Wedding Gown

When I decided to make my own wedding dress, the hardest part was deciding on the design. After going through half a sketchbook of different versions, I finally decided to go with a dress inspired by the gowns worn by the princess Elizabeth and her ladies at the beginning of the movie Elizabeth. I later realized that these dresses were not very historically accurate, but I just loved the simple lines and flowing sleeves, and since I was designing for my dream wedding gown, I decided that a few historical inaccuracies wouldn't really hurt too much. Years after it was made, I did find some examples of heavily embroidered bodices, shaped overskirts, and flowy bell-shaped sleeves... but still, it's a bit too mis-matched for me to claim that it is historically accurate.

The bodice was created from a pattern that I drafted by draping and studying the bodice pattern for Eleanora of Toledo in Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion. The back view of a gown is obviously very important in a wedding, so I wanted the diagonal, side back lacings to be one of the most important visual elements of the gown. The fabric for the bodice was a cream silk covered entirely by silk embroidery of curling leaves and flowers, somewhat reminiscent of Elizabethan embroidery designs. I originally wanted to have more colors and embellishment on the bodice and underskirt, but the bodice fabric was so amazing that I decided to let the rich fabric and unusual construction be the main focal points instead.

The two skirts were made of silk doupioni, which would not have been used for such a formal occasion in the 16th century because of the slubs (which were considered imperfections). However, I think doupioni is much more beautiful than any other type of silk within a reasonable price range today, so it was very easy for me to overlook this small inaccuracy. The hem of the overskirt was cut higher in the front to show the underskirt, and although this type of treatment seems to be somewhat rare, I did find a few examples of similarly shaped hems. The panels of the overskirt were gored slightly to improve the drape of the skirt and make it fuller, and the fabric was cartridge pleated to a waistband. I did not want to deal with a farthingale while getting into and out of a carriage and walking down a narrow aisle, so I chose to wear a large bumroll and stiff petticoats to create fullness similar to the styles seen in the latter part of the 16th century.

The sleeves were the most problematic part of the dress as far as historical accuracy is concerned. The style was similar to Tudor sleeves, but those probably would not have been made out of such lightweight material and would have been turned back instead of gathered. Ladies from this period would never show their forearms unless attending a masque (or working, if from the lower classes), and although I had a pair of pale pink undersleeves to wear under the gauze bell-shaped sleeves, I decided to leave them off so I wouldn't run the risk of passing out from the heat and stress! I did wear the dress again with the undersleeves on another occasion, and I felt much more "complete" with them on, but they were almost unbearably hot in the Texas climate and a bit too tight as well.