The traditional white wedding dress is a custom that has remained a cherished symbol for brides for centuries, but how did it all begin? Costume expert Shelley Tobin looks at the development of the wedding dress from its roots in grandeur and ceremony among royals and aristocrats to the demure expressions of humble country weddings to modern day expressions of luxurious gowns and high style.
Wedding Dresses examines how bridal fashion tastes changed, comparing Queen Victorias simple white wedding dress of 1840 to the fanciful crinoline revival a century later in the 1950s and will explain the all-important significance of the color white and explore why brides might choose another color out of preference
or necessity. Customs and traditions associated with wedding gowns are also explored such as handing down wedding dresses through generations and the social and economic circumstances which influenced the number of bridesmaids, the wedding feast, and all the arrangements and accoutrements. Beautifully illustrated with magnificent photographs, this book lifts the veil on wedding dresses and the many other traditions and symbols of nuptials though the ages.
Introduction: Lifting the Veil /Royal and aristocratic weddings
/Weddings of the people /Real Lace and Snow-white Silk /The fashion-plate
bride in the nineteenth century /London Smoke or Tulle and Ivory satin /War
and peace /Modern Fantasy /Always a Bridesmaid /Trousseau and Bottom Drawer
/Glossary /Further Reading /Places to Visit /Index
Shelley Tobin is a specialist curator and dress historian with over thirty years' experience. She is currently Curator of Costume for the National Trust at Killerton House, part-time Assistant Curator for the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter, and consultant to the Blandford Fashion Museum, Dorset. She has curated many exhibitions focusing on the history of clothing and textiles, particularly western fashionable dress. She has served on the executive committee of the UK Costume Society, and the Dress and Textile Specialists Group, and is currently a member of the National Trust's advisory panel the Costume Working Group. She has published, lectured and broadcast on many aspects of the subject, including Marriage a la Mode (2003), and Inside Out, a Brief History of Underwear (2000). She often contributes to BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour and local TV and radio programmes from the South West of England to New South Wales.
