Love Is…Australian Wedding Fashion
A curated collection of Australian wedding fashion spanning 200 years will be on display for the first time in Love Is… Australian Wedding Fashion exclusive to the Powerhouse Museum. Presented by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences Centre for Fashion, Love Is opens on 13 May 2017.
Wedding fashions from Australian celebrities and high profile personalities will be on display alongside examples of bridal trends across generations of Australians. Love Is features over 60 wedding outfits such as designs by Vera Wang, Toni Maticevski and Romance Was Born, accessories such as a headpiece by celebrity milliner Viktoria Novak and photos from the weddings of prominent Australians.
Famous wedding fashions on display include Nicole Kidman’s Balenciaga gown, Jesinta Franklin’s (nee Campbell) and Kate Waterhouse’s Vera Wang wedding dresses, Dan Single’s Tom Ford suit and selfdesigned shirt and Bambi Northwood-Blythe’s Roberto Cavalli gown, Anthony Callea and Tim Campbell’s Versace and Calibre wedding attire, Terry Biviano’s J’Aton dress, Collette Dinnigan’s dress of her own design and Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins-Gillespie and Purple Wiggle Lachy Gillespie’s wedding outfits. From Australia’s oldest surviving wedding dress, worn by Ann Marsden in 1822, to colonial fashions, elegant 1920s gowns, the hippy 1960s and through to contemporary designs that reflect the cultural diversity of modern Australia, uncover the history of Australian wedding fashion through the ages.
Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) Director, Dolla Merrillees, said the exhibition was a unique way to view Australian fashion.
“Wedding ceremonies have long played an important role in the lives of Australian families and this exhibition showcases the changing nature of marriage and relationships in our diverse culture. At a time when there is a national dialogue about marriage equality, this exhibition reflects our evolving society and provides a snapshot of Australian culture through the prism of wedding fashions.”
Love Is is presented with support from Principal Partner Tiffany & Co and is the third exhibition presented by the MAAS Centre for Fashion, following Isabella Blow: A Fashionable Life in 2016 and Unlaced: Collette Dinnigan in 2015. Love Is will be accompanied by a series of public programs.
Image © Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences. Photos: Ryan Hernandez