It’s meant to be the happiest day of a couple’s life, it’s said. And while not all weddings might end up leading to a life of joy, the sheer number of wedding dresses that are preserved by their owners are testament to the importance of the celebration – and perhaps sometimes the cost of the dress.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Woady Yaloak Historical Society is currently displaying a great number of dresses at the Smythesdale Court House. The dresses record the history of the district and the wealth and ingenuity of their owners as well.
The exhibition ranges from recreations of early Nineteenth Century dresses right up to recent times. Curator Pauline Richs says that some of the dresses are expensive bespoke labels, ordered from interstate or even overseas. Others are locally made – and a great many are handmade, most often by a bride’s mother.
“We try to do a history of the wedding dress - not just the fashion, but also the construction and the materials they used,” says Ms Richs.
“So some of the dresses are copies of old-type dresses I've managed to put together. Some of them are made from old lace curtains, and one is made from doona covers.”
Ms Richs says the difference between an expensive store bought dress and a handmade one is often hard to discern, the quality of the sewing is so good.
“This one dress was sent down from Sydney for the wedding of a local Western District grazier and his wife. It might have been altered here by a local dressmaker. Another note we have is from a farmer’s wife sending a dress back to have the ruff collar altered to a V-neck. She may have been a bit vain.”
Pauline says that around the time of the Great Depression, women were encouraged to make their own wedding dresses using cheaper materials such as crepe. They often dyed their dresses with coffee or tea afterwards to make ballgowns or formal wear.
There is a miniskirt wedding dress that belonged to a woman married at the Ballarat Town Hall (by the mayor) in 1969. Its length leaves little to the imagination. It’s accompanied by a marvellous three-piece coarse wool suit in grey and brown with a red stripe, matched with a red shirt. Somehow it all works.
In the 1940s the glamour of Hollywood was sought by women in the style of their dresses, with long trains and lustrous materials. Pauline Richs shows a cream dress with intricate lozenge stitching over the midriff.
“This one is belongs to the society. The couple married in 1941. This dress, it was bought at Brockman’s in Ballarat. I’ve had several ladies look at it and - see the stitching? The only machine that did that was at the Lucas Factory. So it might have been made by Lucas, we think.”
The Bridal Display exhibition runs at the Old Courthouse, Smythesdale until May 29. Entry is $5.