This ivory 3-piece wedding dress (c. 1865) belonged to Elizabeth Kellogg Plunkett, who married William R. Plunkett in Pittsfield, MA. The gown was donated to our museum by her great-niece, Betsy Holloway, in August 1988. Betsy was a resident of New Canaan for over 40 years and lived in town with her husband George and their children at 42 Kimberly Place.
This silk and tulle wedding ensemble includes three separate pieces; a crinoline, the outer-petticoat, and the bodice. Together, these three elements create a classic example of a dress from 1865 that we can identify through the shape of the skirt, neckline, and sleeves. In addition to the tulle under-petticoat that has been preserved with this dress, the wearer would have worn a large cage crinoline to help the skirt maintain its wide shape. By the late 1860s, the fullness of large crinolines shifted into an elliptical shape, flattening the front of the skirts and pushing the majority of the fabric to the back where it ended in a large train. Necklines were wide and off-the-shoulder, and small sleeves covered the shoulders of the bride. Silk was extremely popular for dresses, and there was an increase in the number of softer, more delicate fabrics used at this time. The back of the dress features a large bow detail, similar to a smaller one on the front of the bodice.
The label of this dress reads “Mme Hardy, Paris”, which indicates that Elizabeth Kellogg’s family purchased this gown overseas for their daughter to wear on her wedding day. An extremely similar version of this gown can be seen on an 1864 portrait of Empress Carlotta of Mexico in the Museo Nacional de Arte, Mexico City.
