Wedding dress

Mary Mullins wore this dress when she married Timothy Gallagher on 3 July 1870 in Hokitika. Gallagher was the Member of Parliament for the Westland North electorate from 1868-1870; apparently Mary Mullins had refused to marry him unless he left politics.

The dress features a long bodice, known as the Princess line, which was introduced by French couturier Charles Frederick Worth in 1866. As such the dress demonstrates that this new style had reached New Zealand only three or four years later and that French/European fashions made an impact here.

This style of bodice was tightly fitted and required a longer corset underneath. The train could be detached to turn it from an evening gown into a 'best dress'. Blue rather than white fabric also allowed the gown to be worn for other purposes after the wedding - a practice that was common throughtout the 19th century.