This pencil sketch is a design by Wendy Ramshaw (b.1939) for her wedding dress and bridesmaid dresses. She married David Watkins (b.1940) at Christ Church, Sunderland, Co. Durham (now Tyne & Wear) on 12 August 1962. Ramshaw was an admirer of the French film actress Brigitte Bardot (b.1933), and based her sketches 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 scoop neckline were still very fashionable in 1962. The bride chose the fabrics for the dresses, and had them made up by a local dressmaker who changed the neckline design to suit the stiff ribbed white fabric chosen, but otherwise followed the sketch closely.

The length of the skirts is interesting. Since the late 1920s traditional white-wedding dresses 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 hemlines on these dresses are quite advanced for 1962. 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.