Something Old, Something New: Maria Monroe

Something Old, Something New: Eight First Daughters’ Fashionable White House Weddings highlights the glamorous weddings of eight women who took their vows at the White House over two centuries and how their bridal fashion reflects both the taste of each era and their own personal styles. This exhibit was curated by Jillian Staricka, the 2023 Digital Exhibits Intern and MA student in Costume Studies at New York University.

Maria Monroe

Married to Samuel Gouverneur on March 9, 1820

When Maria Monroe and Samuel Gouverneur were married on March 9, 1820, the nation’s capital was still recovering from the destruction of the War of 1812. Maria’s eldest sister, Eliza Monroe Hay, planned the ceremony and invited only close friends and family. To please Washington society and balance political relationships, multiple parties where guests would be received by the new couple were planned for the following weeks. Commodore Stephen Decatur Jr. opened his home on Lafayette Square for a ball celebrating Mr. and Mrs. Gouverneur; however, Decatur’s tragic death on March 22 sent Washington into mourning and canceled further celebrations. Though today we have no verified knowledge as to Maria’s wedding ensemble, a few things can tell us what she might have worn. The Francophile Monroe girls and their mother, First Lady Elizabeth Monroe, purchased gowns made in Paris–the unrivaled fashion capital of the world.  It is possible that Maria repurposed a white satin gown she wore at a New Year’s Eve celebration that year as a wedding gown. Another account described Maria as being “gowned in a light blue stiff silk dress, with intricate embroidery of real wheat stalks.” The expense and time required to hand make any of these dresses was immense; therefore, a woman’s nicest dresses, including her wedding dress, were often repurposed for important occasions and events. Only her gold-banded engagement ring with a rose-cut diamond survives from her bridal ensemble, now held in the collection of the James Monroe Museum and Memorial Library.

Gallery

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Oil Painting of Maria Monroe

Date: 1820

Creator: Charles Bird King

This oil painting of Maria Monroe by Charles Bird King in 1820 depicts her in the dress she wore to a New Year’s Eve celebration in the White House that same year. It is thought that this could be her wedding dress as it matches one short description of her bridal ensemble and repurposing expensive hand-made dresses was common in that time.

Mary Fairfax Kirk Pickel

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Watercolor of Decatur House Ball

Artist Riley Sheehey reimagined the Decatur House ball held in honor of Maria and Samuel’s wedding–one of many high society parties to celebrate the newlyweds. The French Empire style that filtered into upper class American fashion in the early nineteenth century is visible amongst the guests’ dress. Puffed sleeves, high waistlines, and loose floor-length skirts adorned the crème-de-la-crème of the Washingtonian women in attendance. This illustration was originally commissioned for “A First Daughter’s White House Wedding: Etiquette Wars and a Celebration at Stephen Decatur’s House” by Lauren McGwin in White House History Quarterly 54.

Riley Sheehey for the White House Historical Association

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French Empire Wedding Dress

Date: Circa 1804-1805

This circa 1804-05 evening dress, owned by Baltimore socialite Elizabeth Patterson, who suffered an ill-fated marriage to the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, represents the popular French Empire style that rippled through American fashion systems in the early nineteenth century. The Grecian-inspired loose drapery, puffed sleeves, low neckline, high waistline, and light-colored, very sheer fabric with delicate cotton embroidery replicated the French Empress Josephine’s famous style.

Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Gifts in memory of Elizabeth N. Lawrence, 1983

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1821 Wedding Dress

Date: 1821

Medium: silk, satin, and gauze

By the 1820s, the French Empire style was already changing. This circa 1821 English wedding dress is an example of an upper-class bride’s gown and is made of silk with silk gauze oversleeves. The style had changed since the height of its popularity in the early 1800s. This gown has a slightly lower waistline and there are more trimmings, like the silk flounces on the skirt hem and slashes on the bodice.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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Maison du Commodore Stephen Decatur, Washington

Date: June 1822

Creator: E. Vaile

Medium: Painting

Lafayette Square, the park bordering the White House, was much less developed in the early nineteenth century than it appears today. This 1822 illustration of Stephen Decatur’s house on Lafayette Square shows what wealthy, upper-crust Washingtonians would have seen when their carriages arrived at Maria and Samuel’s celebratory ball on the Saturday after the nuptials. The house, “fit for fine entertainments,” hosted the most important politicians, diplomats, military members, and elite members in D.C. for the event, but was only one of many balls initially planned for the celebration.

White House Historical Association and The Decatur House, A National Trust Site

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Bas Relief of Maria Monroe

Date: 1820

Maria Monroe Gouverneur is captured in this relief. Her New York style wedding, planned by older sister Eliza Monroe Hay, was a private affair attended by only forty-two of their closest friends and family.

James Monroe Museum

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