Wedding dress and jacket

This pink brocade dress was worn by Ethel Dobson at her wedding to David Howard Burson at St John’s Anglican Church, Dannevirke, on 22 December 1951.

The interesting fabric for this wedding ensemble was purchased at Bennett Bain's in Auckland. The dress was then made in Dannevirke by local seamstress Jean Saunders. The somewhat playful nature of the fabric and fullness of the skirt hints at the freedom of post World War II. The constraints of rationing and war-time austerity had ceased, and fashion was once again free to be frivolous.

The jacket is tuxedo style, close-fitting with a shawl collar and shoulder pads, and fastening at the waist with five self-fabric buttons and looped buttonholes. The dress is full – cut on the bias – with a sweetheart-shaped neckline. The bodice features two parallel panels of ruching bordered with piping. The shoulder straps are braided from the same fabric as the dress. They feed through two small plaited loops on each side of the front of the bodice to create a horizontal strap across the top.