Wedding dress and shoes

Physical description

Heavy cream corded silk wedding dress and trained skirt, bodice with accentuated waist and dramatically flared peplum, shirred leg o'mutton sleeves. Embroidered with pearls, pastes and gathered silk lisse (crêpe chiffon). Shoes of white satin embroidered with bronze and crystal, silk stockings.

Place of Origin

New York, United States (made)

Date

1890 (made)

Artist/maker

Stern Bros (dress, retailers)
Francis O'Neill (shoes, makers)
Paquin Lalanne et Cie (designers)
Stern Brothers (maker)

Materials and Techniques

corded silk with pearl and paste bead embroidery, silk crêpe chiffon trimming. Beaded silk shoes

Object history note

Worn by Cara Leland Huttleston Rogers (1867-1939), an American heiress who married Bradford Ferris Duff on November 17 1890. Sadly, Bradford died the following year of a lung ailment. His young widow remarried, on November 12th 1895, to Urban Hanlon Broughton (1857-1929), for which she wore a dress of "changeable pompadour silk" (shot warp-printed silk) trimmed with point lace.

A photograph of Cara in her wedding dress shows that a ruffle of antique lace was originally attached to the bottom of the chiffon overskirt, following the line of the swagged drapery. The wrists and neckline of the bodice may also have had additional lace trimming, although it is difficult to tell for certain. This lace was later removed, perhaps because it was a heirloom.

As Urban H. Broughton died before he could be elevated to a peerage, his and Cara's eldest son Urban H.R. Broughton (1896-1966) became 1st Baron Fairhaven of Lode on 20 March 1929, while Cara became 1st Lady Fairhaven. This barony became extinct on Urban H.R.Broughton's death, but a later barony, Baron Fairhaven of Anglesey Abbey, co. Cambridge, was granted to him in 1961, with a remainder to his brother, Henry (1900-1973), to enable this title to continue after his death without male heirs.

This forms part of a large donation of late 19th and early 20th century garments and accessories (with a few historical textiles) donated to the Museum in 1972 by Cara's grandson and Henry's son, Major Ailwyn Broughton and his wife, a year before Ailwyn became Lord Fairhaven following his father's death.
[Wedding bodice] The bodice is a copy of a Paquin model, strikingly similar to a Paquin ballgown in the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles (museum number 2010.155/A-C). The FIDM object has a Paquin and Lalanne label dating it to c.1889-90, and is pale yellow faille and blue velvet, with exactly the same detail as the Stern Brothers bodice, although with short sleeves.

Notes added by Daniel Milford-Cottam, 4 March 2013:
It was not unusual for fashionable American women to have their Paris gowns copied by New York dressmakers. The donation of clothing which included this wedding dress also included an evening dress worn by Cara's mother, Abigail Palmer Rogers that was made by a New York dressmaker (E. Wiggins), apparently in close imitation of a Madeleine Laferrière dress with the same provenance now held by the Norwich Castle Museum. (see T.278 to C-1972). Paquin Lalanne et Cie was originally a menswear shop in the 1840s, when it was called Paquin Freres. The Paquin Lalanne et Cie business was founded in 1889 and co-owned by Isidore Rene Jacob dit Paquin (1862-1911) along with Réne Cahen and Jeanne Lalanne. In January 1890, Isidore Paquin bought out his business partners to establish the Paquin fashion house as a wedding present for his fiancée, Jeanne Marie Charlotte Beckers, who was working as a première at the house of Rouff. The fashion house of Paquin was officially opened by the newlyweds in February 1891.

Descriptive line

Heavy corded silk wedding dress with paste and pearl embroidery

Materials

Silk; Pearls; Paste gems; Lissé (crêpe chiffon)

Categories

Clothing; Footwear; Fashion; Marriage; Accessories

Production Type

Haute couture

Collection code

T&F