Comments on: A Wedding Dress of Spitalfields Silk

By: Leonie Alexander

Leonie Alexander — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 03:49:18 +0000

I believe my great great grandparents made the silk fabric for this dress. My great grandmother had the piece of silk tapestry that was used as the tender piece. It was a royal carriage with horses attached. There was a conflict of who was going to inherit a nd that piece of work has since been cut in half. I have a photo of the carriage and pair of horses end, the rest of the horses are now in New York!

By: Wendy

Wendy — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 19:28:44 +0000

Lovely article, I really enjoyed reading it. I believe that Queen Victoria and Albert had nine children, not twelve.

By: Shawdian

Shawdian — Sun, 17 Sep 2017 09:35:41 +0000

Thank you, a good enjoyable & interesting article for which I am grateul to see this beautiful Wedding dress. However for some odd reason I find looking at the dress is a little creepy, which could be because just last week I spent an hour studying Queen Victoria’s bed the one in which she shared with her beloved Albert & where she took her last breath. Queen Victoria enjoyed many summer’s here on the IOW at her holiday home, Osborne House. Designed & built for her to relax as a family home by her soulmate, her beloved Albert, Osbourne is a treasure trove of rooms holding within some of the most magnificent & splendid pieces of workmanship made especially for her from around the world & like this dress, quite takes one’s breath away. But it is the Queens bed in which still has Victoria & Albert’s name elegantly above each side on the head board plus the knowledge of her last hours passing away in that bed which left within me an extraordinary impression just like this dress. Maybe the creepness comes because this beautiful dress represented the start of Queen Victoria’s hopes & dreams for many future romantic years with the man she adored & loved (her HOPE dress) and the bed reprents the end of the tragic romance as well as her own life. I can almost
imagine that dress floating up as if her spirit is still within. The elegant dress is exquisite & powerful, as intended for a Queen, prominence & dignity being paramount.

By: hopell

hopell — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:20:30 +0000

yes i can’t belive dresses and rooms in victorian times could be so exraordinary as this it’s just magnificent

By: Benita Wheeler

Benita Wheeler — Sun, 22 May 2011 03:34:01 +0000

Queen Victoria set the standards for wedding. I always love reading about her wedding. I’ve read her journals and she seem like a really strong woman at a time when women did not have many choices.
Thank you for the information.

By: Cheryl Cobb (New Zealand)

Cheryl Cobb (New Zealand) — Sat, 21 May 2011 02:52:12 +0000

This is a wonderful insight. Thankyou so much. To see Victoria’s dress in parts in such detail is particularly interesting to me. As the blog says it was a design which was the fashion at the time. My great great grandmother came to NZ in 1842. Because of that I have a great interest of the design of the dresses around 1839 – 1844. I was in our local library looking for dresses of that era when it dawned on me from a picture that Victoria’s dress was that pattern. But to see her dress in the different close -ups that your photos show is an unbelievable surprise for me. The design is consistent with my research – dome-shaped skirt by means of the gauging at the waist, the central point of the bodice below the waistline etc. This is truly a wonderful blog.
Dresses of this particular design as far as my research goes are few and far between in NZ. Auckland Museum has one from the Spicer collection which I have seen and the curator was kind enough to send me close-up photos of the inside from various angles giving great views of the seams, piping, lining etc. The frock was given to Mrs Mary Ann Williams (1802 – 1878) by Lady Franklin in 1847. Mrs Williams taught sewing and domestic skills at a mission station near Thames, New Zealand. Lady Franklin came to NZ via India. What baffles me about this dress is the bright colour – red, green and yellow paisley, as the Victorian dictum for womens’ demenour during the very early 1840s
was for pale, reticent-looking colours. Because of the rarity of these dresses in NZ and the fact that my gt gt grandmother arrived in 1842 I would like to do a replica dress of that very specific era but nothing has materialised yet.!! Thankyou for this wonderful insight in Queen Victoria’s wedding dress.

By: Jo-Anne Knowles

Jo-Anne Knowles — Tue, 17 May 2011 20:47:09 +0000

Thank you for sharing that wonderful gown and the context it remains in. I live in New Zealand and so often feel at the end of the world, how I would love to be able to pop around the corner and visit a gown like this one. Thanks to your blog, I have been able to do that.

By: Suze

Suze — Thu, 05 May 2011 21:42:52 +0000

I’ve just finished reading “Becoming Queen Victoria” and am delighted to see your photos and read your commentary.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Wed, 04 May 2011 07:23:23 +0000

Beautiful … very informative post. Thank you

By: Carol Alayne

Carol Alayne — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:36:12 +0000

This is an extraordinary morning! Looking out the upper windows of my Spitalfield’s studio on to Commercial Street, I see the Golden Heart pub ballooned and bunting-ed for the street party in honour of the Royal Wedding. On my cutting table is a lace bridal ensemble, work in process for my June 16th bride who will wed in Wedmore, Somerset. On television is the early commentary for reveries in Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square and the grounds of Buckingham Palace. And now I read your excellent post describing in detail the Spitalfield silk used in the wedding gown made for HRH Queen Victoria. Wonderful to be working in, and connected to such history!