History of the Wedding Dress

A History of the Wedding Dress
1700-2013
Introduction
–
From the 1700s to the present, brides have always found appeal in the symbolic wedding
dress. Many historic events have both promoted and challenged the existence of the
wedding dress. Yet even after hundreds of years, it remains a prevalent part of the
marriage tradition. The wedding dress has adapted across time, with a cyclical tendency in
its continual return to the “traditional.”
1700s
–
Printed Linen and Silver Silk
Lower and Middle Class Brides
A bride of middle-class means
preferred pastel fabrics for her
wedding gown. These dresses
could be plain or patterned
with flowers or white
decorations. Brides with
modest budgets simply wore
their best dresses for the
wedding day. Wedding
dresses for the period were
not a single-occasion garment
and would often be altered
and worn again.
1780: A cream wedding dress embroidered
with small flowers fit for Jane Bailey’s
wedding in the country.
1742: Portrait of Mary Strickland. This blue satin
wedding gown is adorned with myrtle and
roses –two classical symbols of love and
marriage worn by 18th century brides.
Wealthy Brides
1775-1780: This silk
satin court dress was
likely worn for the
bride’s appearance at
court after her
marriage.
1765: MarieLouise de Parma as
a Bride. Anton
Raphael Mengs.
While white was not yet the
standard color for wedding apparel,
many women of the wealthy class
did choose to wear white for their
weddings. Because of the difficulty
involved in maintaining a pristine
white color, white dresses marked a
woman of high-standing.
A woman of this social status
would wear several outfits
throughout the wedding festivities.
She sported a different dress for the
ceremony, for her first Sunday
church attendance as a married
woman, and for the occasion of her
“appearance” that publicly
proclaimed her married status. A
bride of the court would make her
“appearance” before the monarch,
while a middle-class woman hosted
her “appearance” in the comfort of
her home.
Princess Charlotte and George III
George the III and Princess
Charlotte were the first royal
couple of England to marry in the
18th century. At the very pinnacle of
high society, Charlotte wore an
ornately embroidered silver dress
along with a purple velvet mantle
and dazzling diamond accessories.
Her bridesmaids were dressed to
match in white dresses with silver
embellishments. This royal
wedding epitomized the trend for
silver wedding dress of 18th
century elite.
1723-1792: The Marriage of George III. Joshua
Reynolds
1800s
–
A New Tradition of White
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
February 10th, 1840
“The Marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at
St. James’s Palace, 10th February 1840.” Sir George Hayter.
On her wedding day, Queen Victoria wore a white satin and lace gown with a train decorated in
an orange-blossom motif. Atop her head was a matching orange-blossom wreath and veil. Her
bridal ensemble would set the stage for the centuries to come as it established white as the
wedding dress standard. The orange-blossom (a symbol of fertility and virtue) as well as the veil
also became touchstone elements of bridal wear following Queen Victoria’s wedding.
The Creation of Tradition
1865: Satin wedding ensemble
with Honiton lace trim.
Honiton lace was also used in Queen Victoria’s
dress. Following the Queen’s wedding, wealthy
brides jump-started the Honiton industry. 67
Every detail of the wedding of Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert soon reached
the general population via newspapers,
prints and other souvenirs. Young
women of all classes were especially
conscious of Queen Victoria’s bridal
wear. The Queen chose to wear an
orange-blossom wreath rather than a
tiara and a white train instead of the red
velvet robe of state. The Queen’s bridal
wear therefore created an image of
accessible bridal tradition and romance
for many classes of women. Following
the French and American revolutions
that rejected royal excess, Queen
Vi c t o r i a p r o v i d e d a p i c t u r e o f
understated royalty. As a result, brides
duplicated the white dress, veil and
orange-blossom motifs in such grand
scale and over such a long period of
time that the elements were not simply
fashionable, but traditional as well.
Fashion Periodicals
The white wedding dress gained
further popularity through
distribution of fashion
periodicals. These periodicals
first originated in London, Paris
and Philadelphia at the end of the
1700’s. Illustrations and
discussion of bridal apparel
began appearing in fashion
literature between 1810 and 1819.
Local newspapers even
republished excerpts of these
periodicals to reach an even
broader audience. Some of the
earliest reports related to royal
events.
“Toilette de Mariée.” La Mode
Artistique, Paris, 1880.
“Portrait de S.M. Elizabeth Duchesse de
Baviére, Imperatrice d’Autrich.,” Journal de
Mode et d’Arts, Paris, 1854.
Periodical delivery became
especially streamlined with the
Postal Act of 1879 that gave
periodicals second-class rates,
and with the Rural Free Delivery
Act of 1896 that expanded
delivery in rural areas.
Photography
The invention of photography also
helped to spread images of the white
dress tradition. A photograph could
capture the exact image of a bride and
could be mass produced and
distributed.
