Photos By Gail

This Mermaid-like Bridal Ensemble  was worn by New York socialite Natalie Potter for her wedding to financier William Conkling Ladd on December 4, 1930. Its dramatic, cathedral-length train features interlocking scallops that recall undulating ocean waves and the concentric circles of seashells.

Designed by Callot Soeurs at the dawn of the Great Depression, it is devoid of lavish surface embellishment, and is made of a blend of silk and cellulose acetate, an emerging synthetic fiber that provided an inexpensive alternative to silk. While, the basque style overblouse recalls the waistless, androgynous silhouette of the youthful 1920s garçonne, the sleek skirt, with its elongated hemline, anticipates the more mature, disciplined, and feminine aesthetic of the 1930s.

Photographed in The Metropolitan Museum of Art as Part of the Exhibit Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.