The wedding dress is arguably one of the most idealised, thought-out clothing decisions a woman can make. It reflects an individual’s tastes, influenced by their upbringing and environment, but also current fashion, as styles are popularised by designers and celebrities. It is a garment that has exponentially increased in grandeur since the second world war as fabric rationing ended, and more generally as weddings have become an event to spend a significant figure upon.

This dissertation focuses on four women in my family who married in the latter half of the twentieth century in the United Kingdom. Through interviews and photographs it explores how they came to choose their wedding dresses, and how the memory of the garment has been preserved. None of the four dresses were bought in the now ‘conventional’ bridal shop, but rather handmade, borrowed, or bought from a fashion boutique.

The different methods of acquiring their dress revealed the change in consumption from post war Britain to present day. After each of my grandmothers married, they wore their dresses regularly for special occasions, in order to get full use out of them. By the time my aunt married in the eighties, a wedding dress was something that was worn on the wedding day, and then carefully stored never to be worn again. Disillusioned by this, she decided to borrow a friend’s dress. By the time my mother married, the traditional wedding dress was perceived so grand and ornate that she asked her mother to make her a dress, as she wanted something more simple. These four women interacted with a changing world of consumption, and adapted accordingly when they did not agree with what they saw.

The dissertation culminates my interest and research into personal style decisions and how these are shaped by upbringing and environment, as well as using very specific object based analysis. It reflects upon the trends and fashions of the twentieth century, my preferred period to study.