Mary Trewby's mother wore this dress with its little bolero jacket for her wedding at St Patrick’s Church, Dunedin, on 14 October 1939. It was wartime and her father had already enlisted, so there was no time for fancy white wedding gowns. The dress was probably bought in Dunedin or Christchurch, and it was believed to have been made in America. Her mother gave it to her when she was about 17. When she said that she might shorten the skirt, she recalls that her mother went ballistic. She dared not, and it remained intact.

This dress is made of a rayon crepe and features dense machine embroidery in stripes across the waistline, which add structure from which the skirt hangs. The bolero features puff sleeves with a raised head typical of the era, and tab-shaped embroidery trim in the same colours as the dress.