Rijksmuseum

Black wedding dress

Date

1885

Medium

jet (coal), silk

Institution

Rijksmuseum

After 1820 most wedding dresses were white, and so this black example is unusual. The bride had her dress made by Wilhelmine Wildermann, a seamstress who owned a shop in one of the well-known main streets of Karlsruhe (Baden-Württemberg). The cut of wedding dresses in this German federal state was always in keeping with fashion. The colour, however, was generally black as women traditionally wore black dresses to church.

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