200 Years of Wedding Fashion
How have the glamour and rituals of weddings changed in Australia over the last 200 years? What elements of fashion, fabrics and accessories have Australian brides and wedding parties adopted? Explore elements of continuity and change in the dresses and accessories worn by numerous brides and brides
When you walk in the door of the historic Villa Alba Museum, and enter into the richly ornamented 1880s rooms, you will be able to explore evolving elements of fashion and design through curated collections of wedding dresses and accessories, arranged by era in the major rooms of the house. In the. grand drawing and dining rooms, wedding fashion from the 19th century will be showcased, while as you progress through the remainder of the ground floor rooms, and ascend the stairs to the former bedrooms of Villa Alba, the fashion of different periods will be displayed. You will view nationally significant dresses such as the wedding dress of Mary Ann Lawrence, worn at her marriage to Francis Henty in 1842, to gowns produced by major fashion houses of the postwar era, as well as examples of contemporary wedding design.
Midweek lectures will explore the history of wedding dresses, while workshops will explore conservation and storage of these outfits, as well as the cf bridal boucquets.
Image: The wedding dress of Mary Ann Henty, 1842. Henty Costume Collection, Kew Historical Society