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

[OhGingleBells]

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!

No.
In the 50s, probably but not the 80s.

Unless it's midwinter and she has Reynauds disease.

Mine didn't!

DM relates as a newly wed in 1973 she was told that she should wear gloves to a formal event at DDad’s work. She refused on the basis that it was madness…so I think not common by the 1980s.

No, not standard. I married in 87 and DM didn't wear gloves. Large village, traditional white wedding.

Agree with Fuzzy. More of a 1950s early 1960s thing. Women didn't wear dress gloves in the 80s.

I remember my mother wearing gloves to my sister's wedding (at least I'm sure she did, I'd have to look at a photo to be sure, after all this time).

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

I got married in 1989 and there were no gloves

I got married in the 80s as did lots of my friends. Nobody's mother wore gloves.

There was an odd tradition (Scotland) that if the bride wore a short sleeved dress, she was meant to wear gloves - I didn't as I thought it was a daft idea.

No. Just no.

At the wedding I went to in 1985, the MOB was sat in the room watching the FA Cup Final with everybody else, not wondering whether anybody would notice she'd dropped in from 1937 (my mother's wedding in 1954 definitely didn't have anybody wearing gloves, either).

My dm was very fond of a pair of gloves with a daytime formal outfit in the 70s (any time of year) when she was maybe 35 / 40, but I don't think it would have been a thing in the 80s unless you were very old fashioned. When dm wore a pair of gloves in that way, she would only wear one and hold one in the same hand for some reason, same hand as the handbag I seem to remember - I think it was a 1950s fashion perhaps! She would wear a matching coat and dress or a two piece 'costume' and a pair of gloves. So if your character is an older lady and is quite old fashioned, it would be possible in the 80s I think.

My GM had gloves for my wedding in 1992, she felt she wouldn't be properly dressed for a wedding without, but my mum didn't.

Well, the Queen did at Charles and Diana's wedding in 1981, so maybe at high society weddings. But not at any of the reception-in-church-hall weddings I ever went to.

Yes, I think that matters. A MOB watching the cup final probably not, but a fancy wedding it wouldn't be unusual.

My Mum wore gloves at my wedding in the early 90s. I had to dye them to match the colour of her outfit. Just had a look at the photos and my Gran and two aunts were wearing gloves too. We’re not posh. We’d fit right in with the cast of EastEnders.

Interesting. I wonder if the fashion for gloves will roll around again one day? Probably not while gel nails etc are so popular.

I got married in the late 1990s and both MotB and MotG wore gloves for the service. I also went to Buckingham Palace in 1980s and gloves were worn. So I guess it depends on how formal your fictional wedding will be.

I got married in 1980 and my mum didn’t wear gloves. But we’re common so …

My mother did (as a wedding guest rather than MOB)

I thought it might during Covid but it didn't.
There was a brief trend at my school for evening gloves (and feather boas) to wear on a night out in the early 90s, I have no idea if that was just us though (not a private school!)

Unless it's set shortly after Like a Virgin was released and your heroine is channelling Madonna from the era. Then she'd need short lace gloves, preferably fingerless, a big shaggy blonde hairdo and an absolute fuckton of red lippie.

My mother wore gloves to my wedding in the late 80s, when she was only in her late 40s - she was always v ‘proper’ (though far from posh!).

I married in 1994 , and my both my Grandma wore gloves , Gr W wore navy blue and Gr C wore white ( wore one , carried one ) because it was the proper thing to do
They we’re both in there late 80s

I got married in 1984.

My mother didn't wear gloves - I did though!