A Brief History of the Wedding Dress
Introduction
The wedding gown is unique. Along with baptism and burial, marriage is one of the three great public occasions in a person's life, and the only one at which the bride and groom can fully appreciate their role. Throughout history, women have tried to make their wedding dress special, to suit the festive occasion by personalizing the look or to go along with a theme.
At the top of the scale, royal princesses have always tried to be most princess-like on their wedding days. In medieval times, when royal marriages were of great political importance and used to seal alliances between two countries, it was also necessary for the young bride to look magnificent to uphold the prestige of her country. Her jewelry might well have been the topic of prolonged negotiation, as part of her dowry.
During this time, they used as much material as they possibly could, of the most costly, like velvet, damask silk, satin, fur and fabrics woven with gold and silver thread. In days when all fabrics were hand spun woven and dyed and economical use of it was the norm, the skirts would be gathered and full, the sleeves would sweep the floor and trains would fall behind to a length of several meters. Colors would be rich too - only the wealthy could afford expensive red, purple and true black dyes, which were much harder to acquire than natural vegetable-based shades. Additionally, the dress would be sewn with precious gems - diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds and pearls - so the bride would glitter and flash in the sunlight. In some cases, the gown would be so encrusted with jewels, that the fabric beneath was hidden and in the fifteenth century when Margaret of Flanders was married, the result was so heavy that she could not move in her robes and had to be carried into the church by two gentlemen attendants!
With the advent of constitutional monarchy, royal marriages were of dynastic, rather than national importance. Of course, not many brides were princesses and most could not afford such expense. But, in order to look special, a bride would usually try to copy the dress of a woman of a higher social class than herself. A noblewoman would do her best with gems and fur trimmings. A well-to-do middle class woman would aspire to velvet or silk fabrics, and because she could not usually afford mink or sable, she would wear fox, or rabbit fur to impress her friends. The poor bride's dress would be of linen, or fine wool, instead of the usual coarse homespun, and she would use as much fabric as she could. For an everyday girl, clothes would normally be as sparingly cut as was decent, so a gown with flowing sleeves or a train was a big status symbol. In modern times with factory made materials, the symbol of the bride in her train has lost its original meaning, but become a tradition.
The Color of the Gown
Before modern medicine, a long and healthy life was not very easy to achieve, but people tried to ensure good luck by following superstition. Many superstitions grew up around weddings, to bring about a girl's happiness in her new home and of course to guarantee her fertility. The color of the gown was a popular source of luck.
White, or a variation of white, was a favorite and symbolized a girl's virginity and innocence in the face of her imminent change of state. But it was not a practical shade for most purposes and it was not always the favorite choice. Blue, with its associations with the Virgin Mary, was another strong symbol of purity, which also traditionally symbolized fidelity and eternal love (hence the popularity of the sapphire in engagement rings). Brides who wore blue believed their husbands would always be true to them, so even if their gown itself was not blue, they would be sure to wear something blue. This is another tradition that has survived to this day.
Pink was another popular color, considered most suitable for a May wedding. It is flattering to most complexions and associated with girlhood, but some superstitions held it to be unlucky - "Marry in pink and your fortunes will sink"! The deeper shade of red was definitely taboo by Victorian times, with its reference to scarlet women and hussies. An unpopular shade was green. This was considered the fairies color, and it was bad luck to call the attention of the little folk to oneself during a time of transition. Also linked with the lushness of foliage, it was held to make rain spoil the big day.
Harking back to the days of homespun garments, any natural shade of brown or beige was considered very rustic. "Marry in brown you will live out of town" with the implication that you will be a hick and never make good in the city.
The bright shade of yellow has had varied popularity. In the eighteenth century it was the trendy color for a while, and many wore it. But before that time it had been associated with heathens and non Christians and was considered an unholy shade to wear in church!
