Wedding splendor

My brother was recently married to a lovely young lady. To celebrate this happy occasion I pulled out all the stops to create some lovely clothing for myself, my mother and my sister-in-law. My brother's fiance now wife loves the "Roaring Twenties", so I offered to make her a 1920's inspired veil out of silk and some vintage lace I had.
When it comes to historical clothing, I try to be as authentic as possible. There is a lot of "flapper style" and 1920's  style clothing out there that no self respecting women of the time would have worn to a party, let alone to her wedding.

not 1920's style

Dresses in the 1920's had dropped waists (i.e. were not body hugging or tight fitting) came at least to the knee, and did not feature midriff baring cut-outs, plunging necklines or no backs. They tended to be very "demure". Wedding veils were a a type of mob cap with flowers on both sides of the head or large cloche hats.

A bride in 192o's on her wedding day

Not everyone looks good with a lace cap and some big bunches of flowers over their ears (let's face it it is a "different" look). Since I had some authentic 1920's lace I was able to simulate something that was closer to the period. My sister-in-law loves lotus flowers so I made one large lotus flower out of silk organza, with Swarovski crystals and pearls for the centers. I also added some authentic 1920's style ribbon work flowers in pale blue and ivory. The lace was no longer white but a lovely creamy ivory and I made a silk covered head band as the base. My sister-in-law did not want a long veil.

laces loosely pinned to head form

Not long ago I purchased an e-book from Prudence millinery  explaining how to make couture fabric flowers and headbands, and I used these instructions to construct the veil's base. 

Front view of completed veil

Side view of completed veil

 

 

 

 

After making the veil I made myself a dress and made matching hats for myself and my mother. My dress was made of a very pretty polyester chiffon and my mother's dress was a grey Duponi silk.

Beginnings of dress and hats

My hat was a large flower, while the two hats I made for my mother were a similar flower in grey and black silk and a large horse hair bow with netting on a silk base.

Black and grey Duponi silk hat

Chiffon and silk cocktail hat with veiling

Horsehair, black silk and Russian veiling hat

The wedding was lovely: my sister-in-law looked very beautiful and my brother was radiantly happy.