This dress was designed in what is known as the late “Victorian era,” a time period around the dates of 1880-1899. Named after British Queen Victoria, this era is known for women taking fashion as one of the few things they had power over. Corsets and the hourglass figure, a thin waist and wide chest and hips, were common in high class fashion. The hourglass figure is visually apparent when looking at the dress and was created using hooks and buttons that are covered by a velvet fabric. Other kinds of fabric used for this dress include silk, lace, buckram (a stiff cotton), and glazed ivory cotton. In the Victorian era, silk was one of the most commonly used fabrics as well as being one of the more luxurious and expensive.

Mary Pettibone Barber, the woman who married in the dress, had it designed in a dressmaker’s shop in St. Louis, MO, which is where she married her husband. Mary Pettibone was the daughter of former La Crosse mayor and successful lumberman Albert Pettibone. Therefore, the Pettibone family was wealthy enough to afford Victorian era fabrics.

Charlotte Welda married her husband in 1936 wearing this green bridal dress. This dress resembles that of one designed in the 1920s/early 30s. In this period of time, bridal dresses were designed to have square shoulders that descend into a smaller, but not tight, waistline. For this dress, the waistline is cinched with a green belt the same color as the rest of the dress with two green circles of fabric on the front. The bottom of the dress stops at mid-calf level.

The risqué nature of this dress reflects the Women's Movement in the 1920s when women fought for equal rights and eventually got the right to vote. Women aimed at taking control of their bodies and the way they displayed them, so they stopped wearing corsets and tight fitting clothes as it only appealed to the male gaze and not their own comfort.