50s style wedding dress





A few weeks ago a reader (who shall remain nameless in view of her upcoming nuptials) emailed us looking for help with sourcing her dream wedding dress. She’d fallen in love with Sandra‘s 50s style Candy Anthony wedding dress and was looking for something similar.

Sounded like a challenge we could have a bash at, so we did some digging and came up with a great  list of fabulous fifties wedding frocks from near and far. It’s a mixed bag of new and old, but all with the basic combination of full skirt, nipped waist and shorter length. With their hour glass silhouettes these dresses are all ultra feminine, soft and very flattering to any figure.

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A New Take On 50s Style



First up, we have the new dresses that draw inspiration from the 50s new look  but with a modern twist for the 2010 bride.  Justin Alexander has this elegant, very subtly coffee and ivory dress, with a heavily embroidered lace bodice, full tulle skirt and wide ribbon sash. You can find Justin Alexander’s designs stocked in a number of Irish bridal boutiques.

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Stephanie Allin (famous as the designer of Amy Huberman’s wedding dress) has a collection called Dolce Vita, which includes the lovely Bardot (2). Stephanie Allin is stocked in Myrtle Ivory.    Priscilla of Boston have a lovely take on the 50s-60s prom dress look (1), with a slightly less full skirt, sweetheart neckline with lace boat neck, this design references the New Look  subtly. From my researches I think it’s only available in UK through Angelica Bridal in London, but if you know where to get Priscilla of Boston in Ireland do let us know.

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Your Dream Dress Designed Especially For You



Candy Anthony is the designer Sandra went to to get her dream wedding dress made. Based in London, Candy has a well-deserved reputation for being one of the foremost 50s prom dress designers. She doesn’t just design traditional white wedding dresses, she extends far beyond, creating some amazing eye-popping flirty full-skirted gowns to bring out your inner rockabilly.  The design pictured (3) is from her 2010 collection and is sort of midway between traditional and rock-chick.

Dolly Couture is an American design house that also specialises in 50s prom style dresses. Prices are really good, but obviously there’s a risk in that you can’t see it before it arrives. On the plus side, they get rave reviews from all the US sites, so if you have some extra time and know a good seamstress here for any alterations it could be a good way to get your dream dress designed especially for you but still save a little. We picked out the Marin County wedding dress (4) from the latest Dolly Couture collection, but it’s one of their more simple designs, there’s plenty more amazing creations available.

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Something Old – An Original 50s Wedding Dress

For those of you who believe original is best, then you should start looking now. Finding your perfect vintage dress will take time and a lot of pavement stomping, but it does yield fabulous results. One other thing to be aware of – our generation is a lot larger (sorry ladies) than our mothers and grandmothers so unless you’re a small size it can be very difficult to find an original dress to fit. Even then, it will undoubtedly need to be altered. But don’t let that deter you.



If your heart is set on finding that special vintage wedding dress then check out the recent post we did on finding vintage wedding dresses in Ireland. Among the shops we recommended to check out were the Goddess Room in Greystones, After Sybil in Dundalk, Dirty Fabulous (just about to reopen) and Little Blue Cottage in Leitrim. Check out their collections and if they don’t have anything you like, let them know what you’re looking for, they’ll be able to keep an eye out when on buying trips. I found (6) above on Enchanted – and believe it or not, this corseted 50s white wedding dress is a steal at only €295 – definitely a great way to save some pennies.

Given flights are so cheap and frequent these days you don’t have to restrict yourself in your search, hop on over to London where you’ll find loads of vintage shops including a number, which focus specifically in 50s style dresses. Fur Coat No Knickers on Carnaby St. specialises in 50s prom dresses  – they stock original vintage like the tiered lace mid-length dress above (5) . They also make wedding dresses to order if there isn’t anything suitable.