Junior Rasmussen
Wearing your mother's wedding dress is a thoughtful way to honour your family matriarch and incorporate a sense of nostalgia and tradition into your wedding. However, vintage gowns may look outdated, not reflect your personal style, or not suit your body type. To modernise your mother's wedding dress, you can work with a specialist to remove sleeves, alter the neckline, or cut off the train. You can also transform the dress into a different garment, such as a pantsuit, jacket, or party dress. Alternatively, you can repurpose the fabric into accessories, such as a veil, clutch, or headband.
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What You'll Learn
Modernising the silhouette
One way to modernise the silhouette is to simplify the design. If the original dress has voluminous layers or heavy embellishments, consider streamlining these elements for a sleeker, more modern look. This can also make the dress more comfortable and practical, especially if you plan on wearing it to a casual or outdoor wedding.
Another way to update the silhouette is to alter the neckline. For example, you could convert a high neckline to a sweetheart or deep V-neck, adding a touch of romance and modern flair. Removing sleeves can also create an off-the-shoulder or strapless look, which is a popular trend that many brides are currently embracing.
If you're looking for a more dramatic change, consider transforming the dress into a completely different garment. For instance, you could turn it into a mini dress, a high-low dress, or even a pantsuit. These options can make the outfit more youthful and playful, perfect for a night of dancing or a beach wedding.
When making these alterations, it is essential to work with a skilled tailor or designer who specialises in repurposing wedding dresses, especially vintage gowns. They will be able to suggest feasible alterations that enhance the dress's best features while respecting the garment's history and your desired style.
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Repurpose the fabric
Repurposing your mother's wedding dress fabric is a popular trend that allows you to honour your family matriarch and incorporate a sense of nostalgia and tradition into your wedding celebration. Here are some ideas to transform the dress into something modern and unique:
Alter the Silhouette
If your mother's dress has voluminous layers or heavy embellishments, consider simplifying these elements to create a sleeker silhouette. This modernizes the look and can better suit a casual or elegant theme, such as a beach wedding. You can also alter the neckline to dramatically change the feel of the dress. For example, convert a high neckline into a sweetheart or deep V-neck to add a touch of romance and modern flair.
Hemline Overhaul
Another way to modernize the dress is by altering the hemline. You can swap a long train for a short one, creating a mini or high-low hemline. A shorter hemline not only makes the dress more youthful and playful but also provides optimal comfort and movability for dancing at your reception.
Transform into a Different Garment
If you want to create something completely different, you can transform the dress into a pantsuit, jacket, or even a skirt-and-top combination. This allows you to design a contemporary outfit that suits your personal style while still incorporating the fabric and sentimentality of your mother's dress.
Accessories and Details
Instead of wearing the dress, you can use the fabric to create unique accessories. For example, you can use the fabric to wrap your bridal bouquet, sew textile rosettes for your hair, or create a pretty clutch to hold during the reception. If the dress has lace, you can incorporate it into your veil, adding a special touch to your "something borrowed."
Rehearsal Dinner or Reception Outfit
You can also repurpose the fabric of your mother's wedding dress to create a modern outfit for your rehearsal dinner or wedding reception. This could be a chic pantsuit, a flirty mini silhouette, or any other style that suits your taste and the event's theme.
Remember, when repurposing the fabric, it is essential to work with a skilled tailor or designer specializing in repurposing wedding dresses, especially vintage gowns. They will be adept at preserving the integrity of the original fabric while introducing modern techniques and designs, ensuring your updated dress remains a cherished heirloom.
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Remove sleeves
Wearing your mother's wedding dress is a thoughtful way to honour your family matriarch and incorporate nostalgia and tradition into your wedding. However, the vintage garment may look outdated, not reflect your personal style, or not suit your body type.
