Cape Town Vintage Wedding Dresses – 1950’s Saks Fifth Avenue

The 50’s were a fascinating era for weddings, as the war was over and fabrics no longer rationed, which gave way for more freedom of design.  The silhouette changed so that emphasis was now on the feminine hourglass-figure: a marked waist, rounded shoulders and fuller skirts.  When looking through vintage wedding dress pictures and blogs you will see that tea-length dresses (dresses that reach down to the ankle) from the 50’s are really prominent, and it almost seems like this dress length represents our idea of vintage fashion.  Again, my favourite vintage wedding blog Love My Dress has a whole section dedicated to 1950’s style weddings, and you will note how often the shorter hemlines feature in the posts.

Vintage wedding dress from Saks Fifth Avenue

Our friend Jeanette in Cape Town lent us this 1950’s dress to photograph and it represents 50’s fashion so well with its structured fabric, scooped neckline and zipper at the back – which of course made putting a wedding dress on a two-people job!  The long sleeves are also very typical of this era, when it was still tradition to keep the arms covered, especially during church services. (1)  This fabulous piece is from Saks Fifth Avenue, the American upscale department store based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. (2)  How fascinating it is to see how vintage pieces wander across the continents like this!

Saks Fifth Avenue 1950’s wedding dress

Scooped neckline, bow and pearl embroidery 

Hollywood movies and celebrities were also great influences on wedding fashion in the 50’s: in April 1956 the beautiful Grace Kelly married Prince Rainier III of Monaco, in what was referred to as “the wedding of the century”.   The bride wore a wedding gown which was a gift from the MGM film studios and featured a full skirted silhouette, a high collar, long sleeves and a fitted bodice.  The dress was made of silk taffeta, tulle, 125-year-old Brussels rose point lace, and the bride also wore a sheer veil and a tiara.  You can see lots of beautiful pictures of Grace Kelly on Google if you click here (again, due to copyrights I am not adding any photos here!)  Parallels have also been drawn between Grace Kelly and Kate Middleton’s wedding dresses – and if you click on the link I am sure you will be able to spot the similarities. (3)

The elegant bow at the back

It is all in the small details – like the embroidery on the sleeves

The beautifully embroidered front

As will all of Jeanette’s wedding dresses featured here on the blog, this one is for sale and if you want to get in touch with the her just send me an email and I will make it happen!

Beaded 1950’s wedding dress

After a long day of photographing the three vintage wedding dresses the sun decided to grant us the most beautiful sunset over Cape Town and the moon responded with this glorious moonrise:

Kalk Bay South Africa Sunset

 

Previous posts about Jeanette’s vintage wedding dresses:

Cape Town Vintage Wedding Dresses – the 1970′s bohemian dress

Cape Town Vintage Wedding Dresses – the 1940′s chapter

Sources:

(1) Vintage Gown

(2) Saks Fifth Avenue

 (3)  Henry Roth

Love My Dress

Antique Lace at Diane Harby’s, Grays Antique Centre

So we are still at Gray’s Christmas Party, and we have now come down the stairs where we passed the Haywood Sister’s lovely singing – and we are finding ourselves by Diane Harby’s beautiful antique lace stand:

Diane Harby Antique Lace at Grays Antique Centre

Diane Harby sources the finest quality lace and I loved reading what she has to say about the history of lace:

“In Europe from the 16th to the 18th century the finest quality laces were so highly prized that their value was greater than gold and they became the ultimate status symbol throughout the courts. The tradition of handworked lace continues to the present day. Diane stocks handworked and machined lace collars, shawls, scarves and veils; Normandy and Tuile lace tablecentres; embroidered linen, cut-work and crochet traycloths, and much more. Also available are custom-made cushions and curtains.” – Diane Harby at Grays Antique Centre

Bows and lace… my absolute favourites!

Stunning lacework

Beautiful lace collar and a shrug at the back

Diane Harby Antique Lace at Stand 148, Grays Antique Centre

So all you brides looking for that perfect lace shrug to wear around your shoulders, do pop by Grays Antique’s in Mayfair and have a look around Diane Harby’s collection.  She offers such a wide range of styles and colours that I am sure you will find your perfect piece.

Cape Town Vintage Wedding Dresses – The 1940’s chapter

Today I would like to give a very special welcome to all of our South African brides-to-be.  You might remember Jeanette’s beautiful necklaces in our earlier posts?  Well, as it turns out she also works wonders with vintage wedding dresses in Cape Town…

Cape Town Vintage wedding dresses

Here in London vintage wedding dresses are incredibly popular right now.  The extraordinary handwork and design that has gone into the making is highly sought after and I think that many of us love how vintage wedding dresses bring our thoughts back to the most exciting and romantic times in the previous century.

Now while we have a wide array of vintage wedding dresses to choose from here in the UK, I understand that the supply is a bit more limited over in Cape Town.  That is why it was such a wonderful surprise to see Jeanette’s collection of restored vintage wedding dresses:

Lace details in the back with a row of beautifully hand sown buttons

The dress that Jeanette has lent us today is a beautiful piece of history, which stems from the Fighting Forties.  An issue of Vogue in 1942 stated that wartime wedding often left little time for preparations:

“Weddings nowadays hang not on the bride’s whim, but on the decision of the grooms commanding officer. He names the day when he grants that unexpected furlough… The 1942 schedule may run something like this: engagement announcement on Monday, invitations sent out by telegraph on Wednesday, the last handful of rice and rose petals flung on Saturday.
” – Vogue 1942 (1)

1940’s vintage wedding dress, Cape Town

With WWII the world of course changed greatly in the 1940’s.  Women took up positions previously held by men, but who had now departed for the war the job still had who had now gone off to fight.  Fashion is always highly influenced by changes in society, and this was no exception.  Wedding dresses were influenced by the military silhouette and this gown is a perfect example of this with its broad shoulders and slim waist.

Materials needed for the war effort were also heavily rationed, and clothing manufacturers could only use for example a very limited amount of silk.  Funnily enough wedding gowns were exempt from these sanctions, but people were still mindful of the rationing and often turned to materials like rayon.  As a result of the war wedding dress designs became simple and understated in design and it was very common to borrow a dress for your wedding (2).

Such gorgeous lace work in the back

Lace back and buttons

Jeanette’s dress so beautifully shows us this 1940’s design, and it is in such great condition still!  I love how these dresses represent such important times in history and it just amazing that we can still learn from these pieces, and get an understanding of what life was like back then.

I hope you enjoyed this post as we have two more of Jeanette’s dresses to look at – one takes us back to Saks Fifth Avenue in the 50’s and the last one shows us a stunning piece of 1970’s wedding fashion.  If you wish to get in touch with Jeanette about the wedding dresses or necklaces,  just send me an email and I will organise it.

Sources:

(1) Bridal Guide

(2) Vintage Gown