The American obsession with weddings and wedding gowns is evident at least as early as 1850, when the March issue of Godey’s Lady’s Book included a colored plate in its feature on bridal dress. Yet brides who feed the nation’s current obsession to the tune of more than $160 billion annually may be astonished to learn how much things have changed. Fashion illustrator Norma Lu Meehan and costume curator Mei Campbell draw upon collections at the Northern Indiana Center for History and the Museum of Texas Tech University to illuminate the evolution of wedding dress in the United States from 1859 to 1899. This exquisitely illustrated work situates the white wedding dress and current perceptions of tradition within a surprisingly varied and colorful history. FROM THE BOOK When Americans think of Victorian wedding dress . . . we recall antique photographs and tintypes, possibly family heirlooms or those we’ve seen in museums. Though these images, like the gowns on these pages, certainly do not reflect the breadth of American cultural custom and practice, even in that era, they do reveal how much of mainstream America—particularly a rising middle class—saw itself and how it aspired to be seen. We can begin to understand how an increasingly affluent America became smitten with a British queen and with a fashion phenomenon that over the next century would become an economic and cultural force beyond imagining.
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Norma Lu Meehan, a fashion illustrator for forty years, called upon that experience when she began creating historic costume paper dolls in 1991. She lives in South Bend, Indiana, where she is a volunteer costume curator at the Northern Indiana Center for History. Mei Campbell is curator of ethnology and textiles at the Museum of Texas Tech University and a member of the university’s graduate faculty of the Center for Advanced Studies in Museum Science and Heritage Management. Since 2003, she has also served as adjunct professor at the Fu-Jen Catholic University in Taiwan. She lives near Lubbock, Texas.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Victorian Wedding Dress: The American View,
This review is from: Victorian Wedding Dress in the United States: A History through Paper Dolls (Paperback)
When engrossed in wedding preparations, today's brides may find comfort in knowing they are not bound by the customs of Victorian times, and have the freedom to select the best fashion features from that era. Back then, the circumstances of the bride often dictated the necessity to wear a gown of color that could be worn at future social engagements, rather than an elaborate, expensive gown of white.
Fashion illustrator and author, Norma Lu Meehan, and costume curator, Mei Campbell, have produced an appealing publication of wedding styles as they were popularized in the United States during the Victorian era. The paper doll book, Victorian Wedding Dress in the United States: A History Through Paper Dolls, complements a series on fashion history published by Texas Tech University Press. In addition to the detailed and colorful paper doll illustrations, there are meticulous descriptions of each gown, often including a journalistic report of the wearer of the gown, the location of the wedding, and perhaps information on the family background. The gowns are drawn from the collections at the Northern Indiana Center for History and the Museum of Texas Tech University. Meehan and Campbell also provide a lengthy bibliography and an enlightening glossary that may be useful for a bride of 2010 who wishes to include a bit of ruching on her wedding dress. by Diana Nolan for Story Circle Book Reviews reviewing books by, for, and about women
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A detailed history of the once white Victorian wedding dress is included,
By Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Victorian Wedding Dress in the United States: A History through Paper Dolls (Paperback)
"Victorian Wedding Dress in the United States: A History Through Paper Dolls" is a lovely set of authentically reconstructed wedding dresses and paper dolls to fit them on from 1850 to the turn of the century. A detailed history of the once white Victorian wedding dress is included, with surprising variations on the theme in the American examples shown. "Victorian Wedding Dress in the United States" is an elegant paper doll history that will delight those with an interest in fashion, the evolution of the American wedding dress, and paper doll book collectors.
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