White wedding dresses are indeed a more 'modern' tradition, and Queen Victoria is known to be one of the early wearers of a white gown.
There was a fabulous exhibition in Melbourne (Australia) in the late 1980's, called "Hatches, Matches and Dispatches" , which covered maternity/christening/infant layette, wedding gowns, and mourning wear. Some of the mourning clothes were from some of Victoria's offspring, and there was a large selection of wedding gowns going back to about the 1700's I think (from memory). Up to the Victorian era, and even well into, colour reigned, and yes the gowns were later worn to balls or for best. I was very fortunate to be given by my DH's late Great aunt, a wedding ensemble from I think her grandmother. She was able to give me some information about it, and it was fun to put it out on display at the 2005 IOLI convention. It's a brown (may have once been a purple? But that's a half mourning colour, so I don't think so) silk or silk taffeta skirt and jacket, that was apparently worn at a wedding around 1864. What's interesting is that the skirt appears to have been altered in part from I would presume a crinoline into one that would have a small bustle, and I think was later worn perhaps by the next generation (again, from memory - my notes are somewhere other than on my pc). The first wearer would have been a bride in the Midwest, if I understand the family history, and the second wearer I think might have been a pioneer out in Colorado. The outfit is in decent shape except for wear around the waistband where there has been the alterations by hand. From memory I think it has lovely cartridge pleating as detailing. I believe the 2nd wearer of the ensemble was also the tatter (have some of her tatting, but never found her shuttle :-( ), who did some gorgeous and precise workmanship. It's nice to see lace making a resurgence on wedding gowns and daily wear. Cheers, Helen, Duvall, WA - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://community.webshots.com/user/arachne2003