For brides of the lower classes, an extremely common shade of wedding gown was grey, because it was such a useful color to re-use as Sunday best, being considered eminently respectable. In Victorian times it became associated with girls in domestic service, as they would often be provided with a new grey dress each year by their employer. Its deeper shade of black was of course banned, with its permanent association with death and mourning. In fact, it was considered such a bad omen that in some places even the guests were not allowed to wear it and a recent widow would change her mourning for a red gown for the day, in deference to the bride. This in turn deepened the antipathy towards red, which was viewed as bridal mourning.
Those forced by economics into wearing a dress that would soon become regular daily wear, would adorn it for the day with temporary decorations. Up until the nineteenth century ribbons would be tied into bows or "love knots" and loosely attached to the dress. These "bride laces" would be pulled off by the guests during the post ceremony festivities, and kept as wedding favors, or souvenirs. This custom gradually died out, being replaced by flowers instead. Guests would be given floral button-holes to wear, and the bride might wear flowers in her hair; as a corsage; or garland around her skirts, or else carry them in a bouquet. Rosemary and myrtle were early favorites, and orange blossom became popular in the 1830s. This custom has, of course, remained to this day - most brides, no matter how simply dressed, will have a flower or two somewhere on their outfit!
The "traditional" wedding garb as we know it today first appeared in the late eighteenth century. With the introduction of machine made fabrics and cheap muslins imported from India, and styles inspired by the classical world, by 1800 the white dress with a veil was definitely the one to wear. As usual with fashion, it began in London, spread to other cities and towns and eventually to country areas. The Queen was the first royal bride to have bridesmaids to carry her train too, which also set a fashion.
In the nineteenth century, even a bride who wore white would expect to wear her dress again. For the season of her "bride visits" when she would do the rounds of family, friends and acquaintances as a newly married woman, she would wear her bridal gown, with the train and flowers removed. A higher class bride would then adapt the bodice of the outfit (which was often made separately) and re-trim it for evening wear for another season. Queen Victoria herself removed the lace overskirt from her dress and frequently used it again - she wore it over a black silk gown for her Diamond Jubilee celebrations over 50 years later.
Until the 1920s wedding dresses were always in the style of the moment, if more elaborately decorated than usual, and more modest than the most daring fashion. In that decade however, there was a revolution in women's clothing, and hemlines for ordinary wear rose from the shoe to well above the knee. At first wedding styles followed suit, and brides showed their ankles, but as skirts grew ever more abbreviated, it was felt by some to be unsuitable for a church service, and many brides preferred full-length wedding gowns. This choice of following the fashion of the season or reverting to a long dress with a train led in the twentieth century to the development of a separate style in bridal wear which echoed, but often diverged from mainstream fashion.
This was emphasized by the hiatus caused by the Second World War, when clothes were rationed, uniforms were ubiquitous, and frivolity was frowned upon. When fashion came back, everyone wanted to wear long gowns in luxurious fabrics on their wedding day, regardless of the ever increasing popularity of casual, easy wear clothing and trousers for women in daily life. As fashion has become more relaxed and sporty, some wedding styles have diverged more, so that although each decade's brides are easily distinguished by the styles then in vogue, it is not because of that style's resemblance to general fashion.
A New Century
We have now reached a new century, and no doubt the wedding gown will carry on changing in fabric and altering in form. But there is equally no doubt that it will remain with us. Since the civil wedding laws were relaxed in the 1990s, allowing marriages to be conducted almost any where; even those with no religious convictions can have a beautiful setting. As wedding fashion continues to evolve separately from the general vogue, people have felt freer to allow full rein for their imaginations.
Today, we see lace, pearls, simple fabrics, silks, a rouched bodice, long trains or short. The pick up in the skirt has made it to the in-fashion and more and more brides are adding pick-ups to their simple skirts making the train easier to bustle. Ivory, champagne, white or blush — anything goes. Of course the timeless dress is still a simple A-line skirt, strapless top, simple French bustle, and a little bit of beading and maybe even some lace. With so many beautiful lace options, the Alencon lace is used to add the feminine touch girls are looking for, but added in such a way, that the gown is modern in form. Every designer from the highest end has at least one gown showcasing lace bringing back some of the traditions from long ago.