Abigail Hall
Salisbury Post
A variety of wedding gowns from the 1940s and 1950s will be on display at the Historic Rockwell Museum, beginning with a “wedding reception” from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Ten dresses are displayed along with various wedding accessories, newspaper articles and documents from the time.
Some gowns have been borrowed from the brides who wore them, while some belong to the museum’s collection.
Organizers have gathered a great range of styles for the exhibit. Designs include an early knee-length flapper-style blue dress as well as many traditional long-skirted, flowing white dresses from later times.
The exhibit illustrates how wedding attire evolved as America recovered from World War II, when fashion almost ceased to exist due to clothes-rationing.
Some gowns were bought, others made and all at various expenses.
Virginia Jonas purchased her dress in Gastonia in the 1950s for $124, while Betsy Thompson’s mother made her dress for $10, using a wire coat-hanger to form the head-piece.
Some gowns ushered more than one than bride into matrimony. For example, Jackie Taylor wore her gown in 1952, her sister borrowed it in 1957 and her niece used it again in 1982.
Mary Fisher wore her gown in 1955 and handed it down to her daughter in 1977.
When she married in 1946, Jennie Barrier purchased the fabric for her dress at Elsie’s Dress Shop, which was located in the very building where the Historic Rockwell Museum is now housed.
Dresses are staged with shoes and accessories, many provided by collector Alice Thompson.
The exhibit will remain through the summer, open every from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Historic Rockwell Museum, on Main Street next to the gazebo.
For more information, call 704-279-4979 or 704-279-5783.
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Contact Abbey Hall at 704-797-4270or shall@salisburypost.com.