Most wedding dresses come from boutiques or family closets. But in the 1940s, some came from the sky. During and after World War II, brides across the U.S. and parts of Europe walked down the aisle in gowns made from parachutes. Equal parts scarcity and sentiment contributed to the development of this tradition. At the time, budgets were tight. Brides-to-be faced fabric rationing, and the military got most of the nylon. A parachute offered yards of strong, clean material, making it valuable. But for some couples, the biggest draw wasn’t the fabric. It was the story tied to it. One of the most famous examples is that of Major Claude Hensinger, who was forced to parachute out of a burning bomber. The chute delivered him safely to the ground and served as his bedding while he waited for rescue. He proposed to his girlfriend, Ruth, after returning home and suggested she use that same parachute for her gown. She hired a seamstress to construct the bodice and gathered the skirt herself using parachute cords. The finished dress, inspired by one from “Gone With the Wind,” now sits in the Smithsonian. Another bride, Carolyn Martin, made her own parachute dress after her fiancé, Chuck, survived a training flight crash. Carolyn transformed his parachute into a wedding dress using the sewing skills she had picked up in eighth grade. It is now part of the San Diego Air and Space Museum’s collection. A far more elaborate dress is stored at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. It originally belonged to an Air Force family and was pieced together from nine parachutes used in combat. DRESSES FROM THE SKY Parachutes Turned Into Wedding Gowns
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One of the most meaningful parachute dresses, though, came from a displaced persons camp in Germany. Two Holocaust survivors, Ludwig Friedman and Lilly Lax, married at the camp in 1946. To make the wedding dress, Ludwig bought a parachute from Allied troops, and Lilly hired a seamstress using cigarette rations. Two more brides at other camps borrowed their dress before it was preserved at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.
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Parachute nylon was never meant to be heirloom fabric. But during a time of shortages and uncertainty, that’s what it became.
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