The bridesmaids should never outshine the bride. Some brides, however, seem to be taking this to the extreme when dressing up their maids of honor. Or maybe time changes fashion trends so much, that after some the style that was "in" starts to look simply ridiculous. Either way, Bored Panda has collected a series of vintage bridesmaids dresses that are so funny, that you'll probably feel sorry for the women who wore them.
The 70s fashion brought outrageous patterns, floppy hats, and undiscernable silhouettes to the mix, 80s fashion later added vivid color, spandex, and space-filling hairdos. No matter the era, though, these absolutely unique vintage outfits would make your silly Spongebob PJs look like a classy suit. Scroll down to check out the images and upvote your favorite outrageous fashion statements!
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In my opinion, these are actually really elegant designs for bridesmaid dresses. The dresses themselves match the basic design of the bride's dress without being an exact copy. I especially like the fact that with the way the dresses are pieced together, a design like theirs would go well on any body figure. Also, I would just LOVE to see them billow in the wind ^-^
Actually I think this is pretty. Change the color scheme and it's still totally relevant.
I think so too. A palette of subdued autumn tones would have worked just as well.
Load More Replies...You could TOTALLY wear this again! As opposed to the 80's s**t I had to wear, with the shoulder pads out to the parking lot.
Mine made me look like Little Bo Peep. My mother forced me to accept the bridesmaid position, so I forced her to pay for that damn dress.
Load More Replies...I like that the styles are identical, but the colors are different. The dresses are fairly simple, and could easily be re-used (in the 70s, these were high style).
Oh so true Lizard Queen! - having served as a very young flower girl, back in the mid-late 70's, when most bride's maid & bridal gowns were sewn at home. The simple, yet elegant pattern in various colors was considered very fashionable. As were the flower bundles.
Load More Replies...Honestly, I think these dresses are quite pretty and I like the bouquets too! The only thing I would change is the bride's coiffure.
The design of the dresses is actually stylish and very flattering to all shapes and sizes and capes are awesome. More bridesmaids should be covered up, especially when their arms are larger than the average women's leg.
I see all the fairy godmothers from Sleeping Beauty showed up for Princess Aurora's wedding.
this is similar to one I was in in 1977. in my defense, I was only 4 ;)
as one to another, i too was a very young flower girl for several weddings in the mid to late 70's. however, of all the ones i served in i thought these bridesmaids dresses very nice. yet, i realized that each was required to have their own dress sewn up at home in the color decided upon by the bride. was such a big responsibility & honor back then, so different now though - we can all look back & have a good laugh at ourselves! Ha-haa-haa!!!
Load More Replies...That was called a Rainbow wedding. My sister had one with 9 bridesmaids. I wore peach.
If they updated their hair and makeup, and made light changes to the flower choices, this could be done now with a modern spin.
OMG I was a bridesmaid in exactly the same colour green in a similar dress. I hated it but my friend the bride picked it and I wore it for her on her special day.
From left to right: Peridot, Yellow Diamond, Amethyst, White Diamond, Rose Quartz, Sapphire. Steven Universe anyone?
Actually the bride's name is Rose...that's my sister-in-law,,Sapphire...
Load More Replies...love the colors, and the shape of the dresses reminds me of princess leia. ;-)
No one looks stuffed into the dresses, there are no gaudy patterns and no awful hats. A+
I also like these.. the style is simple but, I think too many colors spoils them.
This was the dress my bridesmaids wore. They were in a peachy color and my maid of honor was in rust. The dress itself was sleeveless with a fee neck.
but that was the style then mine where similar to this and it was very much with the time
At least these are pastel coloured and not like some of the others...
These dresses are pretty, not dated looking, and show the bride's kindheartedness. 😀
The style and colors of these dresses are almost identical to my aunts wedding when I was around 10. No lavender though and I was in pink.
Imagine groomsmen wearing these matching colors. My 6'4" husband was in a wedding wearing the yellow version.
My bridesmaids wore pink, purple and green. More of a pastel, though. That was 1973 (divorced and remarried now).
