"Practicality Inspired 19th Century Milam Co. Brides" by Jeanne Williams.Temple Daily Telegram:

Practicality Inspired 19th Century Milam Co. Brides

by Jeanne Williams - Temple Daily Telegram

June 27, 2011

CAMERON — If there was one statement to be made by wedding fashions in the Milam County

Historical Museum, it would be that not all brides wore traditional white, nor were

they married in June, the customary month for nuptials.

The traditional something old, new, borrowed and blue also did not seem to be on the

minds of pragmatic Milam County brides of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

One of the oldest vintage wedding gowns donated to the museum is a brown silk taffeta

brocade dress worn by the bride of E.Y. Terral, a former Milam County judge and

Confederate Army officer, Museum Director Charles King said.

The hand-sewn, two-piece suit-like dress was decorative, with ruffles flowing around

the top and skirt. But the gown contained a secret. A shortage of the costly

fabric apparently inspired the seamstress to piece a cotton plaid around the skirt

waist to make sure the hemline was of modest length, and the jacket covered up the

plaid inset.

Another antique bridal gown in the museum attests of another practical, but fashionable

bride who chose a wedding dress that could be worn at other events, King said. This

light-colored dress was machine sewn on fabric decorated with small flowers, though its

design was a fancy convection of ruffles that adorned a bride with an exceptionally

tiny waist.

A bride of 1912, however, stood with her intended in an actual white, lacy wedding

gown. Her entire embroidered ensemble — from decorative, matching unmentionables to the

dress embellished with handmade lace — showed either doting parents or a wedding of

financial means, King said.

Her trousseau would never double as a Sunday dress. Her wedding clothes not only

included shoes bought from a New York shop on Sixth Avenue but a dainty fan and long,

kidgloves. Somehow, the multi-layered finery fit together into haute couture that fit

this tiny-sized, September bride.

Whether the dress was a wedding hand-me-down or heirloom dress “with more than one

wedding under its belt” also is an unsolved question, King said. This dress for its age

is in very poor condition, with only the handwork holding together pieces.

Brides of rural Texas in the 1800s and early 20th century “wore their best Sunday dress

and that is what they married in,” King said. “Unless they were wealthy, they didn’t

invest in anything they couldn’t wear again.”

Weddings took place in homes, or in small country churches, King said.

“It was a more of a hands-on thing, not like the humongous weddings we have now.”

Twentieth century brides walked down the aisle as a vision in white fine fabric, and as

families prospered, gowns were more elaborate, including one dress made of bias-cut

satin with beading decorating the neckline, and another with a long train suggestive of

a royal wedding.

In simpler pioneer times, before elaborate floral arrangements and expensive catering

services, people turned to materials easily available, said Lois Myers, a senior

lecturer at Baylor University’s Institute for Oral History.

The institute records and digitizes historical accounts, among them people’s memories

of their ancestors or family lore. One contributor recalled a wedding in Uvalde County

for which a guest had no money for a wedding gift.

“Instead, his gift was to decorate the church with wildflowers,” Myers said. “These

days, we go to a lot of trouble with catering, but then they did things like have a

dance in the barn.”

A simple wedding dress would have been more practical than a frothy, white lacy one,

Myers said.

The simplicity had enough charm that some brides today opt for vintage weddings, with

family heirlooms or old family photographs as centerpieces, and perhaps items of

clothing worn by ancestors.

Kay Gerhardt Jay, director of historical textiles and apparel collections for the

University of Texas at Austin, said in a general manner, weddings of that and all eras

really have demanded the best the bride could afford.

Throughout history and up to the present, there is great varance in brides and their

dresses. The modern wedding era is dated from the wedding of Queen Victoria in 1840,

Jay said.

She wore all white supposedly to use some lace she had. It is probably the availability

of photography that should be most credited with the adoption of white. So many people

were able to actually “see” her dress. Since royalty had long set the style, it is not

shocking that her choice had a great impact.

The history of costumes is interesting in part because of the mysteries, Jay said. Each

garment was worn by an individual.

“Surely our choices are often influenced by social custom, but individual preference

and values also come in play,” Jay said. “It is interesting to think that many brides

were married this very day in other than ‘traditional’ white gowns and veils and the

reasons for their choices, when others look at the pictures years from now, may not be

known.”

The choices of 19th century Milam County brides may have been pragmatic and pretty, but

little did they realize that their 21st century counterparts would adopt their color

schemes rather than white.

Jay Yoo, assistant professor at Baylor University’s department of family and consumer

science, said traditions may have changed, but wedding dresses of a color other than

white are cropping up again.

“About half of award-winning fashion designer Vera Wang’s bridal gown collection has

color components, and 20 percent of wedding gowns sold at David’s Bridal, a nationwide

bridal retailer, are color,” Yoo said.

“Color is the simplest and least costly product change to implement because it does not

require new design, fabric or materials.”

jwilliams@tdtnews.com

All articles from the Temple Daily Telegram are published with the permission of the
Temple Daily Telegram.
All credit for this article goes to
Jeanne Williams and the Temple Daily Telegram

A Victorian doll dressed in white models a wedding gown of the era.

photo by Shirley Williams / Telegram