The goal of this article is to study the "camisola do dia" (wedding day nightdress), a piece of the bride's trousseau made especially for the wedding night, used from the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century. As a textile cultural good, we consider it one of the central components of the "wedding material culture", which carries a symbolism linked with the place of women and marriage in modern occidental Christian society. Our attention is turned both to the know-how (the embroidery technique) and to social memories. We seek to understand its immaterial dimension to reveal the net of meanings that surround it.
clothing; wedding; material culture; orality; cultural heritage; social memory