Lyme
Like the decade itself, Princess Di’s gown was huge and over the top. Every square inch was covered in ruffles, bows and flounces. By contrast, Markle’s dress was simple, sleek and understated — “made for a person, not a princess,” gushed The New York Times Style section.
More evidence that bridal gowns reflect their eras can be seen at the new exhibit at the Lyme Historians Museum, “Bridal Gowns From Then to Now.” The collection of 20 gowns, plus an 1821 hand-quilted underskirt, dates from 1850 to the 2000s. Most of the gowns are on loan from area residents and all have some connection to Lyme.
“We put an announcement on the Listserv,” said Laurie Wadsworth, of Lyme, coordinator of the exhibit. “We asked for dresses that told a story.”
Highlights include a self-described buckskin “hippie dress,” complete with beaded pouch and moccasins, worn by Lyme resident Tina Leach at her 1972 wedding to Ray Clark on Tucker Mountain in West Newbury, Vt.
There’s a light-pink gown worn by Hebe Quinton in 1991 at her wedding to David Avery at the Lyme Congregational Church, adorned with dog’s pawprint made of beads on the lower part of the skirt.
There’s a dress made by lifelong Lyme resident Mertie Uline Balch for her daughter, Priscilla, for her 1966 nuptials to Sam Power at St. Denis Church in Hanover. Mertie, an accomplished seamstress who often sewed clothing for family and friends, appliqued the lace flowers on the dress by hand. (According to Wadsworth, it was the gift of this dress to the Lyme Historians that helped inspire the exhibit.)
Another dress, also handmade by Balch, was worn by three of her nieces: Virginia Pushee m. Clyde Cutting in 1958, Donna Pushee m. Art Laro in 1960 and Cheryl Uline m. Richard Teeter in 1962.
The exhibit includes flapper-style dresses and frothy ’50s dresses and a trendy strapless dress from the 2000s. In the entrance foyer of the museum stands a blue pinstriped dress, worn by Mary M. Loomis at her 1897 wedding to Alfred H. Wingett. Loomis was the maternal grandmother of longtime Lyme resident, Dorothy (“Dorf”) Sears, who was one of the founders of the Lyme Historians in 1961.
The tailored blue outfit doesn’t at all resemble our modern conception of a wedding gown.
“The story is that Queen Victoria was the first bride to wear white (in 1840),” said Jane Fant, of Lyme, head of the Lyme Historians Museum committee. Victoria’s gown kicked off the white wedding tradition, but “it certainly did not get over here for another 70 years,” Fant said.
In addition, most brides of the time weren’t wealthy enough to buy a dress to wear only once. White would have been a most impractical color choice. A number of dresses in the collection show evidence of wear on their hems, suggesting that they were worn many times after the wedding.
“That would be their church dress or their dress-up dress,” Wadsworth said. “You wouldn’t put it in a closet.”
“When you think of what the bottoms must have dragged through, getting in and out of a carriage!” Fant added.
The exhibit, which is on display through Labor Day, also includes photo albums, portraits, newspaper announcements and other pieces of memorabilia that lend the gowns local and historical context. The museum is open on Wednesdays from 4-6 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m.-1 p.m., or by appointment.