10. 1907 Wedding Dress of Ellen Suydam Lott Rapelje

ID#: VC2007006
Date: 1907
Region: New York, USA
Culture: American
Materials: silk crepe, chiffon, and chenille

This wedding dress and veil were worn by Ellen Suydam Lott Rapelje in her wedding on December 12, 1907. She was the great-grandmother of donor Kate T. Mathews (Vassar class of 1978) and the grandmother-in-law of Barbara Thompson (Vassar class of 1953). Her dress epitomizes the popular shape of the time—with an S shaped corset that draws in the stomach, gigot sleeves that puff out at the upper arm and then narrow at the forearm, and long gloves. The asymmetrical appliqués of this wedding dress exemplify the curving shapes popular in the Art Nouveau movement. White on white would have been a conventional choice for a wedding dress at the turn of the century, but the asymmetrical trimming would have been a bold, fashion conscious choice.

- Bailey Strauss (Vassar class of 2014)

“Women kept themselves completely covered up. It was just the fashion.... She had a very beautiful pair of legs, and one time, this was after women’s skirts were shorter, I said to her casually, ‘Did grandpa ever get to see your legs before you were married?’ And she had a fit!” - Barbara Thompson (Vassar class of 1953)