Recycled Fashion

The white wedding dress can be seen as an extravagant and wasteful luxury, worn only for a single occasion. Most wedding dresses before very recent times, even if white, cream or ivory, would have been dyed subsequently, or at least altered to make them suitable for evening wear. This short 1920s wedding dress originally had long sleeves, making it appropriate for the daytime marriage, but subsequently being removed to allow it to be worn again as an evening dress. Such alterations were the social norm, and the outfits were recognized as an appropriate rewearing of a special dress, which had been both symbolic and also expensive.

This dress was worn for her marriage by Mary Ross of Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland, with a veil which has been lost since the wearer lent it to another bride. The original photograph of the wearer can be seen below, showing the bride proudly wearing this veil.

Full item descriptions:

"wedding dress & veil" [1949.108/2]

Related Themes:

Wedding Dresses