All posts filed under: Admire

Shell got married! (And her dress looked gorgeous!)

Here is what you have all been waiting for: photos of Shell in her dress from her wedding! These are my photos from the day. It was definitely one of those times when I really wished I had a better camera – mine just doesn’t zoom well, won’t focus at different levels, and doesn’t play pretty tricks with the light, which really limits my fun. It was an absolutely lovely day: the rain stopped just in time, everyone was happy, the site was gorgeous and Shell looked amazing: the perfect vision of elf queen meets modern bride, just as we had hoped. And one with the bride and her dressmaker to finish it off: There you go! Would you be interested in a less ‘dress’, more ‘wedding story’ post with images from Sarah (in other words, images that are better than mine!)?

Real brides of 1911

Published by The Dreamstress

We’ve looked at fashion magazines, extent wedding dresses, and discussed one of the fabrics used in them. Now it’s time to look at real Titanic-era brides. These wedding photos tell us so much that the fashion plates and extent dresses can’t quite convey: what the brides wore with their dress, the flowers they carried, how they actually looked in the dress, and what styles were popular (as opposed to what styles survived, and what styles the fashion magazines promoted) Satin skirt, lace blouse, high neck. Roses and ferns for the bride, chrysanthemums for the bridesmaid. And I’m pretty sure the groomsman in the back is giving the photographers pretty assistant the eye 😉 Lashings of roses all round, a very poofy veil, and adorable bobbles on the brides tunic, yoke, and sleeves. A very fashionable bride in satin with some sort of embellishment near the hem. Her flowers look like fake studio flowers. A groom in gloves, and a bride with beautifully pintucked skirt and a chrysanthemum bouquet tied with a huge bow. A very …

Shell’s dress: a zip and buttons

Published by The Dreamstress

You’ve seen the extraordinary buttons for Shell’s dress already, but I haven’t really told you about how it fastens. It closes with a zip under the false buttons. Yes, that’s right, I caved and did the ultimate wedding dress cliche. It’s a cliche for a reason though: buttons by themselves would have a hard time holding such a fitted strapless bodice, and would be a pain to fasten, so the zip is necessary, but brides love that buttons up the back look. Since it isn’t a historical technique, a zip under buttons is not something I have ever had occasion to do before. It also isn’t something that you can currently find any instructions or guides on how to do on the internet. So I did a few trial runs, and guessed, and went for it. It came out very well: when the dress is on and the buttons are fastened its almost impossible to tell there is a zip under them. This was very important to Shell. Initially she was almost as anti zip-under-buttons …