Comments on: Oh, momma!

By: reese

reese — Mon, 09 Jan 2006 02:31:12 +0000

Coming from someone whose mother tries to consistently show her up, I would much rather prefer my mom in dress #1. Karen nailed it on the head…the MOB shouldn’t be trying to look sexier than her daughter.

Hear, hear….a post on MOBs who try to outshine their daughters is VERY much in order.

By: Never teh Bride

Never teh Bride — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 20:15:25 +0000

Hmmm, perhaps a post on the self-important, pushy MOtBs is in order!

By: Karen

Karen — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 19:15:04 +0000

The second dress is completely inappropriate for the 90+% of weddings that are not black tie. Plus it is (as most have noted) entirely age-inappropriate. And why would the MOtB want to look sexier than her daughter? That reeks of MOtB self-importance.

By: Brittany

Brittany — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 16:54:54 +0000

Have you ever seen "The Other Sister"? When the first sister (Caroline, I think? Or is she the lesbian?) gets married, Diane Keaton wears this great MOtB dress. It's mature but not dowdy and I think, pretty decent. I mean, it's no Mon Cheri bridal dress (which I can't imagine my mother wearing to my wedding) but it's good for what it is. At least it's not a floral bag and it actually fits the wearer (fits, rather than covers in a shapeless beaded sack).

By: Phia

Phia — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 13:54:04 +0000

My mother has sworn that in the event any of us try to force her into a sea foam MOtB outfit she’s going to wear it with massive combat boots.

By: gidget bananas

gidget bananas — Thu, 27 Oct 2005 01:15:34 +0000

“glamouflage” Thank you Tania! Now I know what to call that dress I cannot find . . .

By: Tania

Tania — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 18:50:39 +0000

LaBellaDonna, truly, the situation you describe is faux-pas-riffic. Wearing the same dress as the MOB!

I agree that the poor MOB gets some truly regrettable sartorial options thrown her way. But I also agree that only the slinkiest Desperate Housewife shaped MOBs can get away with form-fitting strapless numbers. Therein lies the trouble: the need to look glam and the need to camouflage. There is very little glamouflage to be had in today’s formalwear market.

Because I, being of various postcolonial mishmashed ethnicities, had the option of dressing my mother in something other than a shower-curtain horror of shoulderpads and lace overlays, I took advantage of my heritage and put my dear mom in a traditional red Chinese 2-piece qipao tailored to fit her, which covered her up to the neck, down to the wrists, and down the ankles, but still managed to look sleek and chic without exposing her 50-something-year-old upper arms to the four winds. (My bridesmaids too were in qipaos, but my mother was in a complementary but more dramatic fabric. She also had a corsage the size of her head.)

Then I tackled my MIL-to-be, who was of mixed Northern European extraction, and on the Plus size side. The very Plus size side. To her own daughter’s wedding, she had worn a dress very similar to the blue one that Never teh Bride gives us as a cautionary tale. I needed to take aggressive action. I watched some Chinese soap operas, then proposed to her a hand-embroidered, roomy, knee-length red silk tunic, again tailored to measure, over black silk trousers. She was so excited to wear pants, she could not stop talking about anything else for the entire wedding, and happily told everyone, “I am dressed as the evil Chinese mother in law from a soap opera.” She looked smashing.

By: La BellaDonna

La BellaDonna — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 16:15:54 +0000

Aaaaaaggghhhhhh! This brings to mind an evening of complete anguish and horror for La BellaDonna. In the Not Too Distant Past (2002), the beloved Older Brother of La BellaDonna was married, for the first time, at the age of 46; an event desired by OB for many years, but which we had all given up hope for, as there seemed to be no one who appreciated the wonderfulness of OB. Flash back a year, to the engagement; in the enthusiasm of the moment, La BellaDonna offered to make the wedding gown for the Wonderful Bride. The WB had a gown that was breathtaking, and she looked magical.

I did not. Due to the vagaries of a cruel universe, I wound up making two wedding gowns for two brides who were getting married on the same day – and both gowns were gifts of love. I no longer speak to the other bride; she was a Bad Bride.

However, since I was sewing like a maniac for two other women, I had no time to sew for myself, nor to shop. It is very, very hard to find anything in navy blue in August. Or September. (The weddings were in October.) I found something I considered barely adequate, and altered it to fit properly.

To my horror, on the day of the wedding, I found the bride’s mother and I were wearing the same dress. Oh, sure, hers was in burgundy, mine was in navy; she had a short, sheer matching jacket, and mine was calf-length; mine had beading, hers didn’t. My neckline was scoop, hers was jewel. But it was still the same goddamn dress. Did I mention that the bride is 15 years younger than I am? The fact that the shoes I wore (which used to be comfortable!) hurt my feet horribly, and my beloved was called in for an emergency that day, and could not attend, just made it Perfect All Around. PP

By: Margie

Margie — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 05:23:22 +0000

I recently sang at a wedding where the mother of the bride was wearing something similar to the gold dress shown here, strapless pale gold, but with a full princess skirt. The photographer started filming her walking down the aisle before he realised that he was filming the mother, not the bride.
I don’t have anything against a stylish mother of the bride outfit but it should be at least clearly distinguishable from the bride..

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 22:55:14 +0000

This suit — http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/catalog/prod.jhtml?itemId=prod26550007&parentId=cat5010731&masterId=cat4680731&index=33&cmCat=

from Neiman Marcus isn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it looks terrific, and the MOB should be able to wear it on many occasions.