This year our ‘people’ in the museum are dressed for the occasion. Yes, our mannequins have been dressed up for the new season which is now just a few days away. One of our ladies is wearing a rather fetching bridesmaid’s dress.

Our bridesmaid is dressed for the occasion – at Market Lavington Museum

And there we see the young lady. Her dress, which dates from the 1930s, is of turquoise/blue organdie (also known as organza). It has leg of mutton sleeves, fastened with press studs. The collar is frilly.

Under the dress she wears a satin slip and her headdress is of silver leaves mounted on a turquoise band.

This outfit belonged to the Burbidge family and that means the costume is at home. Alf and Louise Burbidge and their daughters Florence and Doris lived in our museum building during the 1930s.

Sadly, we have not identified whose wedding it was worn for although we may have a photo of it. Amongst artefacts we have in the museum is a small album of photos which belonged to the Burbidge family. There is a wedding photo in there in which the older bridesmaid may be wearing this outfit, but she is largely concealed.

A wedding photo in the Burbidge album

We do not recognise the people in this photo but maybe somebody out there can help us. Below we have zoomed in and we can see the silver leaves of this bridesmaid’s headdress and we think the neckline of her dress is similar to our turquoise one.

Once again, the museum has a number of new displays so it is well worth visiting again this year.