50s wedding

[herecomesthsun]

A lovely couple of my acquaintance are having a 50s wedding. I am planning to go and wondered about trying to go with the 50s theme. However, this involved checking my measurements to see what Lindy bop size to get and I have shocked myself as I am bigger than I expected.

I am now
a) wondering whether just to try and lose weight and to shelve getting a dress for now
b) just how flattering 50s style will be on someone who is themselves 50s and is 44-37-48.5.

I am 5ft 8-9ish and have gone from 41-34-47 to 42-31-41 when breastfeeding 4 years ago to current size. There is some pear/ hourglass confusion going on. Am a bit concerned about the thickening waistline.

I think part of it was that I had a ligament injury last year and was keen not to make it worse so reduced my amount of exercise (basically let DH run about after the kids).

I like the idea of the pouffy petticoats and dresses - and some dresses are quite a plain colour which would work best. This is the most "fun" 50s option.

However, practically I look best in dark colours, prob navy, especially lower half, and tend to go for calf length, fairly straight skirts. If I stick with this

I guess the problem with some of these 50s clothing specialists is that they are online rather than in shops, so it is hard to try stuff on.

I could try and lose some weight, put an outfit together from existing clothes and maybe just get a 50s top closer to the time.

Does anyone have any advice or ideas?

How long to the wedding? I personally would not pressure myself to lose weight for a specific date, mentally it is too hard.
What are the returns policy? I would order what I liked and return if not fitting or uncomfortable.

I have a lindy bop dress and all are true to size with little room for pmt/bloating etc so be very comfortable in the dress. But they all look fab and a pouffy skirt with a belt will give you a waist defenition.

Wedding is in about 6 weeks. I think I will prob be able to drop the waist size at least a bit in that time if I low carb as that is where I noticeably diminished last time I tried.

Lindy bop returns you have to pay for, I have a vision of returning great boxes and boxes of pouffiness at huge expense (I can afford to do it, but it would be a pain and time-consuming).

Also the reviews on the website suggest that the sizing is variable, which is not great for fitted clothes sold on line.

I am amused by the idea though of kitting out DD 4 as a mini me in pouffy skirts which I could do on that website, or is that a bit ridiculous and would we look like refugees from the Sound of Music?

Elsie's attic do some lovely full skirts - maybe that with a little sweater?

I think with a 44" chest the little sweater would look a bit matronly.

When I was much younger and had a 24" waist, the full skirted 50s silhouette suited me as it showed off my waist and skimmed over the 40" hips.

However, now that I am rather bigger round the waist, I am thinking that this style probably looks a bit overblown on me.

I am wondering about the Eliza J stylee or whether something leaner and longer would be better. I do have nice ankles.

these look quite flattering if less dramatic without the petticoats