Rituals of Romance: A History of Courtship and Weddings

press release: History of Clothing Series

While it is easy to dismiss the ever-present daily task of donning clothes as a superficial subject matter, digging into the history of garment wearing supports the importance of humans wearing and constructing clothing as an impetus for learning technology, initiating trade routes and group intermingling, and for delineating social identity and position. We present this culture of surface for re-considering, during these enjoyable and enlightening presentations.

Thursday, October 11, 7:00 p.m.: Leslie Bellais will present Rituals of Romance: A History of Courtship and Weddings, 1830-1990, in which she describes how such entrenched traditions of the wedding ceremony they seem eternal, yet these rituals have existed for less than 200 years. Ms. Bellais, Curator of Social History at the Wisconsin Historical Museum, will explore how these traditions emerged and why they have fossilized into the wedding rituals we experience today. Ms. Bellais will also compare wedding clothing and practices to the rituals of courtship, which in contrast have changed and evolved over time