Pennsylvania bride-to-be Abby Kingston who is set to get married to her fiancé on October 17, will be the 11th woman in her family to wear a family heirloom – a wedding dress that has been passed down for generations since 1895 to all the brides.
This Victorian gown was first worn by Leslie’s grandmother and Abby’s great grandmother, Mary Lowry Warren, in 1895.
Abby’s great aunt mailed the wedding dress to Leslie in “two boxes with archival tissue paper.”
When Abby opened the box she immediately knew that she wouldn’t be able to wear the dress as it was a hideous brown and the lace
was completely damaged and the dress was also short as she is 5’10” and her great grandmother was short, as many of the other brides were.
Leslie, then reached out to designer Deborah LoPresti of Easton, Pa., to try and salvage the dress.
It took over 200 hours on repairs and trips to New York City for fabric matching to restore the dress.
The dress, even after restoration is fragile, hence Abby will wear the vintage heirloom dress for the cocktail party.
“It is not the style or the fit or the condition of the gown that matters,” said Leslie, “but rather the love that has been handed down through the generations.”
By: Archa Dave
