Victorian themed wedding... guests need Victorian themed clothes

[LiesDoNotBecomeUs]

I'm not sure if this is the right place (I might be 150 years too late for this style advice).

I'm invited to a September wedding with a Victorian theme. (The family celebrating are Victorian society members in a city with proud Victorian-heritage.)

I need a 'Victorian-ish' outfit for the occasion but am mature, apple-shaped (tall -but size 16 and mostly belly).

I can improvise for children's book day events and things like that but this is a serious adult occasion - in a church - and my sewing skills are poor to appalling. (I'm known for messy injuries with sissors and stitching my -several years in the making- apron to my own skirt.)

Worst of all, I've a horrible idea that Victorian-ish means tight waist (I've never seen mine) and ballooning skirts.

I'm going to look like an appropriately themed traditional boiled pudding aren't I?

Can anyone help on how I can go about this? What style could pass for Victorian and not get me placed on the desserts table with custard?
(I've even considered arriving as a ghost.)

@Lavenderosa I am tunic or big jumper and leggings style. (Seasalt works for me.) Empire line dresses can work (V necks are good.) Not at all Victorian.

(Thanks to much help from BIWI and her amazing threads on here I've shrunk into a 16 tunic but shrinking progress is likely to be slow from here and I am not sure what size I'd be if the waist was a fitted one. )

Entire Stuffed Bird On Hat

Queen Victoria herself was quite the apple. Do you think you could find a queenly costume somewhere?

Other than that, how about turning up as a Victorian cross dresser? You could be a "fair deceiver" and dress "in a spirit of mischief". You could be a "new woman"...

I can imagine Queen Victoria would have provided a mind-boggling array of 'Is my MIL being unreasonable?' threads, had MN been around at the time...

So if you're a 16-18, and you want to try to be authentic, you could probably find something at one of the big costume hire places, which also have all the right accessories eg gloves, hats, parasols, bags... Have a look online and see which ones are nearest you - nothing to lose by trying some on.

If still in full mourning, you weren't supposed to go anywhere - so outfits for attending a wedding would have been irrelevant. Queen Victoria was only in partial mourning by 1863 - white cap, no veil.

fashionhistory.fitnyc.edu/knickerbockers/

How about a sporty pair of knickerbockers?

If you like empire line and the bride and groom aren’t being precious then maybe lean into the ‘old fashioned lady who found a style she liked and stuck with it’ character? I imagine thanks to bridgerton there’s plenty more empire line dresses out there than styles that mimic the mid 19th century. You’d be about 30 years out but closer than if you went in modern dress…

I think expecting historical dress is a little more indulgent than expecting somebody to have a relatively basic dress or smart trousers/shirt. Most people have something vaguely appropriate in their wardrobes already for your standard modern wedding (or can pick something up fairly cheaply from Vinted, borrow from a friend etc). Certainly more likely than having a spare crinoline hanging about or coming across an 1850s corset in the back of the British Heart Foundation.

Or wrap yourself in a couple of large sheets and go as Elizaberh Siddal www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/s502.rap.html

Victoria came to the throne in 1819 when the Regency style was just coming to and end. Could you push it a bit and go for something like that? Wikipedia has an illustration of a blue dress from that year https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_fashion#/media/File%3AFashions.jpg

I'd seriously be looking at blokes clothes for the right period, some sort of frock coat ensemble would work, especially if you're tall and I think it could look good.

Victoria didn’t become Queen until 1837.

Only watched briefly but there are some nice ideas for hairstyles here - if you have longer hair obviously!

@SirChenjins she became queen in 1837 not 1819 that's when she was born. The 1819 lady in your picture has a way higher waistline than the 1838 lady.

You’re right - she was born in 1819! Scrub my rubbish suggestion.

Honestly OP I'd see if you can try a big skirted costume from somewhere and see how it feels. It's not daily wear it's a costume and the proportions give the look of a small waist more than tight lacing which most people didn't do for obvious reasons.

I don't wear dresses much at all let alone a long one but I'd jump at the chance to wear a hoop for a bit and SWISH

Or a fallen woman of the streets, complete with bosoms barely contained in your corset, a bedraggled shawl, a satin skirt that has seen better days, bare feet, maybe a babe in arms or small urchin, maybe some suspicious looking scabs and a couple of blacked out teeth. You could save your entrance for the part when they say “ Does anyone know of any just cause or impediment….”

OP, judging by the responses on here, there may well be many guests at this wedding who, not being purist Victorian Society members, will be wearing anything from Regency costumes to Artful Dodger outfits to Dick Van Dyke as a chimney sweep.

In your shoes, I'd quite fancy going full on Dress Reform, and rocking an Amelia Bloomer look. That or a female pit worker.

This all sounds so much fun. I'd make up a back story to my "character" depending on what style of outfit I could get.
Would certainly make the chatting to other guests more interesting.
@LiesDoNotBecomeUs do you know what type of life your Victorian ancestors had (middle class, working class, someone with a trade like hat maker etc) you could go as one of them !

Even more fun than just being a ghost 😁

I’ve hired a costume from a local theatre company for a medieval even before, it wasn’t that much and they had loads of choices and sizes. I’d look for your local costume hire place. It will be cheaper and better than buying something to wear once.

https://www.mollylimpets.com/fancy-dress/victorian-edwardian

you have nothing to lose mailing them with your actual dimensions and size see if they have any suggestions for you

Could you get a simple dress and wear something like this over the top? It’s cheap enough that you could maybe size up and then get a seamstress to adjust it to fit perfectly.

Does it have to be a very literal 'costume' or can you wear something modern that's inspired by? I think there are a few velvet Monsoon dresses on Vinted that could work well with the right accessories.

If I've attached the screenshot correctly, I think the top two could work?