One-of-a-kind historical wedding dress available for sale

If you've ever dreamed of owning a piece of history, now may be your chance to do exactly that.

The Historical Society of Argenteuil County has partnered with the Argenteuil Museum to create a stunning replica of the wedding dress worn by Alice Elizabeth Abbott, daughter of the first Canadian-born prime minister, Sir John C. Abbott.

According to Elaine Fuller, head of the collection committee at the museum, the wedding took place on January 6, 1885 at Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal.

Fuller explained the museum has an extensive costume collection, including the original dress worn by Abbott on her wedding day. However, the dress is in such poor condition, it cannot be put on display.

"It is a beautiful dress," Fuller told The Review. "Unfortunately, time has really taken its toll and the original dress is very fragile. It can't be put on display so we just keep it in its box."

Fuller said the museum even sent the dress to the Centre de conservation de Quebec, a group that contributes to the preventive conservation and restoration of movable cultural heritage.

Conservators in the textiles lab are equipped to work on both historic and contemporary textile collections. The types of objects treated are very diverse, ranging from Coptic archaeological textiles from the 10th century to embroidery, civil and religious costumes, ethnographic textiles, and contemporary creations or tapestries.

"We figured if anyone would know how to potentially restore the dress, they would," Fuller said. "But once they saw the condition it was in, they told us there wasn't much they could do with it. Couple that with the fact that we had no real budget to repair the dress at the time, and we just couldn't do it."

Fuller said after lot of time and dedication, the museum did eventually come up with some money and decided to pursue another avenue - to have two replicas of the dress made.

"We decided to have one dress made to sell and another made to put on display in the museum," she explained.

Photos of the original dress were taken to Edwina Richards, a well-known wedding dress designer in Ottawa. Richards owns and operates the Edwina Richards Studio and has more than 25 years experience in creating custom-made bridal gowns and historic clothing. She also uses her training to create reproduction costumes for historic sites and museums.

"The end result is two dresses that are pretty much exact replicas of the original dress," Fuller stated. "Some of the silk is a bit different because we couldn't find an exact match but overall, the dresses are absolutely stunning."

Fuller said the dress would be perfect for any bride's special day and is hopeful people will express interest in purchasing the one-of-a-kind dress.

Anyone interested in the dress can contact Fuller at 450-562-2524 or e-mail her at dnelf25@gmail.com.