This is vintage and classic chic. In a class above the other photos. In fact, screenshot this ladies
Had these for my wedding only the back cape went to the knee. In the era of the late 70's it was hard to find something that WASN"T spaghetti straps and 1 of my brides maids was like a 38DD!
I actually love this one. It's refreshing to see the colors not all being the same. And the cut is lovely. That one of the only bridesmaid dresses that I would actually wear again. Especially the blue one.
I wish I had thought of the capes. I had a rainbow wedding like this in 1975!
This style of dress is back in fashion. We've seen quite a few celebrities wear this cape style on the red carpet
This style is back in fashion. The have been more than a few celebrity red carpet dresses with this cape style.
I have never been a fan of this dress but seeing it in different colors, it looks pretty an all the unique ladies
I didn't know the costume designer for the Lawrence Welk Show did consulting work for weddings. Huh.
I hit reply to a comment and BP decided to post my comment on the main chat anyways lol
Load More Replies...A lot of ppl seem to like these on here but I think they are ugly. They look like they are wearing some weird nun cape thingy. I'm sure they were super trendy back in the day though.
I remember this dress. In fact I might have made myself one like it. Ah, rainbow weddings!
This is actually fairly classic. The brides sleeves are really pretty.
Scroll down and then back up. This one looks quite subdued and tasteful by comparison.
I think this is the least horrific of all of them, at least the dresses are simple and individual. The 70s, the decade that vomitted all over style and taste.
To Boredpanada admins: We need the year of the photos ;-D !!!
To Boredpanda admins: We need the year of the photos ;-D !!!!!
These are actually tasteful. The color hues are nice as well; soft but not overly pastel. Too formal for my taste, but I'll admit, this was a good choice.
Rainbow weddings were all the rage when I was a child in the early '60s. This seems like a "modern" version. I'll bet those capes came right off and shoulders were bared for the reception!
I like the elegant design of the dresses and how the flowers compliment each color.
The cape look was "In" at this time. I had a similar look on my 1975 lime green prom dress!! I don't mind this look..."rainbow" wedding party was JUST coming into vogue back then!
...what's wrong with those? I think they're really beautiful actually. Made me think of tolkien-style elves. The beauty of simplicity and elegance ^^
Don't know how or why, when I voted and chose to login with Facebook that it logged my husband's acct instead of mine, and me with my fast fingers didn't catch it in time before clicking continue...geez...guessing I'll have to go and delete it and try again...but how does that even happen when I am logged into my account to begin with?! Frkn frustrating....gggrrr...ugh!
How is this ridiculous? These are amazing. I mean, the hair from the lady in green... ok, but that's about it
after the photos, the bride's friends beat her to death with their flower bombs
This actually reminds me of something I saw Meghan Markle wear recently. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The dresses day "garden party" but the hats say "yippee ki yay". The groom's tux says "we'll be here all week, try the veal and don't forget to tip your warehouse."
These women at least look somewhat comfortable and like they're having fun
Put some wheels under this and you've got a pretty decent parade float.
The dresses are blessedly simple. The issue here is the headgear. They look like someone re-purposed Easter decorations.
Now these bridesmaids dresses are cool...unfortunately I don't think the groomsmen suits will ever come back in fashion
"Jimmy and I met when we both ordered a Tequila Sunrise at the bar...."
I forget how young people got married back the day.....all these fresh little faces. Before someone jumps my s**t....I'm not saying I think it's a great idea to get married fresh out of high school. I'm just observing.
Those dresses remind me of the non-slip decals we used to put in our bathtubs.
If you go inside the church, you'll see that all of the wallpaper in the hallways is gone.
I hate to admit it but I think I like these ones! The bride looks lovely.
I honestly am not bothered by the oddness of the dresses. I just live how happy everyone looks. No one is trying to look cool; they seem genuinely happy to be part of the day.
That was fun but Twenty years from now people will be making fun of our fashion trends too.
