200 years of London wedding fashion on display for first time in Asia

SINGAPORE: Two hundred years of wedding fashion from London’s Victoria and Albert Museum will for the first time be on display at the National Museum of Singapore from Wednesday.

Singapore is the only Asian stop of the exhibition.

On display are more than 80 artifacts comprising wedding dresses, bridegroom attires and accessories, including gloves, bags and shoes.

The exhibits cover the period from the 1800s to the early 2000s.

Bridal fashion enthusiasts might find inspiration from intricate growns designed by popular names in fashion like Norman Hartnell, Vivienne Westwood, John Galliano and Vera Wang.

Also on display are wedding gowns worn by celebrities like Gwen Stefani and Dita Von Teese.

But it is a stunning silk satin wedding dress which takes centre stage at the exhibition. It has an almost three—meter long train and 30 women were tasked to work on the dress for six weeks.

The dress was worth 50 pounds in the 1930s, but today it would be worth 15,000 pounds (about S$30,000).

Lee Chor Lin, director of the National Museum of Singapore, said: "I think the most exciting thing to the Singapore audience would be seeing them (the dresses).

"They are designed by some famous designers. They’re hand—made and almost all of them are demonstrations of the hand—work, the craft, the use of exquisite materials, such as laces and pearls, and beautiful embellishments."

She also believed the exhibition would encourage cultural exchanges.

"I think Asian brides have been fascinated by the European—silouetted wedding dresses for more than a hundred years. It shows them that it is a very different way of approaching a wedding," she said.

"Certainly, I think, in the area of cultural exchanges, it is always fascinating to see how Asian brides have co—opted many elements of the western wedding dresses into their own costume line—ups."

Also on display are bridal gowns from the National Museum of Singapore’s collection featuring traditional wedding gowns from the Chinese, Malays, Indians and Peranakans.

Some of these pieces are from the early 1930s.

The exhibition runs from August 8 to October 31 with an admission free of S$11.

— CNA/wm