Wedding dress with pinked flounces

The tiny waist (59 cm) of the Amsterdam bride Seraphine Asscher came very close to the then prevailing ideal of beauty: the perfect waist fit between two male hands. In keeping with tradition, the seamstress made a modest dress for this Jewish bride, but decorated the bodice and train with fashionable ruffled ‘effilé flounces.’ This technique involves cutting away fabric to create movement and texture.