my aunt's wedding dress, remade for our rehearsal dinner.
on upcycling, process, keeping a sketchbook, and vintage meaningful touches.
For as long as I can remember, my aunt Lucy’s wedding dress has been in our attic. I can almost recall the day my mom said Lucy had sent it to us, and that we had to keep it in the box to preserve it. (My aunt Lucy has three wonderful sons, and decided it had a better chance at another life with my family of three daughters).
I knew I wanted to design my own wedding dress, but had started scheming a way to use Lucy’s for our rehearsal dinner, despite having never seen it in person. Once we’d decided on our venue last spring, I finally asked my mom to pull it down from the attic. It was in absolute perfect condition.
My grandmother Kay married my grandfather Gil in 1954, in a tea length Priscilla of Boston dress, in Leavenworth Kansas. The dress wasn’t stored properly by my great-grandmother and so was eaten by moths (this is most likely why my grandmother took such extra care with my aunt Lucy’s dress). But the pictures of her in her dress remain some of my most beloved photographs.
Inspired by my grandmother’s dress, I knew I wanted to wear something tea-length, 50s, with a Dior-y silhouette. When I pulled out Lucy’s dress, also a Priscilla of Boston dress, I hoped I could find someone talented enough to help me take on such a huge project.
That someone came in the form of two someones, Amanda Gladu and Willa Piro. Geniuses and magic-makers, both of them. I met Amanda through a mutual friend from Northwestern. Amanda and I didn’t go to school at the same time, but she had gotten her MFA in costume design a few years after I’d been an undergrad. We hit it off immediately – at that meeting Amanda said she would design it, and that’d she’d bring on her friend Willa to sew it. (Also let me just say that Amanda got married a month before I did, and Willa also helped make Amanda’s dress, so the fact that these two women added my dress project to their plate during the craziest time, I will never be able to thank them enough).
I sent Amanda over a sketch I’d done in my sketchbook (you will notice yes that I did in fact sketch out every piece I wore at the wedding whywhywhy) as well as all my inspiration images. She sent back an incredible design almost immediately, and we got to work.
The first fitting I brought over Lucy’s dress and put it on so we all could take a look at everything we’d be altering. Thankfully there was going to be a lot of fabric to work with – from the full long skirt to the long sleeves we’d be removing. We were going to be adjusting the bodice, as the original dress had a lower waistline. Willa was going to have to detach the skirt, cut away fabric, and then raise it to be around my natural waist. There was this incredible lace all over the bodice that we were going to put in different places on the dress, but also small sequins and tiny beads that I didn’t want, and so Amanda and Willa spent forever unpicking lace and beads and sequins.
By the second and third fitting, Amanda and Willa were placing skirt around my waist, figuring out neckline and sleeves, adjusting pieces of lace.
For the dinner and welcome party, I wore slightly used Jimmy Choos I found on The Real Real, my great-aunt Louise’s pearl earrings, and borrowed a white beaded clutch from my aunt Linda. I had found these vintage white butterfly pins in a rummage sale with Sammy’s mom back in 2020, and because Sammy’s family connects butterflies to Sammy’s late father, we each wore one to our rehearsal dinner – Sammy wore as a pin on his lapel, and I had the other made into a hairpin. (I lent to Sammy’s mom to wear in her hair on our wedding day).
As a final gesture, Willa put the original Priscilla of Boston tag she had to take out as she altered back into my upcycled dress.
My grandmother was the youngest of three sisters, my aunt Lucy was the youngest of three sisters, and I am also the youngest of three sisters. And all three of us wore Priscilla of Boston.
Amanda and Willa I can never ever thank you enough for your vision, craft, generosity and exquisite care.
more soon,
ella p.