Interesting collection, perhaps if dates and places were provided the trends could be better understood. Are they from the U.S.A., Eastern Europe or where? When and where were the awful floral prints in vogue?
Most of the floral prints were probably late 60s and into the 70s here in the USA. The big hair and "prairie-like" dresses were probably late 70s early 80s... Not sure about the one with the bride with the basket on her head, I'm thinking Europe somewhere?
Load More Replies...Maybe I'm weird but I genuinely think most(not all for sure but still lol) of those were not so bad at all. Not up to modern fashion standards perhaps but then if you look up modern wedding fashion you'll probably end up with some much weirder sh**. Some of those kinda look like people were short on money and perhaps couldn't afford more intricate designs and others are just bad pictures of not so bad outfits(no making 300 pics while seeing the previews of all them and then photoshopping them to perfection back then, remember)
A lot of these photos look like they were from weddings in the 70s. If you're too young to remember that time, we had avocado green refrigerators, burnt orange shag carpet, TVs the size of coffins, bell bottoms and cars that got worse mileage than a lot of military vehicles. Most of all, we had color and weren't afraid to use it. Subtle wasn't in our vocabulary.
Truthfully, to state these dresses ridiculous is uncalled for. It was the style then, and it isn't the style now. It was simple, well tailored, modest and gave a vibe of elatedness.
I really don't understand why there's "Ridiculous" in the title. This was the fashion in that time and noone considered it ridiculous back then. Ok, there are some pictures which are over the top. But even they are still a whole better than what a lot of people wear on weddings now.
they were appropriate and beautiful for the time, not "ridiculous", get over yourselves, we'll be called ridiculous in future (in fact i think everything is ridiculous now)
My mother was a dressmaker. I can imagine her having make some of these dresses, except the yellow polka dot set. I think/hope/pray she would have drawn the line at that!
The one with Mia Farrow on the end is Mia Farrow. Robert Altman's movie The Wedding.
My bridesmaids (mid 90s) wore cowboy boots and denim mini skirts. The groomsmen had bolo ties. My gown had fringe and the groom had a suede vest.
Everyone who says "Thwt was just the fashion of the time!" obviously isn't aware of the reputation bridesmaids' dresses had back then -- that they were some of the most hideous, impractical outfits possible, unflattering and nothing you would *ever* be able to wear anywhere else. People joked that they were a loyalty test on the part of the bride, sort of "Let's see if you're *really* good enough friends to be willing to pay good money for these hideous things and wear them in public!" And everyone else just figured they were meant to make the bride look good in comparision!
I just recently signed up for bored panda but this collection and the BP comments leaves me wanting to already drop out. I don't think it is right to ridicule the tastes of another age, or for that matter to ridicule much of anything. For the age, I found many of these precious.
I am sure all parties in these photos must be with either cringing with embarrassment or killing themselves laughing.
They were supposed to be memorable for the event. And boy that nobody will ever forget them.
First off there is nothing wrong with man-buns. They are comfortable for us people who don't like going to get our hair cut. Hehe. Also none of these were awful. A lot of them appeared to have culture behind them, some didn't. The whole wedding ceremony itself is an odd thing to do anyway, require a bunch of people to get dressed up, wait around for a long time, all this just so a couple of people can talk, cry, laugh and then kiss. Then they all move to another place just so people can dance, laugh, eat, and get drunk. I think it is interesting that out of all this silliness the white dress is always there no one changes that one.
Have you looked at wedding dresses movie stars wore back from the ‘60’s and up through to ‘80’s and ‘90’s? They cost a fortune and some were hideous and way more tacky than some of these.
All I can think of is "the good thing is, you can shorten it and wear it again!"
In 20 years, people will wonder why all brides wore strapless dresses. They all look the same!
I was a bridesmaid seven times. Every bride, without exception made sure that I and my fellow bridesmaids wore the most hideous dress imaginable. One bride, who put us all in taffeta for a mid summer wedding, had the gaul to get upset when we all pitted out the underarms. And every bride always says, "You can shorten it and wear it again!" B.S., I would never wear anything that ugly again no matter what length it was.
