The Casa Fernandez Blanco exhibits “I waited for you in white”: a selection of wedding dresses produced in our country between 1870 and 1926, along with a collection of more than two hundred photographic portraits from the same period. These pieces, never brought together in a specific exhibition, were bequeathed to the museum by private donors and by Carlos Vertanessianthe main collector of old photography in Argentina. Curated by Patricio López Méndez and Gustavo Tudiscothe exhibition exhibits a set of costumes and objects that keep the codes of an era and its ceremonial rituals, in addition to the visual record that, since the mid-nineteenth century, recorded all the important events of life.
The exhibits are not frozen in the display cases. They are, rather, exhibited as charismatic objects that keep an intimate story, as well as historical. This is what the wedding dresses restored by Edit Hidalgohead tailor of the museum. Mounted on mannequins that maintain exact anthropometric proportions, the dresses hang with its pleats, gathers and folds, with its bustle and its yoke on the front, with its headdresses and veils, along with buttoned silk shoes; and also the photographs of bride and groom with a severe expression. Because what the curatorial narrative marks, above all things, is a palpable path that connects them with the present. And by looking at these objects – by whom they were produced and used and how they ended up in the rooms of this museum – their stories can be expanded, beyond the time that gave them origin. Thus, they no longer only embody the spirit of an era, but also signify a visible connection with the way we see the world today.
Patricio López Méndez, historian and curator in charge of the exhibition, explains: “It’s not that we wanted to bring out these wedding dresses. Not only. When we opened the clothing room and put that dress full of pleats and bows with the bustle at the back and the little silk shoes, we wanted to say something: that the woman was staying inside, that it was almost impossible to go out with that suit on. We try to show the seclusion and the place that a certain society gave to women. If silk shoes were no good for walking, then what do those shoes show us? “.
The wedding ceremony
Starting in 1888, with the law ofl civil marriagethe State assumed the authority to register marriage contracts. And with this, religious institutions were no longer the only ones to register births, deaths and marriages. However, the ceremony in the church continued to be the primary event that concluded in a wedding portrait, where the photographer captured the image of the bride and groom and their families. Perhaps, as a way of immortalizing existence itself. Also, because in those times, taking a photograph was an event.
The image gallery is vast. There are portraits of women dressed in white with endless yards of fabric trailing down the side. There are women in black dresses: mourning outfits repurposed for the occasion. They all hold bouquets of flowers in their gloved hands. They wear tulle headdresses. Some are teenagers. Men wear suits, sometimes too loose and sometimes excessively short or tight.. There are simple dresses, perhaps inherited and re-sewn to fit the scene. There are other sophisticated and luxurious ones, made with fabrics that, for the time, were equivalent to a fortune.
The expressions are always severe and the bride and groom seem distant. And perhaps, these circumspect glances point out something that, from the perspective of the present, seems unthinkable: that in the marriage commitments of the nineteenth century, love did not always intervene. A presumption that, according to López Méndez, also traces one of the most relevant aspects of this exhibition: “To get married at that time, the only thing that mattered was that you were fit. Being fit meant having your first menstruation. This means that women could marry at 12 or 13 years old. And in some of these portraits, we see teenage girls marrying men in their forties or fifties. As a historian, these images made me think about the pivotal moment we live in today. It terrifies me to see that societies forget the conquered lands. There is a global tendency to lose contexts; We see it in television series and everywhere. When history is distorted, the struggles that took place for something in particular to happen and for a right to be achieved are minimized. With everything it cost to get there! Rights, for many young people today, would seem to be something we always had. No. We are lucky that women have taken to the streets to fight for their rights, but sometimes it seems like we are going back? Are certain battles called into question? Our obligation, as curators, is to tell stories that help us think.”
The story
When the queen victoria from England she married Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1840she did it with a white dress, sewn in silk, lace and embroidered orange blossoms. Thanks to photography and prints that began to become popular with the Industrial Revolution, his image went around the world and the color white became a symbol of purity and chastity. And while many women made the effort to follow a fashion that would determine the West forever, others continued to marry in their best suit, regardless of its color. Sometimes, the best possible suit was the one worn during the periods of mourning, which were then strict and frequent. “Which of these things was asked of man? -López Méndez asks himself-. Nothing. They could marry without maintaining chastity. Women did it under this condition. And to have births. Love was not part of this. Love, in the nineteenth century, was clandestine. So it is important to remember. As many times as necessary. To value our freedom.”
“I waited for you in white” exhibits a collection of objects that, put in perspective, tell stories. Not only about a story of events, but about a personal plot. About the place of women and men. And about the wait imposed on women: white, chaste, until the wedding and love came (or not) and until the children arrived and then, life would be something memorable. And so, when these dresses with hidden pearl buttons are exhibited, these trousseaus kept among rose petals, these little silk shoes, these ornate dresses and these portraits that hold the culmination of a ceremony, it is not just these things that are exhibited. What is revealed, however, are the relationships between people, their place in a past world and also what is broken to build this present.
Lucia Monti
Useful information: “I waited for you in white” is exhibited at the Casa Fernández Blanco (Hipólito Yrigoyen 1420). You can visit every day from 11 a.m., except Tuesday. On Wednesdays admission is free.
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by Lucía Monti
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