I do! Wedding Dresses from 1800-2000

The elements which are symbolic of marriage are the veil, the bridal wreath and the rings which are exchanged reciprocally and which express the idea of linked destinies.

To wear cotton garments was, at the beginning of the 19th century, a very daring act and to choose for one’s wedding gown a starry white was even more audacious. Fashion, as well as ideologies, came from France.

This fashion endures in the bridal gowns beyond Napoleonic times, as can be seen in the dress worn by a Portuguese bride married in Brazil, in 1838, which still reflects the taste of the beginning of the 19th century.

The skirt of this wedding dress has a bell-shape like an inverted corolla which evokes in its contour the appearance of a flower, which at this time was the idealized image of woman.

The floral motifs of the fabric are related to the Art Nouveau movement, as is the bell-shape of the skirt.

The collar is high, datable to the beginning of the 20th century.

This dress is a Portuguese interpretation of the fashion revolution proposed by the designer Poiret. Although dated slightly later, it follows the innovatory precepts of the line created by that famous and celebrated French Couturier.

This represents a revivalism of the Directory style on the one hand, and on the other a renewal of the silhouette for the figure gains an Empire-like stance , fashionable at the beginning of the XIX century.

Poiret goes back to it with the intention of freeing woman and abolishing the whale boned corset which, apart from being uncomfortable, was vehemently condemned by a small, but influential group of contemporary physicians.

It should be emphasized that during the 1920s there was a deep revolution in the world of fashion, provoked by the end of the First World War of 1914-1918 and by the euphoria generated during the post-war period.

This dress, with its minimalist characteristics, is wholly representative of the 1920s. It has a wide cut which, in a certain sense, hides woman’s femininity.

Therefore, although the dress is conceived with a taste reminiscent of the previous decade’s fashionable trends, the fabric and the slanting cut look forward to the fashion which will characterize the Thirties.

This is obtained by a tightly flounced ruffle, which widens progressively and lets the fabric fall, with no lining, light and malleable.

The main characteristic of this wedding dress consists in the way the fabric was laid down to be cut, on the bias.

This technique was invented by the famous French fashion creator Madeleine Vionnet who conceived a type of garment which is fluid, very feminine and malleable, accompanying the curves and counter-curves of woman’s body.

The main characteristic of this dress is its huge, enormous, very ample train. This amplitude contrasts somewhat with the simplicity of the dress’s cut in what could be described as a sober style.

The use of shoulder pads which enhance the upper silhouette, giving a somewhat virile, affirmative stance. As we know, it was during the war that women took their place among men, making way for an authentic and conscious emancipation.

This wedding was celebrated the year after the end of the war, so we can detect here that ceremonial display has become rather timid and unostentatious.

Once into the 1950s, the bride begins to show a greater appetite for pomp and for a visual effect that is richer and more theatrical.

This period corresponds to the event in fashion of the New Look (Dior, 1947) which becomes gradually popular in our country, so the bridal gowns gain a new amplitude in the large skirts topped by a small and very marked waist.

From the waist upwards, everything points to it being the dress of a maiden. From the waist down, it could be a ballroom dress, since its skirt is very ample. The fact that it is made up with two different materials lends it suppleness and dynamism.

The main characteristic of this 1960s dress consists in the use of satin for its confection.

The novelty and originality of this dress lies in the use of a wide pink organza ribbon which draws a strong and thick vertical line.

The innovation in this kind of garment consists in the outward use of an element which was used in the olden days as underwear.

This kind of ribbon and bow were often applied to undergarments and, therefore, this reference, quoted here in daytime wear, signals an inversion or a change of meaning.

A heavy shantung was used to make this dress in the Empire line, also designated as the Princess line which was taken up again in the 1960s by Pierre Cardin.

In a very unusual initiative this dress was made from a maternal grandmother’s “Belle Epoque” costume, in 1965, well before revivalism became fashionable.

This adventurous composition was idealized by the bride’s mother, transmitting the affection, cultural inheritance and family history in this project. The result is a mixture of contemporary elements and Art-Nouveau ones.

Dating from the 1970s, years which correspond to the revolution and to major social changes in Portugal, we have this characteristic dress.

The unusual touch of the dress is its stylized lace design featuring pink tulips.

The 70s were marked, simultaneously, by various avant-garde typologies and by the beginning of the revivalism which is associated with the end of the century and, in this case, the millennium.

It is in this context that this dress can be dated to the 1970s. It is a Neo-Romantic piece, for the lace and the silk nervures are evocative of the blouses worn at the beginning of the century.

The simplicity of this dress has its counterpart in the long lace veil, executed in silk thread, worn with a small tiara of pearls and diamonds.

This dress was created by the bride who was trained as a fashion designer and wanted to “sign” the garment she was to wear on her wedding day, fashioning her own image with an inventive spirit, a sense of freedom and feminine consciousness.

Manuel Alves/José Manuel Gonçalves introduced into this exhibition a very hermetic colour, related to the 1950s This tonality emits the intensity and the density of cement and concrete architecture mixed with the blond patina of certain old bronzes

This evocation is possible due to a perfect, masterful cut, a feeling of idyllic summers, an image which belongs to the Happy Years when capitalism reigned and conquered, a time of financial abundance.

Eduarda Abbondanza/Matos Ribeiro wanted to be present in a rather literary way, linked to our imagination.

From children’s fairy stories they took the image of Little Red Riding Hood for its theme of the innocent little girl, crossing a forest.

Nuno Gama is the great name of the 90s, belonging to a cultural avant-garde and specially aware of values relating to national identity.

This young author present a bride dressed in satin, wearing a costume composed of a rather long coat worn with trousers. These are a heritage from Courrèges, the French designer who, in 1965, substituted skirts by trousers in his fashion shows.

This garment is also affiliated to the famous Yves Saint Laurent smoking with an added decorative touch.

Olga Rego proposal is related to the value of our national patrimony in textiles, for example the Island of Madeira and her characteristic embroideries. To create a bride with the typical Madeira embroideries was the challenge Olga Rego set herself here and the result was a costume in which the originality lies in its transparency.

José António Tenente lent to the National Costume Museum a wedding dress made in a coloured fabric. The colour chosen is difficult to describe, since it can be seen as a pastel yellow evocative of the tonalities used by Watteau, which is to say related to the late Baroque values, the creme tones used in the Rococo style. Beige can be associated with white tonalities which have yellowed with time.

The Bride has the place of honour in this ceremony, both in the religious as in the civil wedding and her dress symbolizes the idealization of woman, as mother of the whole of humanity.