Wedding dresses are one of the most commonly kept items from a wedding day. Yet many brides don't take the time to properly preserve their dress. A gown tucked away without any preservation effort can be expensive to restore decades later. The potential cost may make the task seem illogical, but restoration is worth it for many reasons.

1. Create a Tradition

Many women feel a deep connection to their loved ones when they wear a dress for a special event that their mother or grandmother also wore for the same purpose. Social media sites have countless photos of teenage girls attending the prom in a gown that once belonged to their mother. Wedding dresses have even more history and emotion attached to them.

In 2015, a family in Pennsylvania made the news as a woman became the 11th person in her family to walk down the aisle in her great-great grandmother's gown. The 120-year-old dress allowed her to become a part of a meaningful family tradition that has continued for over a century.

2. Make History Tangible

A restored antique wedding dress does not have to stay in the family. A donation to a local textile museum, historical museum, or to a costume designer can enable others to learn more about the past due to the gift.

Museums share information that people can also discover in history books. The difference between the lessons is how a museum makes history more realistic using tangible items. A photograph of a fossil is interesting, but the ability to hold a fossil and to see all the details makes the creature more fascinating.

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, believe in the power of tangible heritage. Their belief is that touchable items help to confirm memories and allow future generations to literally touch the past. It is the same theory shared by most museums, and that includes those that display textile collections.

A wedding dress is a tangible piece of family history as well as an example of the fashion of the era. To hold a gown once worn by someone a century or more earlier allows people to have a more personal connection and appreciation of that individual. The item encourages a desire to learn more stories about the previous wearer, which helps to keep history alive. 

In addition, preserved vintage and antique clothing serve as the inspiration for wardrobe designers for theater and film productions. Access to genuine items from a specific era enables the designer to recreate their wardrobes with accuracy.

3. Give a Gift

The restoration of a vintage gown that spent decades packed away could be a surprise milestone-anniversary gift for a loved one. Many women pack away their gown with the intention of preserving it but become too busy with daily tasks to get the project done correctly. 

The gift of rejuvenating and making an aged dress beautiful again is about more than just a piece of clothing. The sight of the gown can help return the recipient back to that day years ago and bring back precious memories. Restoration of a wedding dress is a sentimental gift that is entirely unique, and the sharing of the recalled memories becomes a gift for everyone in attendance at the celebration. 

The restoration of a wedding dress can take place for many reasons. However, the process of restoration on delicate materials like lace or satin is not easy to perform successfully without experience. At Crystal Cleaning Center, we help to restore and preserve the beauty of all textiles. Give us a call today to schedule an appointment or discuss your restoration project.