Silk vintage wedding dress steals show

Jodi wears her grandmother's 1939 silk gown

A pure silk vintage wedding dress from 1939 that was made in just three days stole the show at last week’s ‘Bridal Fashion Through the Years’ catwalk show, held at Takapuna, on Auckland’s North Shore.

The dress, pictured, still looked new and fresh on the original owner Philis Armstrong’s granddaughter, Jodi Czepanski, who wore it for her own wedding. It’s certainly a testament to the enduring qualities of natural materials, as well as being beautiful.

Vintage bridal inspiration

The good news is that if you’re looking for vintage bridal inspiration you can check out the dresses for yourself. They mostly span the last 70 years and feature a gamut of styles.

Curiously, the oldest dress shown was a black one, from the early 1800s. Shades of today’s black bridesmaid’s dresses in its practicality, except its long and very modest, certainly no LBD.

Sixties short-styles are coming back in vogue

However, the elegant, clingy 1940s numbers and the short, sixties-style lace dress that sashayed down the catwalk wouldn’t have looked out-of-place today. Indeed, there was even a seventies dress which featured a hoodie.

Sumptuous styles

From the 1980s, styles became more sumptuous. While, in the nineties, styles changed again with the beginnings of the trend towards strapless dresses. Today’s love of beach weddings is also hinted at with a simple camisole-style early beach wedding dress.

Check out the parade of styles at photographer Neville Bailey’s website.

And, for a modern take on the short wedding dress, you could check out the almost cocktail short styles at The Little White Dress.

Little White Dress designer Sarah says the demand for shorter styles is growing.

Seventies style hoodie dress

One advantage is you don’t have to worry about getting caught up in yards of hot material that can be uncomfortable in our warm climate. It’s also a very current look.

Vintage style may be hot right now, but it seems it doesn’t always have to involve long swathes of material. It can be short and very sweet.

Photos by Neville Bailey and Sandrina Huish at Dual Focus Photography