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| wedding dress
CD95-257
S90-1690 | |
| | Artifact Number | D-10764 | | | Current Cultural Affiliations | Canadian
| | | All Affiliations | Canadian (culture)
| | | Category | 03: personal artifacts
| | | Sub-category | C100: clothing, outerwear
| | | Place of Origin | Country - Canada, Province - unknown
| | | Place of Use | Country - Canada, Province - Ontario
| | | Measurements | Length 107.0 cm, Width 28.7 cm, Thickness 14.9 cm | | | Artist / Maker / Manufacturer | unknown
| | | Person / Institution | Associated Party, McTaggart, Josephine Maud
| | | Earliest Possible Date | 1884/01/01 | | | Latest Possible Date | 1884/12/31 | | | Related Activity | marriage
| | | Caption | Comments on this wedding gown from the McTaggart family
Wedding Dress, London, Ontario, 1884
| | Additional Information | Ivory silk wedding dress with a lined and boned fitted bodice; fronts are pointed, and have an eighteen button front closing; spherical buttons covered with figured silk. Back is cut in six sections; four centre sections extend length of skirt and a train are cut to allow for four groups of close gathers at the base of the three centre back seams. Stand up collar is covered by pleated tulle on outside and finished with a bow at throat. A neck frill of overlapping silk pleating is stitched inside the back band. Narrow two-piece sleeves are finished with bands of ruched tulle and large ribbon rosettes. Skirt stitched to waistband with a narrow yoke; centre back hooked opening. There's an inverted pleat at the centre front of the skirt, and one on each side. A wide panel of banded plush around front and sides is stitched to the lining of the skirt; finished with fancy pleated frill; some frilling around bottom of train. A triangular panel of plush was stitched on to suggest a turn-back at each side of train; dust frill. Bodice has hooked inside waistband. There are some small pieces of the main fabrics of this dress stored with the dress. There is a photocopy of a small newspaper clipping in the file that reads: "MARRIED. McTaggert-Spencer - At the residence of the bride's father, 594 Queen's avenue, Sept. 17th, 8 p.m. by the Rev. D.G. Sutherland, LLB., Alexander McTaggert, M.D., to Josephine Maud, only daughter of William Spencer, all of London." (Other other pieces of the wedding outfit can be found with catalogue numbers D-10765 a, D-10765 b-c, D-10766 a-b, D-10767, and D-10768.)
Worn in 1884 by the daughter of a wealthy Southern Ontario family, this wedding dress reflects the tastes and attitudes of Victorian society. Photographed on a mannequin, the two-piece dress with bustle and train is made of ivory ribbed silk, with banded silk-plush panels on the skirt and ruched tulle at the neck and wrists. It expresses the Victorian image of a demure and deferential bride wearing an exquisite white or ivory gown, whose colour symbolized purity and which would be worn only once. The veil, a tradition common to many cultures, was a kind of gift wrapping, preserving her "newness". A bouquet of orange blossoms, syringa, or white roses also enhanced the theme of purity. In the Victorian era, as today, a wedding offered an opportunity for the bride and her family not only to share their joy and hospitality, but also to display their wealth and finery. Weddings were simpler in less prosperous Victorian families. The bride chose a wedding dress in whatever colour pleased her, and continued to wear it on special occasions.
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