All of these elements come together in a new exhibit at the Textile and Clothing Museum on the Iowa State University Campus. Nineteen garments ranging from the late 19th century to the present are on display at the Mary Alice Gallery, 1015 Morrill Hall, on the ISU campus.
Janet Fitzpatrick, manager of the university’s textile collection and curator for the exhibit, said the exhibit was timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day and spring bridal fairs.
With a wide variety of wedding clothing housed in the collection, Fitzpatrick said the garments for the exhibit were selected based on the history behind them, with all of them having a connection to ISU or the state of Iowa.
“I was as interested in the bride’s story as in the gown itself,” Fitzpatrick said. “Also, having wedding photographs to accompany the dress was important. Being able to see the face of the bride that wore it, I think that’s very poignant and gives the exhibit more meaning.”
A graceful silk crepe de meteor gown worn by Miss Elsa Rehmann when she married Arthur H. Neumann in 1914 in Des Moines also becomes the memory of a touching family tradition. Rehmann, heavily involved in music herself, was serenaded on her wedding morning by members of her choir. She carried on that tradition with her sisters-in-law and her daughters, and now two of her granddaughters hold the tradition for the family’s brides.
Also in the exhibit is a lace mantilla veil and ivory wedding dress worn by Elizabeth Hoffman, executive vice president and provost at ISU. The veil, passed down through Hoffman’s family, was a gift to her great-grandmother from the last Russian empress, Tsarina Alexandra Romanov. It has been worn by at least six brides in Hoffman’s family, and it is rumored to have been smuggled out of the country.
“When we tell visitors that (Hoffman) designed and sewed her own gown, that really gets people’s interest,” Fitzpatrick said. “But the veil’s history is fascinating, and we are fortunate to have it. Bridal veils are made of such fragile material, not many survive to for us to use in exhibits like this.”
Visitors to the exhibit will not find a snowy parade of all-white gowns. The collection features a blue worsted wool gown from the 1890s, a peach organza dress trimmed with green velvet from the 1930s and a taupe silk three-piece suit from the 1940s.
“I think the thing people find most surprising is that bridal wear wasn’t always white,” Fitzpatrick said. “It’s believed that custom began in 1840 when Queen Victoria married in a white gown. But for many brides, investing that much in a gown you would never wear again simply wasn’t practical. For many, their wedding gown went on to become their ‘best’ dress for other special occasions.”
Even as late as the 1940s, when it was popular for women to wear suits to be married in, war-time restrictions on materials and frugal living meant that it was not only practical, but considered patriotic to wear wedding clothing that could be used again, she said.
“It wasn’t until after World War II, when people started having disposable income, when war-time shortages stopped, that it became the norm for brides to wear the big beautiful white wedding dress we think of today,” Fitzpatrick said.
The exhibit also features “Lalique,” a modern Art Deco-style gown from the 2009 collection of Matthew Christopher Inc. The designer, Matthew Christopher Sobaski, is an ISU alumna who will be the guest designer for The Fashion Show, April 9.
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Information from: The Tribune, http://www.amestrib.com
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