In the 1940s , a spousal trend was pick up steam around the state , but not every wedding party was suited for it . The groom had to have been look death in World War II and toting a parachute — an object that made the unadulterated material for a wedding dress .
The Pinterest - worthy fashion ( if Pinterest had existed then ) beganmakingthe rounds as early as 1943 , when St. Paul , Minnesota , aboriginal Lois Frommer we d Captain Lawrence Graebner while wearing his unused parachute , complete with a “ U.S. Army ” stencil and sequential telephone number in the fabric . It was reported that Frommer thought the creamy silk of the parachute was luxurious enough for the ceremony .
More profound were the wedding party in which the bride wore a dress made of a parachute that actuallysavedher husband ’s life . That was the slip with the future Ruth Hensinger , whose husband - to - be , Major Claude Hensinger , was fly a B-29 that caught fire over Yowata , Japan , in August 1944 . Hensinger and crew bailed out ; Hensinger used the parachute as a pillow and blanket while awaiting delivery . He thenproposedto Ruth using the slideway instead of a ring .
Ruth wear out the chute during their 1947 hymeneals in Pennsylvania and lead it down to both her daughter and daughter - in - jurisprudence before it was donated to the Smithsonian .
Another Saint Bride , Evelyn Braet , woreGeorge Braet ’s chute for their Wisconsinweddingafter he had brought it home full of holes from the break metallic element of his aircraft after take foe fire .
But not all parachute gown were romantic in nature . owe to framework shortages , sometimes any parachute would do . In 1947 , Corning , New York , resident Deany Powers wasgifteda chute for her pending wedding by her brother , Preston , though it was n’t his — it had belong to to a German soldier .
[ h / tDusty Old Thing ]
