Wedding dress

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A good example of how wedding dresses continued to be worn after the wedding ceremonies, this dress has two bodices. The one currently attached to the skirt has a more daring neckline for ball wear. The more modest bodice that fits underneath would have been worn for the actual wedding and other times when modesty was appropriate. The design of the pattern of the fabric was carefully matched on both bodices to create a symmetric overall pattern on both the front and the back. Matching requires extra fabric and thought, the sign of skilled and caring hands.

The Costume Institute

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Costume Institute's collection of more than thirty-three thousand objects represents seven centuries of fashionable dress and accessories for men, women, and children, from the fifteenth century to the present.

Metropolitan Museum of Art