Beautifully photographed and exhaustively researched, this romantic journey through fifteen decades of bridal fashion offers a comprehensive, yet intimate, look at wedding costume c.1860 to the present day. Using original wedding portraits and hundreds of full color photographs, this enchanting book chronicles the changing image of brides, from petticoats and parasols associated with Victorian bustle gowns, to late 1990s bustiers and pashminas, with emphasis on the supporting garments and accessories that add finishing touches to each unique and timeless style. It is a look over our shoulder at those brides of the past, a tribute to the skills of their seamstresses and designers, and a sentimental torch passed to the brides and fashion designers of the future.\nAccessorizing the Bride is a must have reference for fashion collectors, costumers, vintage clothing dealers, dress designers, and historians. The gowns and accessories within these pages are set in historical context, with notations on design, fabrication, embellishment, provenance (where known), and estimated current value.