Content Warning: This section of the guide features descriptions of war, including bombings and post-traumatic experiences.

The central wedding dress of the novel—the one Grace’s mother wore and that the women discover previously belonged to Violet and Hugh’s mother—becomes a symbol of hope, community, and the discovery of one’s true self. From the very beginning of the novel, the dress reveals the power of clothing to transform; when Grace tries it on, she feels herself stand straight and reflect “a new energy, as if she [is] someone special after all” (8). Cressida later explains this power to Grace, telling her that clothing can “make you into someone else” and help one realize that they can be whoever they want to be (78). The dress reflects Grace’s growing hope that she might be someone else and pursue the life she wants. It also spreads hope through the sewing circle’s Wedding Dress Exchange, allowing women to participate in the tradition of having a white wedding dress even amid rationing and deprivation.

The dress—and wedding dresses more broadly—represents hope alongside the power of community during hard times. Grace says of the dress:

[W]e rejuvenated it, made it into something better than any new dress could ever be, a symbol of our unity in this time of war.