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Awedding dress orbridal gown is thedress worn by thebride during awedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. Wedding dresses hold a significant place in fashion, symbolizing personal expression, and cultural traditions and societal values. InWestern culture, the wedding dress is most commonly white, a fashion made popular byQueen Victoria when she married in 1840.[1] InEastern cultures, brides often choose red to symbolizeauspiciousness.[1] These wedding dresses often represent a blend of heritage and contemporary trends, making them a pivotal aspect of bridal fashion and a reflection of evolving style in society.
Wedding dress fashion has evolved significantly, shaped by shifts in aesthetic preferences, technological advancements, and broader cultural trends. Historically, bridal attire featured elaborate designs with structured silhouettes and intricate detailing, reflecting the prevailing styles of their time.[2] In more recent decades, minimalist and modern designs have gained popularity, emphasizing simplicity and personal expression. Wedding dresses continue to adapt to contemporary fashion trends while retaining elements of tradition, offering a wide range of styles that allow brides to express their individuality.[2]
In the early 21st century, many wedding dresses weresleeveless andstrapless.[3] Other brides preferred styles with sleeves, higher necklines, and covered backs.
The latest wedding dress designs, as of 2024, feature drop-waist silhouettes, convertible gowns, intricate crystal embellishments, tulle, and gowns that display vintage charm.[4]
In Western cultures, white wedding gowns have symbolized purity and grace since the 19th century, whereas Eastern cultures often feature elaborate, colorful garments imbued with symbolic meanings unique to each region.[5]
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Weddings performed during and immediately following theMiddle Ages were often more than a personal union between two individuals. They frequently symbolized a union between families, businesses, or even nations. These ceremonies were driven more by political considerations than romantic love, particularly among thenobility and the higher social classes. Brides were expected to dress in a way that reflected the status of their families, representing more than just themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics, wearing bold colors and layers of furs,velvet, andsilk. The attire of the bride was a testament to the wealth and social standing of her family. Brides from lower social strata wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount and the price of material a wedding dress contained was a direct reflection of the bride's social standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests. More recently, due to theexorbitant price of a dresssecond hand shops often carry wedding dresses. At which point, atailor can make the necessaryalterations for the bride.[6]
The first documented instance of a royal bride wearing a white wedding dress was that ofPhilippa of England. She wore atunic with acloak in whitesilk bordered withsquirrel andermine in 1406, when she marriedEric of Pomerania.[7][8] Similarly,Mary, Queen of Scots, wore a white wedding dress in 1559 when she married her first husband,Francis, theDauphin of France, because it was her favorite color, although white was then the color of mourning for French queens.[9][10]
This was not a widespread trend, however: prior to theVictorian era, a bride was married in any color, black being popular inFinland.[11]
White became a popular option in 1840, after the marriage ofQueen Victoria toAlbert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, when Victoria worea white gown trimmed withHoniton lace. Illustrations of the wedding were widely published, and many brides opted for white in accordance with the Queen's choice.[12] Although white was later assumed to symbolize virginity, it was originally blue that represented purity, piety, and fidelity, and was associated with theVirgin Mary.[13]
Despite the rise in popularity of white wedding dresses, brides continued to follow contemporary fashion trends. In the early 1900s, clothing included a lot of decorations, such as lace or frills. This was also adopted in wedding dresses, where decorative frills and lace were common. For example, in the 1920s, they were typically short in the front with a longertrain in the back and were worn withcloche-stylewedding veils. This tendency to follow current fashions continued until the late 1960s, when it became popular to revert to long, full-skirted designs reminiscent of the Victorian era.[1]
Since the mid-20th century, white has been the dominant color for Western wedding dresses, though "wedding white" includes shades such aseggshell,ecru, andivory.[14] However, white is not the universal color of wedding dresses.[15]
Inthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the color white is used as a symbol of purity, innocence, and cleanliness, particularly inreligious ceremonies, including weddings.[16] For weddings in the temple, white clothing is also worn by all participants during the ceremony, both men and women, to symbolize unity and equality before God.[17][18] The brides are instructed to wear white dresses that are modest in design and fabric and free of elaborate decoration.[19]
Traditionally, aKurdish first-time bride would wear a red dress for her wedding to symbolize thepostcoital bleeding she will experience when she loses her virginity while a Kurdish bride who used to be married before would wear pink. Many Kurds associate red wedding dresses with impoverished Kurdish rural society and it is no longer commonly worn.[20][21][22]
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Princess Philippa of England is the first recorded princess to have worn white during her wedding in 1406, with her attire consisting of a tunic and cloak in white silk, but it wasn't until Queen Mary that the white dress would explode in popularity
Mary's choice of a white wedding dress was an unusual one, particularly as white was more traditionally worn by royal ladies when they were in dieul blanc mourning but in this as in other things the strong willed Mary may well have been an innovator, keen to not just impress her own taste on her wedding day (after all, she hadn't been allowed the privilege of choosing her groom) but also emphasise her virginity and show off her famously pale redheaded beauty, which would have been accentuated by a pure white dress.
Her favourite dress colours were white and black which symbolised purity.
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