Whats with the white dress?

Most young girls fantasise about their wedding day even before they come of age, the perfect man, the perfect white dress, the perfect wedding. Now girls emphasis mostly on their looks and of course the dreamy young bride is not an exception. She imagines how she'll look, wearing that beautiful white ball dress. This imagination did not just drop on her mind, it has been influenced over time by what she sees and have come to know about wedding dresses. And this white dress has become a tradition that lingers on, most girls feel the perfect wedding dress is that white ball dress. Just like this beautiful white wedding dress by Vera Wang.

White wedding dress by Vera Wang

Out of curiosity I started to think if brides over the years have always worn the white dress, especially seeing how the trend is evolving, wedding dresses on the runway is now more colourful, exotic and creative. My thoughts led to these findings.

In the eighteen century, medieval and renaissance weddings were usually more about political alliances and transfers of wealth than they were about romance, and so the wedding dress was a way to show the wealth and culture of brides. Textiles were an important means to display wealth and the more elaborate the weave of the fabric, the richer the fibres used, the rarer the colour, the better the demonstration of wealth. Poor people in Pre-industrial Europe and later working class people in Industrialised Europe and America often found it difficult if not impossible to buy special clothes for their wedding. But for those who can afford it weddings were expensive and elaborate.

Before the invention of effective bleaching techniques, white was a valued colour, it was both difficult to achieve and hard to maintain. Wealthy brides then often wore white to show their wealth not their purity, as opposed to what it is now. As a matter of fact in those days blue signified purity and not white. Brides wore the colour of their choice it could be red, green, yellow, gold, black or any other colour and they all symbolised something. See some examples.

                  

The marriage of Queen Victoria in 1840 has had more influence on weddings than any other. Queen Victoria put the wheels in motion by marrying in a white dress. She was already a queen and she needed to make a statement by choosing the dress that put her duty to her kingdom on display rather than her wealth or beauty. Nevertheless, she stood out in that white dress and made it popular 

Queen Victoria's Wedding dress

By the late nineteen century wedding dresses became more demure and increasingly white. However, it was still considered as their best dress.
During the 1920's as wedding gowns became shorter and a mass consumer culture emerged, brides of all classes began to wear white dresses specially created for their wedding. In the years that followed, the depression and war led many women to revert to the practical and inexpensive custom of wearing a good dress on their wedding day.
After World War II, prosperity and a desire to return to normalcy created a boom in weddings and elaborate dresses once worn became a central part of this ritual. The bridal dress was made in a way that it was unique and distinctive and could be worn just once.
One more royal wedding that made the white wedding gown reign supreme, is the marriage of Lady Diana to Prince Charles in July 1981. It was a fairytale wedding, widely publicised. The world saw that wedding, and just about every woman wanted that kind of fairytale wedding. Even if they cant do a wedding that big at least they can wear a big white wedding dress that will give them their princess moment. 

Princess Diana and Prince Charles Wedding

Since then wedding dresses has evolved. The traditional white ball dress became a lot more simpler in style and brides became more open to other options, the focus is now on the individuality of the bride. Instead of wearing the traditional white dress they could prefer colours in different forms and patterns. It could be a short dress, A-line dress, the pencil dress the list is endless. Now that we know a bit more behind the tradition of white wedding dress, picking a wedding dress of colour should not be such a big deal anymore. Brides can be different and unique by adding some flavour to their wedding. Designers are making beautiful colourful wedding dresses now, Red is so hot on the runway this year its fast becoming the next wedding dress colour. However, there is a wide range of colours and patterns to choose from.




  




The traditional white wedding dress has made the white wedding very popular and is here to stay but whichever the colour or pattern you choose for your wedding, the most important thing is your marriage. Am planning a wedding next month where my bride will be wearing a red dress, and i just cant wait to see her in it. Cheers.






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