Blue Dress

3D Model

This dress is made of an electric blue silk, sewn on a sewing machine, and trimmed with white silk fringe and velvet ribbon. At some point, the skirt waistband was taken off, and the skirt was roughly sewn to a negligee bodice made from a synthetic material; we hope to reverse this alteration with conservation treatment. The dress was originally worn by Margaret Hanlon, who married Jeremiah Sweeney in January 1870 in Wellington, Ontario. She probably wore this dress to her wedding, and carefully preserved it because of the special memories attached to it. Margaret’s daughter moved to Alberta in the early twentieth century, and brought her mother’s dress with her. It was worn as a costume to celebrate Canada’s centennial in 1967 by Margaret’s great-grandaughter. It is the oldest non-Indigenous dress in the RAM’s collection.