Mother of the Bride and Groom Dresses?

Have you tried just looking for evening gowns at places like Macy's and Nordstrom's? I would check there because, as you pointed out, gowns specifically designated as "MOB/MOG" look a certain way, but any nice evening gown will work for the occasion!

Https://www.moncheribridals.com/montage


https://www.jovani.com/evening-dresses/mother-of-the-bride-dresses

These are popular designers among moms. You can use the store locator to find where they would have the dresses near you.

We’re having the same issue. My mom is pretty youthful and the matronly look is just not for her. We’ve had much better luck just looking for cocktail dresses instead of anything that is labeled mob or mog. Still, it’s been really hard because stores have low dress inventory due to covid. Good luck!

My mom is planning to order hers from Azazie. They have all kinds of styles and colors there.

My mom found her dress at Dillard's (department store) and my FMIL ordered her dress from Azazie (she ordered a few try-at-home dresses for $10 each).

View Quoted Comment

We tried Dillard's, Macys, Nordstrom and a few other department stores and they had little to no dresses that were wedding appropriate!

My mom got hers from Nordstrom! She just went to the evening gown section for hers. My FMIL got hers from Azazie and really likes it!

Other places to look: Nordstrom Rack, Dillard's, Macys, Belk, BHLDN

View Quoted Comment That's annoying. Have you looked at their websites too? There's usually more options online and you can return things to the store if it's easier.

As MOB I also didn't want anything that screamed MOB. I found several dresses (online) at Macy's and Nordstroms but finally bought one at Dillards. I loved these 3 collections:
Tahari
Adrianna PappelJS Collections

As a MOB a couple years ago, I bought two dresses from Macy's (one on clearance after Christmas and the other with substantial discount coupons in the late spring). I loved both, but wore the long dress from the Calvin Klein spring collection. I'd offer two suggestions: first, as others suggested, look for cocktail and/or formal dresses rather than MOB dresses; second, understand that different stores in the same chain will likely carry different selections, so if you have the option of a couple different Macy's (or whatever store) stores, choose carefully! In my So Cal location, I had access to two Macy's stores, each located in upscale malls. There was a third Macy's that was geographically closest to me, but it was adjacent to a huge retirement community.... That store had NO inventory of interest to me, but the other two both had huge selections. So if you've only looked at a store location that's not in a bigger city/higher-end location, see if you have another option to visit. (Daughter's wedding was more than a year before Covid, so things might have changed in the last year -- probably not much use for formal dresses last year.... ) Good luck!

My mother’s dress is very nice and we got it on Amazon it’s by Adrianna Papell and my Fiancé’s mother got a gorgeous dress from anthropology (photo of my mother is before alterations it fit beautifully and is great quality) (my MIL had the slit in the dress of her brought down in alterations and is gorgeous

My mom also had an Adrianna Pappel. They’re super timeless and not at all matronly. She found hers at Dillards but Amazon has a great selection as well.


Can also try Trunk Club and Amazon wardrobe.

BHLDN (bridal line of Anthropologie)

Azazie has many choices for mom of the bride/groom dresses that don’t look grandmotherly. Also check out local stores such as Ross, Burlington, TJMaxx, etc

I would steer clear of Amazon because so many of their clothes are from third party vendors so they are hit or miss quality.

My mom ordered a bridesmaid dress and is adding a thin sparkly belt. My MIL ordered one from Macy’s. They both didn’t want “old lady” dresses either.

I agree with the others, just search for cocktail dresses or gowns, without the 'MOB/MOG' tags!

My mum really didn't want anything too MOB/MOG ish and we ended up getting a dress from COS, which is kind of... Scandi style. They're very modern and minimalist and do some weird architectural type things. I'm not suggesting necessarily trying there, but more emphasizing that you can get a dress from anywhere, it doesn't have to be a 'wedding' store, or specifically for a mother of the bride, just a dress that she likes.

My mum's one is basically a plain crepe navy trapeze dress with a cute long strips at the back that follow on from the neckline across the front and definitely not a traditional mother of the bride look.