Wedding Dress c. 1936

Lillian Causey made this watercolour painting of a wedding dress at an unknown date. Isn’t it funny how a dress design can be a work of art in its own right? The whole thing shimmers, light reflected off satin, captured in delicate washes of grey. Look closely, and you can see how she builds up the form with these transparent layers, hinting at shadows and folds. The drawing on the left shows more definition, the waist tightly cinched with a lovely bow. Whereas the one on the right feels more ethereal, almost fading into the background. The addition of the semi-transparent cape gives it a ghostly quality, like a memory of a dress rather than the thing itself. I’m reminded of those fashion sketches you see by designers like Erte, but here there’s a kind of homespun quality. More like an act of loving documentation. And that makes it special, wouldn’t you agree?