Tradition! This Bride’s 120-Year-Old Dress Has Been Worn 11 Times

Very few of my friends have worn traditional wedding dresses. One designed her own knee-length lace shift, another wore a flurry of royal blue fabric. There was a Grecian-style dress for the only church wedding, in New Orleans, and those getting married this fall are embracing color! Not to mention thoroughly modern silhouettes. I don’t know if this is only a New York thing, but an increasing number of brides seem to be ditching tradition in favor of a wedding that says, “This is me!”

And then there’s Abigail Kingston of Pennsylvania. The 30-year-old bride to be might as well walk down the aisle to the Fiddler on the Roof song. She’s wearing a silk and lace gown that looks like a faded Belle (of the Beast) Halloween costume, but has actually been in her family for 120 years, worn by 11 different brides. "The sleeves were disintegrating, the dress was filled with holes and the satin had turned an unattractive brown,” reports Lehigh Valley High (via Mashable).

Two hundred hours later, bridal designer Deborah LoPresti was able to salvage the whole thing so that Kingston can wear it to the cocktail hour at her wedding (it’s still too fragile for the ceremony).

As for adding something modern, she’ll wear her grandmother’s locket and great-grandmother’s ring. Which, compared to a dress from the 19th century, might as well have gone on sale yesterday.

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