120-Year-Old Wedding Dress To Be Worn By 11th Bride
October 17 will be a historic day for Abigail Kingston, who will get married.
Secondly she will be dressed in a wedding gown worn first by Mary Lowry Warren in 1895. For 120 years since then, the dress has been worn by all the brides, including Abigail's mother, Leslie Kingston, who was married in 1977. But it was last worn in 1991, reported Bored Panda.
The mother of the bride would wear it after every wedding. So far, it has been dry-cleaned only once, with alterations to suit each bride. When Abigail first got it, there were tears and holes, sleeves falling and discoloured bits. Distressed, Abigail almost did not wear the heirloom. "I thought it's just not possible. I'm just not going to be able to wear it," said Kingston.
She got the contact of a bridal dress designer Deborah LoPresti, a highly specialized dry-cleaner, who repaired the Victorian-era silk satin creation.
"Deborah had restored gowns before, but never one worn by 10 other brides. She spent 200 hours bringing it back to life," Kingston said, according to the New York Daily News.
However, right now the dress is too delicate to wear. So she will put on a new dress for the wedding and the vintage heirloom for cocktails. "It is very, very fragile. And I wanted to mix something old with something new," she said explaining her plan to wear two dresses.
