Help dating a vintage wedding dress

S

simsimi

Registered Guest
Hi! I was just hoping someone would be able to give me some help dating my wedding dress. I bought it from a vintage shop in Winnipeg. I just loved the sleeves and high peter pan collar and was sold on first sight. Now that I have it though, I would love to know a bit more about it. I am having some troubles telling how old it is. The store owner had bought the dress from a woman who claimed it was from the 30s, but I'm wondering if it's perhaps from the 50s or newer.
There are pinked seams, no zipper, and the shoulder pads are relatively small. There is boning in the collar to keep it up, and all the buttons down the back and button loops are individually put in and not loop tape. From what I can see the applique on the train was hand sewn. There is no label at all from what I can tell, except a small metal staple-like thing tacking on a small hand written name tag near the collar.
Any help with the age estimates would be greatly appreciated!
Have a great day,
Sam

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It could be from the 30s because my great grandmother was married in 1939 and her dress had shoulder pads too but I believe they were more popular in the 40s
 
That is a lovely dress, and you wear it well!

While it does have some elements of late 1930s style, I think it is post WWII, 1949 to very early 1950s. May we see a close up of the shoulder pads inside the dress? Can you determine what fiber the lace is made of? Is it silk, nylon, rayon, etc?
 
My grandmother had a similar dress, she got married in Italy in 1949. I have to search the photo
 
Another vote for late '40s to early '50s too.

My recommendation is to get it altered to fit you exactly: it looks like it was made for a slightly taller woman, so with a bit of tweaking will look and feel even better. It's a gorgeous gown! Well done.
 
Check out Audrey Hepburn's gown from 1954, it has a little collar like this, but I agree the large shoulder pads are more late 40's.
 
For sure Nicole, the St Michael dress I just posted has shoulder pads and that is probably 1952-55, they are small triangular ones though, and they look pretty substantial in this dress, like the forties coat shoulders.
 
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Good point Melanie, these ones do look substantial - so substantial, I wonder if they're more modern replacements eg, '80s? They seem to have a very solid curve to them, whilst vintage ones tend to soften a bit, or even be a bit lumpy. These are very strong shoulder pads for a wedding gown. I guess you'd have to look at them to see what they're like. I think the dress is a little tall for the lady too, and that may be distorting the shape a little but mostly I think they're very strong shoulder pads.
 
Yes I wondered whether someone had even added an extra pair of shoulder pads in the 80s - you can just see this being worn again can't you? It's a great classic design.
 
Thank you so much everyone for the valuable input! Apparently while I was working there were some questions on the shoulder pads :) Here is a picture of them for anyone who is interested.
I had thought they were original simply because they are the exact same colour as dress and train. They are also pinked instead of serged. But it is possible that they could have opened up the original seams and replaced the shoulder pads. There is a very solid crease down the middle though.

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For scale reference I have itty-bitty size 6.5 hands.
I would love to hear a knowledgeable person fill me in on what kind of shoulder pads these are. ^^
 
At first glance they don't look original to me, I would suggest they were perhaps made by a seamstress / mother or someone who might have fitted the dress for the last bride. All the shoulder pads I've handed from the 40s/50's have had enclosed or french seams - I suppose a wedding dress doesn't get worn as much as other garments with them in but I don't think they would have skipped this technique in the earlier decades.

Can you tell us about the stuffing material in them? does it feel like light foam? heavy material wadding? or are they really hard? (like most of the really old ones I've had, something in them changes over time...)
 
Hmmm, they don't feel like foam and are rather stiff. Perhaps they're layered material? I`m afraid I don't have much experience with shoulder pads. They don't feel like the ones I used to sell at the fabric store I used to work at, but outside of that I'm not confident to describing what they are.
That is very interesting about the french seams! I did not know that before.
 
hey darlin'gorgous gown and do get it fitted/having been a seamstress since i was nine(about 50 years ago)i have seen alot/i believe what you have is a reproduction,in the 60s and 70s jessica mcclintock produced a series of amazing patterns for gowns based on older fashion,this gown could be a repro of anything from late victorian(1990s) to the early 70s.shoulder pads have come and gone since the 1300s/i actually found this page by accident,the reason i decided to answer is my mother was a seamstress(goes back 5 generations)when i was young we used o do alot of jessica mcclintocks designs (i was married in one)this one struck me as very familiar.probably not one we did but maybe a similar pattern.we were from upstate ny so who knows/also from the look of the fabrics and the description of the construction it was probably made after the 40s/anything earlier would be handstitched( yes there were machines but most woman would not want delicate fabric handled on a greasy old treadle or electric),the shoulder pads may have netting stiff but light and easy to stack(layer)(like you would use for a petticoat) miss sam you have a beautiful gown and a beautiful bride thats all you need, congratulations and remember some one at whatever place in time made this with love and dreams and thats all that really counts(on the practical side ask a person who does bridal?formal alterations what the fabric is so you can have it cleaned properly when the time comes- they could also recommend(if they dont do it)someone to press it for you .best wishes and blessings
 
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