Cream Wedding Dress of Silk Moire and Wool

VC2004032

Cream Wedding Dress of Silk Moire and Wool

Two piece wedding dress of cream wool blend and silk moire with metal supports and closures. Bodice (a) of cream wool blend; boned; high-hip length; pointed waistline; two waist darts on each side in front; princess seams in back; lacing at center front; lining has hook and eye closures; juliet sleeves with puff at top and then straight; square neckline with standing collar supported with wire. Skirt (b) of cream wool blend; floor length; draped box pleats on center left with angled cascade effect; front panel of silk moire. Attached bustle panel (c) of cream wool blend; floor length; hooks across top; pleating at center back.

1890 (circa)

Clothing and dress

25 inches (chest), 22 inches (waist), other measurements: 39 inches (skirt center front length); 38 (skirt center back length); 11 inches (bodice center front length); 20 inches (bodice center back length); 23 inches (bodice waist)

Physical Object

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/

For Better and For Worse

© Vassar College Costume Collection. Images in this collection may be used for teaching, classroom presentation, and research purposes only. For other reuse, reproduction and publication of these images, contact costumeshop@vassar.edu.

25

22

39 inches (skirt center front length); 38 (skirt center back length); 11 inches (bodice center front length); 20 inches (bodice center back length); 23 inches (bodice waist)

25 inches (chest), 22 inches (waist), other measurements: 39 inches (skirt center front length); 38 (skirt center back length); 11 inches (bodice center front length); 20 inches (bodice center back length); 23 inches (bodice waist)

Nancy Brandon Allen

1880

1892

costume

clothing

For Better and For Worse, spring 2013

good

Tears on moire panel. Tears on skirt. Quite a but of discoloration. Thinning of skirt fabric. Moire panel is brittle. Stains on hem and bodice.

The original collar of the bodice had been covered in a modern fabric; this covering was removed by Holly Hummel. Underneath this covering, the original collar was shredding. Candace Schuster straightened out the misshapen wires in the collar and the smoothed down the fabric as best as possible. Candace Schuster and Alexandra Figler attached conservation net to the front and back of the collar. Alexandra Figler then attached conservation net to the lapels and to the silk moire panel of the skirt. The bust and hip supports of the padded wooden mannequin were removed, and the mannequin was then re-shaped with light papier-mâché shoulders, re=padded to fit the garment, and covered. The mannequin was dressed with a bustle pad and petticoat as foundation garments to support the skirt. A thin synthetic satin cord was purchased to lace the bodice closed in the center front, as the original lacing has not survived.

Pauline

N8

This dress was donated by Nancy Brandon Allen, VC Class of 1949. The silk moire has deteriorated, and has been covered with conservation net to prevent further tearing. The inset at the neck, and front lacing, are modern reproductions to provide a better view of what the dress would originally have looked like.

There were several trends that brides subscribed to in the 1870s. Not only did they wear bustles and orange blossoms, a symbol of maidenhood and fertility, they also began to wear white. Though Queen Victoria wasn’t the first bride to wear the color at her wedding, she was the one to popularize it in 1840. As Godey’s Lady Book noted a few years after the wedding, “Custom has decided, from the earliest ages, that white is the most fitting hue, whatever may be the material.” However, there were brides who continued to wear other colors, such as blue or the ivory of this dress, allowing them to reuse the garment.

- by Alexandra Figler ‘16 and Holly Hummel