Two-piece cream satin wedding dress. High-neck cuirass bodice with long sleeves and a deep pleated tail, deep ruched cuffs with lace frilling and fifteen covered buttons with hand-worked buttonholes. An elaborately detailed skirt, with deep ruched panels, cotton lace and frills. The train can be drawn up with a cord and covered buttons. Canvas waistband. Label reads, ‘Henry Job, Dress and Mantle Maker, Truro.’

Skirt: length 1000mm; including train 1250mm, width 920mm.
Bodice: length 740mm, width 400mm.

The cuirass bodice was fashionable in the 1870s and 80s, along with narrowed skirt lines and bustles. It was usually more simply accented, making way for the swathe of frills, tucks and draping of the skirt. It extended below the waistline, pinching the waist in, usually with points at the front and back. Cuirass corsetry was very restrictive, helping to create a curvaceous line desirable to the male gaze.

White wedding dresses were popularised in the mid-1800s, particularly after Queen Victoria wore a white lace dress to marry Albert in 1840. The white symbolised wealth, and status, as the dress would be made to only be worn once.
Only the very wealthy could afford a brand-new gown. Many would wear their best clothing, which would often be reworked into other garments, or even sold on if in good condition.