When Abigail Kingston gets married on Oct 17, she will be the 11th bride in her family to wear a dress first worn by Mary Lowry Warren, who was married in it in 1895. In the 120 years since, the dress was worn by many a bonnie bride, including Kingston's mother, Leslie Kingston, who was married in 1977, and was last worn in 1991, reported Bored Panda.
After each wedding, the dress was kept by the mother of the bride who wore it. Over the years, it has been dry-cleaned only once, and altered to suit the individual tastes of each bride. Thus it was in bad shape when Kingston received it, with tears and holes, sleeves falling apart, and discoloration having set in, according to Good Housekeeping.
Kingston was heart broken and almost gave up on the idea of wearing the heirloom garment. "I thought it's just not possible. I'm just not going to be able to wear it," said Kingston.
That is until someone directed her to bridal dress designer Deborah LoPresti. LoPresti and a highly specialized dry-cleaner got to work restoring the Victorian-era silk satin creation.
"Deborah had restored gowns before, but never one worn by 10 other brides. She spent 200 hours bringing it back to life," Kingston said, according to the New York Daily News.
Kingston says that even though the dress has been restored, it's still too fragile to wear. So she will be wearing a new gown for the ceremony and wear the vintage heirloom for cocktails. "It is very, very fragile. And I wanted to mix something old with something new," she said explaining her plan to wear two dresses.
We wish the bride-to-be every happiness in her new life. Kudos for treasuring history and championing family values and traditions.
