Need help dating three wedding dresses

Brooke Loveless

Brooke Loveless

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I had these three wedding dresses in storage and I sorta forgot about them until now. I collect what I like but I'm not great with dating.
 

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The first and last look 1940s to me, the second is perhaps a bit earlier, late 30's? Can you show it the other way around please?
 
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Melanie, I think the '30s style gown is the right way around because of the train. You're right in that the buttons are usually down the back but occasionally you see them down the front.

Wedding gowns are the most conservative of styles and I would have agreed with Melanie's datings were it not for seeing hundreds of gowns along with the date they were worn - '30s style gowns were worn well into the '40s (also some were reused due to wartime fabric shortages etc) and the '40s styles crept into the '50s. Another factor is the location of where the gowns originated. As mentioned. WW2 impacted some areas a great deal and less for others. Eg, if the '40s gowns were from a place that had rationing or wartime restrictions, they're likely to be late '40s rather than early or mid. Another factor is the fabric, as some (eg silk) weren't available during the war in some places.
 
Yes I saw that after the fact Nicole :) I don't work well with sideways pics!
and you just reminded me I saw a super utility crepe wedding dress recently, from 1946 which also had an illusion lace bodice and long sleeves, but no train. That fastened with a side zip though, unsually.
 
The second one looks so much like the one my Mom wore and she got married in 1939. They used to call those sleeves "Martha Washington" sleeves. I'll see if I can dig out a pic.
 
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