Something Old Something New
Wedding Dresses from 1850-1980
Bexhill Museum
Until 6th December
2015
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| OLD AND NEW |
Lots of
cream satin and pearls. A coffee coloured silk chiffon and lace dress and jacket.
A pink lace dress and jacket and of course some white lace.
There was so
much to see and enjoy at this wedding dress exhibition. All the dresses were of
exceptional quality and there were a great deal of accessories and extras to
see…shoes, wedding favours and headdresses to mention but a few. The Star shaped
case layout was excellent. You could see all the way round the dress. So much
better than just the front. And there was a Catwalk display too. It was
marvellous to see the clothes out in the air as it were. You could get up close
and have a peer with out glass getting in the way. I have rarely seen such a
collection of high quality, beautifully conserved garments as I did in Bexhill.
All the examples on display were exquisite and some were more exquisite than
others. (apologies to G. Orwell)
Rather than
try to describe the feast for the eyes that all these dresses presented when
you walked into this large, calm room…here are a few tidbits to tempt you to go
to see it for yourself.
A ‘Second
Day Wedding Cap.’ 1842
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| CAP 1842 |
Silk and
lace and pearls. Worn by the bride the day after the wedding.
I have to
confess that this is a new idea to me. I hope readers can enlighten me as to
some history of second day caps?
Waterfall.
Tumbling. Two words that describe this fabric made ‘false’ bouquet from the early 19th century. (See Old and New photo above)
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| 1857 FRINGE |
Victorian fringes and an attached overskirt. And not shown, but held by Bexhill, are the many love letters from the groom to his be fringed bride.
All together now. Ahhhh.
All together now. Ahhhh.
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| Veil |
An
Edwardian Veil in embroidered lace
From Bourne
and Hollingsworth in London. A long time later it came back to the shop to be
looked after. The shop closed in 1970 and as the veil was unclaimed, it was given as a
memento to a staff member.
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| 1932 Rear View |
This bride of 1932 has left us her silk crêpe de chine, cut on the bias dress with its draped
neckline and long train. She also left long locks of auburn hair, which the
museum has in store. Whether she sported said hair at the wedding is not
recorded.
Proving
chic is timeless, a pink lace 1940s suit that was worn by a 1997 bride can be
seen in the photograph of the catwalk.
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| 1960s Classic |
1960s Wedding Dress.
A classic. It’s all there. Full length.
Nottingham lace. Under wired petticoat.
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| Catwalk |
The most recent dress (2007) was startling in style...Goth ...as well as colour. It was green and purple. (Although green and magenta were popular bridal colours in the 1860s)
The bolero
jacket was worn over a ruched and beaded bodice, with some dramatic rear lacing
to the bodice and a bustle and a train. A bridesmaids
dress was a less elaborate purple version of the brides dress.The more I studied
these, the more I liked them. The detail and the drama of these dresses was superb.
There are top
class information sheets for the wedding dresses which are portable…greatly
appreciated.
Don’t miss
the fascinating social and dress history on permanent display in the room.
Thanks to
Bexhill Museum for permission to use these photos.
Special
thanks to Karen for her help.
Hello to
the friendly volunteer staff I met.
And
finally. Can someone please tell me what Petal Dust was used for? A bridal
ensemble from 1921 included a packet of this. The notes describe it as an accessory.
Was it scattered like confetti? Used as rouge? Dusted over cocktails? ? ? ?
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