Fashion2Fiber

1891 Silk Wedding Dress

Description

Off-white silk jacquard and crepe gown with long train, leg-of-mutton sleeves and a lace jabot peeking out from an open collar and repeated at the wrists. The dress recalls elaborate styles worn at 18th century European courts with its white jacquard outer robe covering a crepe underskirt. The outer dress fabric is similar to those used by Charles Frederick Worth, grandfather of Parisian haute couture

Source

HCT.2002.43.1

Date

1891

Provenance

Mary “Minnie” Eliza Knox wore this dress when she married Andrew Lawrence Kreutzer June 7, 1891 in Wisconsin. Her great-granddaughters, Mary Ruth Wilson and Sarah Stringer Wilson also wore it almost 100 years later for their respective marriages to Ron Holm on June 23, 1984 and Paul Johnston on September 6, 1986 in Minnesota.
Mary “Minnie” Knox was born July 14, 1864 in Wisconsin to Eliza Babcock and Samuel Goodhue Knox, the elder of two daughters. Minnie’s father was an entrepreneur who opened a country store and a gristmill before entering the lumber business. He was very successful, with mills in both Wisconsin and Minnesota, and his daughter was able to have a Chicago dressmaker, Josephine Chesley Hodges, make her wedding dress.
Andrew Kreutzer was born August 30, 1862 in Germantown, Wisconsin to Andrew and Caroline Kreutzer. At the age of 14, Andrew was apprenticed to a man who specialized in saddlery. He tired of this line of work, however, and left to teach school from 1884-1888. Andrew then enrolled in law school at the State University in Wausau and was admitted to the bar in 1890. He began his law firm soon thereafter and was prominent in state politics for many years. Andrew and Minnie had four children, two of whom lived to adulthood.
Mary Ruth Wilson and Sarah Stringer Wilson are great-granddaughters of Minnie Knox Kreutzer. They wore Minnie’s dress for their own wedding ceremonies before changing dresses for their receptions. Minnie’s dress did not undergo any alterations for either of the subsequent brides and remains in its original condition.

Fiber/Fabric Information

Silk

Decade

1890-1899

Files

150246IMG_9349.jpg
150246IMG_9350.jpg
150246IMG_9351.jpg
150246IMG_9352.jpg
150246IMG_9353.jpg
150246IMG_9354.jpg
150246IMG_9355.jpg
150246IMG_9356.jpg
150246IMG_9357.jpg
150246IMG_9358.jpg
150246IMG_9359.jpg
150246IMG_9360.jpg
150246IMG_9361.jpg
150246IMG_9363.jpg
150246IMG_9364.jpg
150246IMG_9365.jpg

Collection

Citation

“1891 Silk Wedding Dress,” Fashion2Fiber, accessed March 28, 2024, http://fashion2fiber.osu.edu/items/show/3056.

Item Relations

Item: And the Bride Wore depicts This Item