A celebration of the wedding gown

Kaitaia's Te Ahu Heritage Museum will officially open an exhibition of wedding gowns from the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries on Saturday, and museum volunteer Olwyn Ramsey, who is curating the exhibition, is promising something special.

"A wedding dress is unique. For the bride it is her big day, and throughout history women have tried to make their wedding gown special," she said.

"Early in the century wedding dresses were in quiet colours such as dove grey, because it was such a useful colour to re-use as Sunday best, being considered eminently respectable. A few years later pastel colours were introduced. Brides in cream or white are mentioned in the 1850s, but coloured dresses were prevalent until 1900.

"Veils were not always worn, although they were often mentioned from 1850 onwards.

"The bustle, introduced about 1870, was much less pronounced after a few years. From 1900 onwards the traditional white or cream dress and veil seem to have been to the fore. White satin shoes, stockings and gloves completed the picture."

Until the 1920s wedding dresses were always in the "style of the moment", she added, if more elaborately decorated than usual and more modest than the most daring fashion. Hemlines for ordinary wear rose from the shoe to well above the knee.

At first wedding styles followed suit, and brides showed their ankles, but as skirts became ever shorter some felt them to be unsuitable for a church service, and brides tended to prefer full-length gowns.

After the Second World War, when clothes and fabrics were rationed, uniforms were ubiquitous and frivolity was frowned upon. Fashion came back; everyone was keen to wear long gowns on their wedding day made from luxurious fabrics.

The earliest gown to be exhibited, now 138 years old, was made of blue figured silk trimmed with dark blue braiding.

"It would have been high London fashion in the 1870s," Mrs Ramsey said, "but it is very fragile, so will be displayed in a manner that protects it from any further damage."

The other gowns to be shown, all part of the museum's fabric collection, range from 1904 to 1947, a 1947 flower girl's dress completing the lineup.

They will include the gowns worn by Selena Skelton, who married Alfred Ward in 1879, by Florence Crene, who married Sydney Puckey in 1904, by Mary Silva, who married Alfred Maddox in 1921, and by Peggy Miller, who married Leonard Keene in 1922.

The first two will only be displayed for a short time, in rotation with each other, as their age and fragility make them vulnerable to damage by lighting.

Mrs Ramsey said the museum staff were excited about staging the display, and were hoping for strong public interest at Saturday's opening (2pm).

"We promise you a piece of the wedding cake," she said.

"We are also asking that you dress formally for this special occasion.

"If you are able to wear your own wedding gown, or dress as the mother of the bride or bridegroom, in outfits that have been worn at a wedding, that would be splendid."