The plump white wedding dress is a relatively recent trend if we look at it against the background of world history. It has been considered a traditional wedding dress only for the last two centuries. Of course, people have always been married, but in most marriages and weddings, the bride was not dressed in white. How did we get a white and busty wedding dress, an image so strong that there are countless wedding dress designers and bridal salons working tirelessly on this silhouette, creating ever new white wedding dress trends and variations?

Different colors of wedding dresses

In different times and cultures, there have been different color symbols, therefore the colors of the dresses have also been different. However, there is something unifying in the diverse symbolism - at all times, in one way or another, the dress has symbolized the transition of the bride to a new life stage and status, it has been a kind of talisman.

For example, in Ancient Rome, brides had long yellow veils . Yellow is the color of flames, and brides were like torches that bring light and warmth to the husband's home. But in Ancient Athens, brides wore purple or pink dresses, which were associated with a girl becoming a woman. Nowadays, we get married later and later, so we mostly no longer see weddings as this transformation from youth to maturity, but in the past such symbolism existed.

Draped garments in cream and white reflect Victorian ideas of weddings and innocence. However, before the romanticization of the white dress, it was more associated with prosperity, as only the wealthy could afford white dresses, they were more expensive and more difficult to maintain. But even then, even wealthy brides used to choose gold and blue dresses, because the white dress did not have such a strong association with weddings. On the other hand, if the bride's family was not rich, a special wedding dress was not sewn and the best dress the bride had, regardless of its color, was worn to the wedding.

In the East, even today, the traditional color of wedding dresses is red, it symbolizes life, luck and celebration. In China, wedding fashion was influenced by the ruling dynasties, while in Korea, silk wedding dresses were red, green and yellow. But in Japan, the bride wears several different colored kimonos on her wedding day.

White wedding dress

In Europe, the traditional wedding dress has only been white since the mid-19th century, when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert. The British romanticized the relationship of this royal couple, they embodied the ideal, so young women wanted to imitate the queen's wedding dress. this outfit created the recognizable wedding dress silhouette. It had a fitted waist and petticoat and was made of lace. Today, this silhouette is considered a classic for wedding dresses, although Queen Victoria only followed the fashion of the time and wore such dresses on a daily basis. Perhaps the phenomenon of the plump, white dress is hidden in this dream of royalty - the wedding day is the only time a modern woman can wear such a 19th century style dress.

Although more and more women chose to wear white after Queen Victoria's wedding, this queen was not the first to marry in white. Earlier, at the beginning of the 15th century, the English princess Philippa had done it at her wedding with the Scandinavian king Eric. She was dressed in a white tunic, the lining of which was made of sermulin and squirrel skins. In the 16th century, Mary Stuart wore white for her wedding to the future king of France, even though white was the color of mourning for French queens at the time. White was also a popular wedding dress color for royal weddings in the following centuries.

A dress to wear once in a lifetime?

Until the 19th century, no woman, not even of royal origin, expected to wear a wedding dress only once in her life. this thought would seem absurd even to the rich. Of course, sewing a special wedding dress was also not unusual, but it was sewn with the idea that it would be worn again on other holidays. It turns out that today's eco-friendly wedding dresses that can be transformed and worn again are not such a new trend. For most of history, this was a common and self-evident practice. However, if you want to live out the dream of a romantic petticoat, wedding dress rentals are available these days.

Everything changed after the industrial revolution thanks to technological improvements, photography and illustrated magazines. Photographs and wedding portraits especially popularized the white k goatee dress trend , as white dresses stood out in black and white and sepia photographs. It is always important that dresses look good in photos. But thanks to color photography, you no longer have to think only about the contrast of white and black, any shade will be reflected equally well in the photos. If white is not your color and you know you will never wear it again, let your imagination run free. Dresses of other colors can also be as festive and symbolically strong as white.

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Author of the article: RENĀTE BERGA

Photo: CINZIA BRUSCHINI