| In this research, I asked: how does the form of the wedding gown/accessories reflect meaning? How is meaning constructed for wedding gowns? How do the decisions made by the bride about her wedding day appearance help construct this meaning? I answered these questions using a material culture analysis combined with interpretive interviews, using three steps.;First, I surveyed women who donated their wedding gowns to The Goldstein, A Museum of Design. Second, I looked at their wedding gowns using material culture analysis, carefully examining the artifact in a systematic manner. Using the survey, the material culture analysis illuminated cultural influences on the wedding gown that create meaning. Third, I interviewed the former brides about their experiences with the wedding gowns. I searched for how the bride constructed meaning by selecting her wedding day appearance.;DeLong's (1998) theoretical framework asserts that aspects of form, context, and viewer intersect to construct meaning. I analyzed aspects of form by focusing closely on the wedding gown in the material culture analyses. I identified several components of cultural context that combine to create meaning for an American wedding gown. These include tradition, gender identity, ceremony, identity transformation, and color. I addressed components of the viewer using McCracken's (1988) model of meaning manufacture, covering Possession, Grooming, the Diderot effect, and Divestment. Using the form-viewer-context model, I illustrated how these different areas intersect.;There are several reasons to conduct this study. First, weddings are very significant events in contemporary American culture. The wedding day is approached as a once-in-a-lifetime event; the artifacts of dress are therefore infused with meaning. Second, there is little scholarly research on factors affecting appearance in contemporary American weddings. This is a significant gap in the body of knowledge. Third, wedding gowns are present in museums. Research into their individual and collective meaning can help justify and explain the collection and preservation of gowns in precious museum space, and inform future collecting. Additionally, an understanding of meaning can help museum professionals to use their collections in a way that is educational and informative to the general public. |