There's only a few of them that stand out, either for the right reasons or the wrong reasons...80% of them are exactly what you expect though, and nothing noteworthy.
I don't feel so bad about my wedding pictures now. Tried to do a rainbow theme that was popular eons ago, but most of my bridesmaids dropped out at the last minute, so I ended up with only one in yellow and one in green. With five groomsmen in blue, it looked rather odd and very unbalanced.
I let my bridesmaids pick their dresses and both my best friends and my nieces (jr bridesmaids) all liked the same dress! Made my life easier. My nieces were to be in light blue and my Friends in Royal blue but my nieces asked to be in Royal too...and the color suited all skin tones! Best part was the only alterations anyone needed was in the elastic in the off the shoulder sleeve!
The conclusion is: always dress in a normal way, don't follow trends and you won't be ridiculed after a few years. Also: why would anyone need bridesmaids all dressed the same? Or bridesmaids in general?
I agree. I worked very hard to find outfits my bridesmaids and groomsmen could wear again. And I succeeded. They've all told me they wore them again. That goes for my non-white, non-bridal gown. I never understood the point of spending a lot of money on clothing (and shoes!) that you only wear once. As for these pictures, even for the times, which I lived through, some of these are ridiculous. The dresses I had to wear were ridiculous at the time, or so I thought. I thoroughly enjoyed looking through this post and comments.
Load More Replies...Why get married at all? Just be with someone. Ceremonies and licenses don't make love burn any brighter.
I feel like all these crazy dresses take away from the bride. I certainty wouldn't be looking at the bride. Those dresses are distracting.
Did the brides hate their bridesmaids? Fancy asking a friend to wear any of those dresses! And look happy doing it, too!
A missed opportunity that all brides in these pictures wear white. I expected seventies brides to be more original and colorful.
Creative in their bridesmaid dresses and colour themes but still would need to be very traditional in white.
Load More Replies...That was fun but Twenty years from now people will be making fun of our fashion trends too.
Interesting collection, perhaps if dates and places were provided the trends could be better understood. Are they from the U.S.A., Eastern Europe or where? When and where were the awful floral prints in vogue?
Most of the floral prints were probably late 60s and into the 70s here in the USA. The big hair and "prairie-like" dresses were probably late 70s early 80s... Not sure about the one with the bride with the basket on her head, I'm thinking Europe somewhere?
Load More Replies...Maybe I'm weird but I genuinely think most(not all for sure but still lol) of those were not so bad at all. Not up to modern fashion standards perhaps but then if you look up modern wedding fashion you'll probably end up with some much weirder sh**. Some of those kinda look like people were short on money and perhaps couldn't afford more intricate designs and others are just bad pictures of not so bad outfits(no making 300 pics while seeing the previews of all them and then photoshopping them to perfection back then, remember)
A lot of these photos look like they were from weddings in the 70s. If you're too young to remember that time, we had avocado green refrigerators, burnt orange shag carpet, TVs the size of coffins, bell bottoms and cars that got worse mileage than a lot of military vehicles. Most of all, we had color and weren't afraid to use it. Subtle wasn't in our vocabulary.
Truthfully, to state these dresses ridiculous is uncalled for. It was the style then, and it isn't the style now. It was simple, well tailored, modest and gave a vibe of elatedness.
I really don't understand why there's "Ridiculous" in the title. This was the fashion in that time and noone considered it ridiculous back then. Ok, there are some pictures which are over the top. But even they are still a whole better than what a lot of people wear on weddings now.
they were appropriate and beautiful for the time, not "ridiculous", get over yourselves, we'll be called ridiculous in future (in fact i think everything is ridiculous now)
My mother was a dressmaker. I can imagine her having make some of these dresses, except the yellow polka dot set. I think/hope/pray she would have drawn the line at that!
The one with Mia Farrow on the end is Mia Farrow. Robert Altman's movie The Wedding.
