I might also investigate having a dress made. It's not exactly cheap, but it can be cheaper than buying a new designer wedding gown, that's for sure!

 

[MadamMim]

And if you do decide to go the custom-made dress route, I have a fabulous seamster (the male of seamstress? ) friend who has done several other wedding/special event gowns that were absolutely amazing. He's in design school, is spot on professional and will give you a very fair price. If you want his info just send me a PM.

 

[Papillon]

Gosh, Lurkyloo, what a disappointment in that store. Man, I hate that kind of behavior - just don't have time for it. I have bookmarked the eBay store, thanks! I am seriously thinking about having a dress made, just gotta find a pattern.

MadamMim, is your seamster in the US? I did find some websites with the kind of item I am looking for, but many were in the UK. I found Stephanie James here in the States, that's a real possibility. They even have a dealer realatively close to me in Denver - just 300 miles away!

I've got time, so I'll keep looking.

 

[alissa2008]

B) none of them were going to fit me anyway.

No way!! Oh man, you're a lot less assertive then I am! I would have given that woman, and everyone in the store a piece of my mind... all the while pretending I could buy the place and have her fired. lol. How rude!!

 

[Ember]

B) none of them were going to fit me anyway.

What is it with people?! I'm a solid size 12, so not a tiny woman by anyones standards, but not plus size either. I was in a store a few days ago where the sales associate told me nothing would fit me, I was too big. Well thank you, I didn't need any self esteem anyway. I walked out and pretended it didn't bother me.

 

[alissa2008]

What is it with people?! I'm a solid size 12, so not a tiny woman by anyones standards, but not plus size either. I was in a store a few days ago where the sales associate told me nothing would fit me, I was too big. Well thank you, I didn't need any self esteem anyway. I walked out and pretended it didn't bother me.

And this is exactly the reason all the size 12 women in the world think there is something wrong with them! Poor girls with no self esteem because they are actually normal sized are being bombarded with jerks like that and the media telling them a size 2 is too fat. Like, seriously? *off the soapbox* sorry...rant over.

 

[Lavender_Blue]

Not sure if any of these are what you're looking for, but I've been checking this site out:

http://martinmccrea.com/

Sometimes they have 1950s stuff, although looking at it...right now I don't see any. =\ But there's still some other lovely choices.

 

[MadamMim]

Seamster is in the US of A. He's in Savannah, Georgia to be exact and I don't see why he couldn't ship you the dress direct to you or if you'll be down a few days prior to your VR he might even be able to drive down to Orlando and do any final alterations with you. (I'm putting words in his mouth here, I don't know what his schedule will be. ) But yeah, it's certainly an option.

 

[lurkyloo]

Thanks for having my back, ladies! It was one of those situations where I couldn't think up any snappy rejoinders until hours after I'd left the store

Papilion, have you seen the noir film "Laura" with Gene Tierney? She wears an evening gown in one scene that I've always thought would make a fabulous wedding dress - I'll bet Madam Mim's pal could whip it up for you!

 

[MistressOfAllEvil]

That's exactly the kind of dress I wanted - great choice!

Every day on my way home from work, I drive by Paper Bag Princess, a vintage couture clothing shop in Beverly Hills. I always told myself that the moment I got engaged, I was going there to buy my dress. Well, the day came, and as I was thumbing through the racks of vintage bridal gown, this snotty salesgirl came up to me and told me A) that I wasn't allowed to touch the dresses and B) none of them were going to fit me anyway.

Very "Pretty Woman" when she goes to Rodeo Drive to shop!! I'm shock that they're actually that snooty! Screw em... you ended up looking just amazing without their stupid dress and bad attitudes!!

 

[Tabetha]

I am pretty sure Watters has some nice tea length gowns. Alternatively, you can try their bridesmaid dresses like this one... can come in white.

http://www.watters.com/product.php?coll=watters&showid=605

 

[Tabetha]

And what the heck, how about this?

http://www.houseofbrides.com/product.php?productid=17152&cat=542&page=4

 

[lurkyloo]

Very "Pretty Woman" when she goes to Rodeo Drive to shop!! I'm shock that they're actually that snooty! Screw em... you ended up looking just amazing without their stupid dress and bad attitudes!!

And what the heck, how about this?

http://www.houseofbrides.com/product.php?productid=17152&cat=542&page=4

Cute dress! All it needs for veracity are HUGE shoulder pads and a bullet bra

 

[TootWhistlePlunkBoom]

http://www.dollycouture.net/ has tea-length gowns, and I've heard nothing but good things about them.

 

[lurkyloo]

http://www.dollycouture.net/ has tea-length gowns, and I've heard nothing but good things about them.

Those are really cute!

 

[rottiemom]

Any other brides out there looking for a retro 1950s tea length wedding dress? Did you find it? WHERE? I'm hoping for a VR in 18 months - to celebrate 25 years. I can't seem to find a retro dress, except for Candy Anthony, in LONDON.

Did somebody say retro?! I suggest that you go custom. I have a friend that has gotten some dresses from http://www.whirlingturban.com and they are gooooorgeous as well as beautifully made (and not crazily expensive). From true 50's bombshell stuff to lovely & refined. And many of their dresses are available in "wedding" . Apparantly that's a big part of their business.

You can also try any vintage clothing shows in your area & have a dress altered to fit. I was fortunate enough to be able to wear my mother's genuine 1940's gown (with a little help from my friendly neighborhood seamstress) but if I hadn't been able to swing it (the poor gown had been hanging in a closet for 50 years and I had visions of it falling apart as soon as they started cleaning it) that's the route that I would have gone.

Lurkyloo, a scenario like yours is commonplace around here. I swear, the first thing that the salegirls do is scope out the size of your engagement ring to see if you're worth helping. "you can't touch the gowns"...really? How are you supposed to try them on, wearing a containment suit first? Or do you just buy them in good faith? And the NERVE of "none of them will fit you". "Oh, it's not for me, it's for the groom!"

Good luck, OP. I'm sure you'll find what you're looking for.

 

[Papillon]

I knew I could count on y'all! I bookmarked 6 or 7 sites with great choices. Unfortunately, I am not shaped like Marilyn Monroe, (more like Olive Oyl ), so I gotta be careful about my choices. I even looked at some corset websites to help achieve more of an hourglass figure. My original wedding was very low-key (heck, I was 19, living on my own, we paid for the wedding ourselves - $2000 total) and so this renewal will be all that I want it to be. By golly. Anyway, I'm kinda glad I have the advantage of experience and maturity to make the right choices. There's no way I could've made my 1985 wedding really great, simply because I was so young. And, of course, there wasn't a DisBoard back then!

 

[rottiemom]

Unfortunately, I am not shaped like Marilyn Monroe, (more like Olive Oyl ), so I gotta be careful about my choices. I even looked at some corset websites to help achieve more of an hourglass figure.

With the right pattern & a good seamstress the dress will take care of all of that. Peplums, pleated bust, push up bras...if it's hourglass you want, modern fashion science can help! But if you're more Audrey Hepburn than Marilyn you've got a ton of options to run with. A ton of gorgeous, classy options. Let the gown do the work & skip the corset, if you can. If you're not used to them you'll just be counting the seconds until you can get the darned thing off .

I guess I enjoy stopping by the wedding boards so much because you girls are all creative, have such great ideas and are working towards creating a memorable, special and truly individual day as opposed to the cookie cutter hall+limo+gown= wedding that is so common around me. Plus, nobody's telling you that you're nuts...everybody's actually being helpful & encouraging. Where are the catfights? The hair pulling? The sabotage? (Oh wait, that was my wedding )