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From This Day Forward: Wedding Dresses 1870s-1950s

Saturday, March 6, 2021 10:00 AM - Saturday, May 7, 2022 5:00 PM
The Grace Museum
102 Cypress Street Abilene, TX 79601
Beatrice Roddy Norton Jones’ Wedding Gown, 1902, batiste and lace, Collection of The Grace Museum, Gift of Mrs. Norton Jones Sr.

A white wedding dress is a relatively new and modern concept and is mostly worn in the Americas and western European countries. Wedding dresses throughout the world and time have varied greatly in color, style, and tradition. Even in the Western part of the world in Roman times brides wore a yellow veil and Ancient Athenians wore long violet or reddish robes. (Summer Brennan, “A Natural History of the Wedding Dress”, September 27, 2017, jStor Daily). For many centuries, brides wore their finest gown or dress for their weddings regardless of color. It wasn’t until Queen Victoria donned her white wedding dress in 1840 that white became a popular color for wedding dresses throughout Europe and the Americas.

This exhibition highlights what we now call “traditional” wedding dresses belonging to various individuals in Abilene and the surrounding areas from the late 1870s to the 1950s, most of which are in the permanent collection at The Grace Museum. 

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