Is it dad - dating please

[greenpaula]

Hi
This photo was cut down and I'm not sure who it is - I really want it to be my dad with his mother. She died in 1927 aged just 33 and there is only 1 known photo of her on her wedding day but it is quite dark and her face doesn't show well.
I would like an idea of date please - her outfit looks quite distinctive, but as someone has chopped her feet off I don't know how long her skirt was.
If it is my dad he was born in March 1920 so can this pic be 1920/21?
I know the experts here will be able to help,
Many thanks
Paula

[jim1]

I'm afraid I'm going to have to disappoint.This is 1910-14.

jim

[PaulStaffs]

Maybe it's 1920 and she's wearing a six year old dress? 

I'm not sure that clothing can be used to date photographs quite as accurately as Jim suggests as 'make do and mend' was in effect well before that phrase was coined. For example, I know that my great grandfather wore the same suit and hat for nigh on 30 years (and by all accounts it had been washed a very few times!)

[jim1]

Men's fashion was led at a different pace & a lot slower to change,women on the other hand were a lot more fashion conscious than today.During this period fashion changed very quickly,not only clothes styles but hairstyles also.Generally speaking fashion changed about every five years,but during the period 1910 - 20 it changed about every 3 including hairstyles.A women dressed like this in the 1920's would be equivalent to a woman today wearing shoulder pads & a Farrah Fawcett hairstyle.
Women didn't make do & mend when it came to having a photograph taken as it was viewed as an occasion & would have been on display to friends & family.Sunday best at the very least.

jim

[PaulStaffs]

I understand the argument but remain to be convinced 

A peek at the wedding photo might be helpful.

[greenpaula]

Hi Jim and Paul
Many thanks for your contributions. I must admit I did think the dress looked pre WW1 which fits in with Jum's date, although I wasn't sure of the hair style. On the other hand I too wondered if she was wearing an old 'best dress'.
The couple would not have had much money in 1920. Grandad came back from WW1 in 1919 and I'm not even sure he was working when my Dad was born. His later job was a driver with the Co-operative.
I'm going to take up Paul's suggestion and post the wedding photo when I get home tonight. Her face is shadowed by a hat at the wedding but it may be clearer when it's scanned.
Kind regards
Paula

[Lolly2881]

I also have to disagree slightly, I have a wedding photograph of my family in 1922 and another in 1925 both photographs have women in similar dresses and hairstyle, so i think it totally depends on where you live, money and lifestyle.

Another example, i have a little black dress like most women, it has been in my wardrobe since the beginning of the 90s, it doesnt fit now though i was skinny then.

thanks
Lorraine

[jim1]

Final point.This cardstock wasn't around in the 1920's.Heavily embossed & probably with shaped egdes these were a feature of 1900 - 10ish.They signalled the end of the old cabinet cards & even these were being replaced by the more popular postcard style.
jim

[greenpaula]

Hi
Firstly apologies Jim - I just noticed my typo.
Paul - here's my paternal grandparents the day after their wedding day which was October 10th 1917. I only got that snippet of info last year when a step-cousin told me the photos did not turn out on their wedding day and they had to go back to the Studio the day after for another photo.
Paula