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Original poster

to wonder if MOB would have worn gloves in the 1980s

79 replies

OhGingleBells · 05/06/2024 16:48

Sorry - posted in AIBU for traffic!

Would the mother-of-the-bride have been likely to wear gloves to a wedding in the 1980s? I googled it but it mostly came up with information about bridal gloves. It's for a book - the character is in her early 50s and I want her in gloves as a plot point but only if wearing gloves would have been a fairly standard/normal thing to do!

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Vitriolinsanity · 05/06/2024 22:33

My DM had gloves at my London wedding in 1999. She's a lady of the 50's/60's and to her that was being properly turned out.

She had conniptions when I objected to a veil, so a veil was worn.

Butteredtoast55 · 05/06/2024 22:12

My Mum did for mine in 1988 and my brother's in 1986. My MIL always wore gloves for weddings and funerals well into this century. But she was frightfully upper class 😊

RuthW · 05/06/2024 22:05

Mine did in 1989.

Bakersdozens · 05/06/2024 21:53

no. Can she wear washing up gloves to help wash up or something? Or maybe she needs to cover up exma?

Sablecat · 05/06/2024 21:51

I had a traditional church wedding in 1993 with the men in morning suits. Neither my mother, my MIL nor my stepmother wore gloves. My mother was married in the early 1950s and she wore gloves even if she did elope and got married in an ordinary day dress in another country with two witnesses and the priest in an otherwise deserted church.

sinesperanza · 05/06/2024 21:38

My parents parents wore gloves in the 80s - mob and mog. This was in Scotland though so maybe more traditional up there?

BrioNotBiro · 05/06/2024 21:34

My mother and friends' mothers wore - or carried- gloves in the early 80s to weddings or formal events.

They weren't posh, but old school; it was the rule, if you wore a hat, you had gloves!

Elieza · 05/06/2024 21:04

As pp have said, the only gloves people really wore in the 80s were lace type Madonna style gloves, mine were fingerless.

DreadPirateRobots · 05/06/2024 20:47

I love the specificity of this question. I spend a lot of time researching this kind of detail when I'm writing fiction. For legitimate plot-related reasons I once looked up lots of information about telecoms structure and availability in Russia in the 1960s.

I think that this thread reveals the plausibility of the answer will depend on the class and social milieu, and the personality, of the character.

unospaghetto · 05/06/2024 20:44

OhGingleBells · 05/06/2024 16:54

Super. Good to know. Thank you everyone. That's coming out then - too contrived.

Could it not just be a cold day?

Or the gloves could be gardening gloves?

Artichokepiglet · 05/06/2024 20:41

They were white/cream and short (wrist length) to go with a pretty pink dress.

Artichokepiglet · 05/06/2024 20:40

My grandma, who would have been in her 50s at the time, wore gloves to her daughter's wedding in the 80s.

Evenstar · 05/06/2024 20:04

Married in 87 DM didn’t wear gloves, I think my Grandma (born 1902) did.

MereDintofPandiculation · 05/06/2024 19:59

The other question is what sort of gloves? Short, as in the wedding pic someone posted, or skin-tight up to the elbow things (which what would have been paired with a short sleeved dress). I remember in the 50s wearing short white crochet gloves “for best” in summer but that had all gone by the 60s

LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood · 05/06/2024 19:57

Most of the women wore gloves at my relatives’ weddings in the 1980s. Several weddings.

charabang · 05/06/2024 19:54

I married in 87 and my mum and MIL both wore gloves and dresses with a peplum.

Blarn · 05/06/2024 19:44

My parents got married in 83 and both their mothers are in gloves but holding them in all the photos. Navy with a navy skirt suit and cream with a faun skirt. I've looked at the photos a lot and I think they navy ones might be a very soft leather.

PeppermintParty · 05/06/2024 19:38

I got married late 70's and my DM wore gloves.

Maddy70 · 05/06/2024 19:38

No

RedHelenB · 05/06/2024 19:35

It was all fingerless gloves in the 80s.

Notoriety · 05/06/2024 19:30

1981 (small, registry office) and yes my mother wore gloves

Crabwoman · 05/06/2024 19:29

My gran, DM and aunts all wore gloves to weddings in the 1980's. Lacy, mesh or spotty mesh things. They were very formal women though.

redastherose · 05/06/2024 19:23

Nope I married in 1990 but gloves at formal functions weren't a thing for many years beforehand.

Daffodildilys · 05/06/2024 18:37

Both my dm and mil wore gloves at my wedding in 1987.

Bignanna · 05/06/2024 18:36

No one at my daughter’s wedding wore gloves in 1987.