Maine Memory Network

Margaret A. McGuire’s grandmother, Jean A. Maiorano, preserved this ecru silk tussah dress. Margaret wore the dress on the occasion of her marriage to Portland patrolman Thomas J. Smith at St. Dominic's Church Portland on July 5, 1909.

An example of the one piece dress, newly in vogue at the time, it has a standing collar, square yolk with lavish silk cord embellishment, tucked sleeves and fine pin tucks shaping the skirt. Bold gold letters on the inner waistband label spell out "The Misses Macdonough Portland" the name of the dressmaking establishment that produced this exquisite gown.

Tussah or wild silk is naturally a pale ecru or coffee color. The color comes from the tannin in oak leaves eaten by wild tussah silk worms. Cultivated silk worms are fed on mulberry leaves and produce fine white silk filament. Tussah filaments are coarse and irregular and make up into an attractive fabric with small bumps or slubs. Sturdy, with a matte surface, various weights of tussah fabric were favored for travel and city wear because they stood up to the stresses and strains of travel.