The bridal gown is the dress worn by a bride during her wedding ceremony. Colour, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. In western cultures, brides often choose white wedding dress, which was made popular by Queen Victoria in the 19th century. In eastern cultures, brides often choose red to symbolize auspiciousness.
Weddings performed during and immediately following the middle ages were often more than just a union between two people. They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries. Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light and befitted their social status, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics. Brides dressed in the height of current fashion, with the richest materials their families’ money could afford.
Wearing white became popular in 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg, when Victoria wore a white gown trimmed with Honiton lace. Illustrations of the wedding were widely published, and many brides opted for white in accordance with the Queen’s choice. After that, for a period, wedding dresses were adapted to the styles
of the day. 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 longer train in the back and were worn with cloche style wedding 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.
For example, in the 1920s, they were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and were worn with cloche style wedding 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.
Today western wedding dresses are usually white, though it may include shades such as eggshell, and ivory. Though, many people assumed that the color white was intended to
symbolize virginity, but it is actually blue that was connected to purity, piety, faithfulness and the Virgin Mary. Till date brides from around the world wear white bridal or wedding
gown for their weddings; it has become and been accepted as a norm or tradition.
BY SHAMSIYA BARAU AHMED
