From intricate lace and soft satin to Swarovski crystal and layered tulle, today I spent the morning wondering through the creaky halls of the Ripponlea Mansion admiring the fashions of wedding dresses through history as part of of their three month Love, Desire and Riches exhibition. Having never been to the Ripponlea Mansion before, simply walking through the front iron gates I was already in awe of the fact that I was not entering a park, nor was I entering an old victorian museum but was walking into a family home that was cherished by two separate families for almost 100 years.

Following a trail of pink and red confetti dangling from the high ceilings of the two story brick mansion, I moved between era’s, designers, celebrities, films, trends and traditions with each room showcasing dresses from as early as the 1800’s right through to the modern day. It was fascinating to be able to view the finest detailing in each of the different dresses and to be able to appreciate the way in which wedding fashion has evolved through time. Looking at the dresses worn throughout the 1800’s, each custom made with their own corsets, bustle backs and wire hoops, it amazed me how the women were even able to move let alone enjoy the many other customs of a wedding day such as dancing, drinking and eating multiple servings of cake…Unlike the styles seen today such as the strapless Tony Maticevski dress worn by Jennifer Hawkins in 2013 or the plunging Swarovski Crystal Collette Dinnigan gown, the showing of bare skin anytime before the 1950’s was almost completely non existent. Instead, the dresses exhibited long trains and veils, lace overlays, tightly pulled ruching and extensive detailing of embroidery, beading and hand stitching.

After over an hour of admiring the breath taking designs of wedding fashion (many dresses quite literally cinching the waist enough to do so), it became clear to me that irrespective of the woman, the era or the design, wedding fashion has never simply been about  ‘the white dress’.  Wedding fashion is, and always has been about expressing a bride through the art of textiles.

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