This wedding dress was designed and worn by Wendy Ramshaw (b. 1939) for her marriage to David Watkins (b. 1940) at Christ Church, Sunderland, Co. Durham (now Tyne & Wear) on 12 August 1962. The bride chose the fabrics and had the dress made up by a local dressmaker. She was a fan of the French film actress Brigitte Bardot (b. 1933), and based her design on the pink gingham dress by Jacques Esterel (1918-1974) that Bardot wore for her 1959 wedding. The bell-shaped skirt, elbow length sleeves and deep square neckline were still very fashionable in 1962.

The length of the skirt is interesting. Since the late 1920s traditional white-wedding dresses had tended to be long. Although the mid-calf length, or ‘ballerina’ dress became popular in the 1950s, it was quite unusual for dresses to be made shorter. The below-the-knee day-length hemline on this dress gives it a lightness and youthfulness which offsets the formality of the stiff, ribbed white satin fabric. Only a few years later, short, and even mini-length wedding dresses would become increasingly acceptable, although these have never entirely replaced the formal full-length gown which remains the most typical choice for weddings in the early 21st century.