My bridesmaids (mid 90s) wore cowboy boots and denim mini skirts. The groomsmen had bolo ties. My gown had fringe and the groom had a suede vest.
Everyone who says "Thwt was just the fashion of the time!" obviously isn't aware of the reputation bridesmaids' dresses had back then -- that they were some of the most hideous, impractical outfits possible, unflattering and nothing you would *ever* be able to wear anywhere else. People joked that they were a loyalty test on the part of the bride, sort of "Let's see if you're *really* good enough friends to be willing to pay good money for these hideous things and wear them in public!" And everyone else just figured they were meant to make the bride look good in comparision!
I just recently signed up for bored panda but this collection and the BP comments leaves me wanting to already drop out. I don't think it is right to ridicule the tastes of another age, or for that matter to ridicule much of anything. For the age, I found many of these precious.
I am sure all parties in these photos must be with either cringing with embarrassment or killing themselves laughing.
They were supposed to be memorable for the event. And boy that nobody will ever forget them.
First off there is nothing wrong with man-buns. They are comfortable for us people who don't like going to get our hair cut. Hehe. Also none of these were awful. A lot of them appeared to have culture behind them, some didn't. The whole wedding ceremony itself is an odd thing to do anyway, require a bunch of people to get dressed up, wait around for a long time, all this just so a couple of people can talk, cry, laugh and then kiss. Then they all move to another place just so people can dance, laugh, eat, and get drunk. I think it is interesting that out of all this silliness the white dress is always there no one changes that one.
Have you looked at wedding dresses movie stars wore back from the ‘60’s and up through to ‘80’s and ‘90’s? They cost a fortune and some were hideous and way more tacky than some of these.
All I can think of is "the good thing is, you can shorten it and wear it again!"
In 20 years, people will wonder why all brides wore strapless dresses. They all look the same!
I was a bridesmaid seven times. Every bride, without exception made sure that I and my fellow bridesmaids wore the most hideous dress imaginable. One bride, who put us all in taffeta for a mid summer wedding, had the gaul to get upset when we all pitted out the underarms. And every bride always says, "You can shorten it and wear it again!" B.S., I would never wear anything that ugly again no matter what length it was.
There's only a few of them that stand out, either for the right reasons or the wrong reasons...80% of them are exactly what you expect though, and nothing noteworthy.
I don't feel so bad about my wedding pictures now. Tried to do a rainbow theme that was popular eons ago, but most of my bridesmaids dropped out at the last minute, so I ended up with only one in yellow and one in green. With five groomsmen in blue, it looked rather odd and very unbalanced.
I let my bridesmaids pick their dresses and both my best friends and my nieces (jr bridesmaids) all liked the same dress! Made my life easier. My nieces were to be in light blue and my Friends in Royal blue but my nieces asked to be in Royal too...and the color suited all skin tones! Best part was the only alterations anyone needed was in the elastic in the off the shoulder sleeve!
The conclusion is: always dress in a normal way, don't follow trends and you won't be ridiculed after a few years. Also: why would anyone need bridesmaids all dressed the same? Or bridesmaids in general?
I agree. I worked very hard to find outfits my bridesmaids and groomsmen could wear again. And I succeeded. They've all told me they wore them again. That goes for my non-white, non-bridal gown. I never understood the point of spending a lot of money on clothing (and shoes!) that you only wear once. As for these pictures, even for the times, which I lived through, some of these are ridiculous. The dresses I had to wear were ridiculous at the time, or so I thought. I thoroughly enjoyed looking through this post and comments.
Load More Replies...Why get married at all? Just be with someone. Ceremonies and licenses don't make love burn any brighter.
I feel like all these crazy dresses take away from the bride. I certainty wouldn't be looking at the bride. Those dresses are distracting.
Did the brides hate their bridesmaids? Fancy asking a friend to wear any of those dresses! And look happy doing it, too!
A missed opportunity that all brides in these pictures wear white. I expected seventies brides to be more original and colorful.
Creative in their bridesmaid dresses and colour themes but still would need to be very traditional in white.
Load More Replies...