It all began in Cincinnati when staff at one of the oldest American museums of art was brainstorming ideas for exhibitions that sell wedding dresses could make substantial money for the museum. “I threw out a number of ideas including a wedding dress exhibition,” Amneus says, “which sparked immediate interest. Most fashion curators are generally not interested in doing wedding dress exhibitions because they feel there’s nothing new to be said and because wedding dresses are sentimental and popular, but not of general academic interest.”
About two-thirds of the gowns on display come from Cincinnati’s permanent collection, while the remainder are on loan from the brides themselves or other art museums. “Every piece really needed a reason to be there because we had so many to choose from,” says Amneus. “I needed to be specific in terms of fitting each piece into each themed section and I dropship wedding dresses also wanted most of the gowns to have been worn, if at all possible.”
Wedded Perfection went up in October 2010 and remained on display through Jan. 30, 2011. “It was received here beyond my wildest dreams,” says Amneus. “I knew it would be popular because it was wedding dresses, but it resulted in the highest attendance of any exhibition here at the museum: 63,000. We never expected that number and we had to extend hours for it.”
On this end, MWPAI had collaborated with Cincinnati 15 years earlier on a fashion art exhibit, and D’Ambrosio was interested in another. So she called Amneus and the stitches all fell into place. “This is such a great match for us because it relates to our collections in that it goes from the 18th century through contemporary art, relates to our fine and decorative arts collection, and it offered something new to our visitors,” she explains.
In early June two tractor trailers traveled from Cincinnati to Utica to deliver 42 naked mannequins to 310 Genesee St. A week later, 10 crates full of delicate dresses showed up. “Each mannequin is custom fitted for the dress,” says D’Ambrosio, “so fitting out the mannequin to the gown could take anywhere from a couple hours to one that took 60 hours. The dress needs the appropriate shape; the architecture underneath is important.”
For the two weeks after the goods arrived, staff at MWPAI set up Wedded Perfection. “It’s a large exhibition,” D’Ambrosio adds. “Even though it’s only 50 objects, they take up a lot of floor space. Because we don’t have dedicated changing exhibition wholesale wedding dresses galleries, there was a lot of artwork that had to be moved.”
Another compelling reason to head east to see this show is that, unlike most other traveling exhibitions, the foothills of the Adirondacks is the only stop. “Other than Cincinnati, the exhibit will only be shown in Utica,” notes Amneus. “We hadn’t really planned to travel it because in terms of planning it’s a huge undertaking. It’s hard for some museums to take a costume exhibition, because a lot of the pieces are fragile.”
To respect the fragility of the gowns, as well as the harmful effects of direct lighting, many of the skylights in the ceiling of the museum were covered and bulbs dimmed. “The light level is kept lower because the effect of light on these fabrics is always a concern,” D’Ambrosio explains. “And the effects of light are cumulative. Some of them probably have never been cleaned; sometimes it’s just a simple vacuuming.”
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