One way to modernise your mother's wedding dress is to remove the sleeves to create an off-the-shoulder or strapless neckline. This can be done by first cutting off the sleeve, leaving a couple of inches of fabric. If you have a serger, use it to serge off the excess sleeve about 5/8” from the seam line. If you do not have a serger, carefully measure and trim off the excess, measuring 5/8” from the seam line. You will then use the small piece of sleeve as a facing by turning it inside out on the seam line and top stitch it into place, 3/8” from the edge. Press the seam with an iron and the new sleeveless look is complete.
If you are concerned about the balance of the dress without the sleeves, you could consider creating an off-the-shoulder look, cap sleeves, or a cold shoulder. You could also save the fabric from the sleeves and add a bit of 'poof' to the shoulders to balance the rest of the dress out.
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Shorten the hemline
Shortening the hemline is a great way to modernise your mother's wedding dress and make it more comfortable to walk, dance and mingle in. This is a popular trend that many brides are following, in part due to the resurgence of vintage aesthetics.
If you want to shorten the hemline, the first step is to try on the dress and determine how much fabric you want to remove. It is important to consider the shoes you plan to wear with the dress, as this will impact the length. You should then turn the dress inside out and use fabric chalk to mark the new hemline.
Once you have marked the hemline, you can cut the excess fabric from the bottom of the dress. It is important to use sharp scissors to get the straightest cut. If you are not confident in your sewing abilities, you can use safety pins and hem tape to secure the new hemline. Hem tape is a thin piece of adhesive tape that runs along the hem of the dress and can be used to quickly modernise an old dress.
If you want a more permanent solution, you can sew the new hemline by hand. This can be done in half an hour or less with just a needle and thread, using a blind stitch. This type of stitch will not be visible when the dress is turned right side out.
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Add colour
While there is no single colour that the mother of the bride or groom should wear, there are a few things to consider when choosing a dress colour. Firstly, the mother of the bride or groom should collaborate with the bride or groom. While it's the mother's dress, it's still the child's wedding, so the mother should consider their vision. The mother of the bride or groom should also reach out to the other mother to coordinate or ensure their looks are different.
The mother of the bride or groom's dress colour should complement the bridal party's palette without exactly matching the bridesmaids. The dress colour should also suit the wedding's theme, season, and venue. For example, beach and garden weddings work best with lighter, breezier colours like soft pastels, seafoam green, and coral tones. The dress colour should also complement the mother's skin tone. For instance, warm skin tones should avoid icy blues and intense jewel tones, while cool undertones might want to stay away from orange, tomato red, and strong yellows.
Popular choices for mother-of-the-bride or groom dresses include navy blue, royal blue, blush, and nude shades. These refined neutrals blend well with most wedding colour schemes and look stunning in photos. Mothers can also choose colours that are in the same colour family as the wedding palette. For example, if the bridesmaids are wearing light blue, the mother could wear a deeper navy or complementary purple.
If the wedding has a mismatched bridal party, the mother of the bride or groom can easily find a look that complements the bridesmaids' dresses. If the bridesmaids are wearing the same colour, the mother can choose a dress in a compatible hue. Ultimately, it's up to the couple whether they want the mother of the bride or groom to match the bridal party or the wedding colour scheme.
Some colours that suit the role of the mother of the bride or groom include wine red and moss green. Gold is also a beautiful colour for a mother who wants light shades but wants to avoid white.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, you can make your mother's wedding dress modern by altering it. You can work with a specialist to modernise the dress, for example, by removing the sleeves to create an off-the-shoulder or strapless neckline, or cutting off the train to create a mini or high-low hemline.
If you are unable to modernise the dress to your liking, or if you want to preserve the original dress, you can repurpose the fabric into a bridal veil, headband, clutch, or garter.
You can incorporate your mother's wedding dress into your wedding by using the fabric as a detail on your bridal bouquet, or as a textile rosette for your hair or gown.
You can modernise your mother's wedding dress into a flirty mini silhouette, a chic pantsuit, or a bridal robe for your rehearsal dinner.
Modernising a wedding dress can be time-consuming and expensive. It is recommended to take the dress to an experienced tailor who can advise on the best course of action.