Cartes de visites therefore became
popular as wedding momentos. In
fact, Queen Victoria commissioned
cartes de visites for the public that
depicted the wedding day of her son,
Edward, Prince of Wales.
Carte de Visite of Queen Victoria and her family
on the wedding day of her son Edward.
March 19th, 1863
Upper Class Weddings
For the upper class, weddings
became a public declaration of
belonging within the highest
echelons of society. Weddings
constituted not only a prominent
display of
wealth, but also an
implication of exclusivity within
high society because the bride and
groom often came from similar
economic backgrounds.
1885: Silk wedding dress. With the appearance of railroad travel,
skirts became narrow and were accented by a rear bustle as shown
in this example. This fashion was a marked departure from the huge
bell-shaped crinoline skirts of the decades past.
Middle Class Weddings
The standard of living for the
middle class had risen in part
because of industrialization.
These families therefore felt
added pressure to adhere to the
expensive wedding practices of
the upper classes.
The pressure for middle class
marrying couples mounted as
descriptions of high-profile
weddings became more
common and detailed in
newspaper columns.
1850 daguerreotype of an unknown bride.
Working Class Weddings
News traveled slower for rural
brides and grooms than for their
19th century counterparts.
Therefore, marrying workingclass men and women received
high-society wedding press later
than urban citizens, and their
fashion periodicals depicting
the latest bridal fashion were
also delayed because of the
rural location
1841: Cotton wedding day dress worn by Sarah Maria Wright on her
marriage ceremony to Daniel Neal – a farm worker. Although made it
1841, the dress reflects the fashions of the 1830s.
1900-1929
–
Short Hems and Long Veils
World War I
1914-1918
1914: Embroidered silk satin wedding dress. Aida Wolf
1914: Joel Good and His Wife Mary Ellen on
Their Wedding Day.
During the hardships of World War I, many brides chose
to marry in daywear within more restrained wedding
festivities than in the years previous. White remained the
popular wedding color, but other colors were also
acceptable. The groom would often wear his military
uniform
At this time, restrictive corsets disappeared and skirts
shortened to reveal ankles. Wedding dress fashion
followed this trend where ankle-length dresses with
long trailing trains and veils were the fashion.
Film and Royal Weddings
Princess Patricia and Commander Alexander Ramsay
February 27th, 1919
Film appeared in the mid 1890’s and offered a
medium to distribute fashion information to the
public in a brand new way. Royal wedding found a
special niche in film. The general public now had
video coverage of the most lavish weddings and
wedding fashions.
The first royal English wedding following the end of World War I was that of
Princess Patricia of Connaught to Commander Alexander Ramsay. Princess
Patricia epitomized fairytale ideals of true love as she gave up her title of
Princess Patricia in favor of the lower status of Lady Victoria Ramsay so that
she could be closer in rank to her husband. The romance of her wedding was
spread to the masses as the Pathé Frères filmed the wedding and shared
small aspects of it through news reels.
Film and Royal Weddings
Princess Mary to Viscount Lascelle
February 28th, 1922
While Princess Patricia’s wedding received only partial film coverage, the wedding of Princess Mary to
Viscount Lascelle was the first to be fully publicized in film. In fact, four separate firms captured the
event. The news reels arrived on March 9th, 1922 in New York to be shared with the American public.
Women’s Rights
American women’s rights expanded
during the 20th century. One of the biggest
gains can be seen in the passage of the 19th
Amendment that granted women the right
to vote.
Fashion, including bridal fashion, reflected
these expanding rights. In the 1920s, for
example, Coco Chanel introduced and
popularized the short wedding dress with
a hem that ended just below the knee.
Despite its short length, the style often had
a court train and the rule of thumb was
that the shorter the dress, the longer the
veil. Chanel’s white bridal creations also
reinforced white as the wedding standard.
1930s
–
Aspirations of Hollywood Glamour
Hollywood and the
Great Depression
With the Great Depression beginning in 1929, many Americans looked to
the excesses of Hollywood as a way to escape the hardships of everyday
life. Film in particular offered images of fantasy and escapism. Despite
the economic downturn, brides followed contemporary fashions inspired
by Hollywood starlets, although within limited budgets. Designers
therefore emulated Hollywood glamour with both figure-hugging and
dramatic designs, especially in bridal. For frugality, many women chose
dresses with detachable trains so they could be worn again. White still
reigned, especially with its ability to be dyed after the wedding for re-use.
However, pale pinks and blues were also in style.
1934: Silk wedding dress,
designed by Charles
James Until the
appearance of Gone with
the Wind, sleek , satin,
bias-cut dresses were
popular.
1940: Wedding dress fashion sketch, Worth. In 1939, Scarlett
O’Hara-inspired styles came into fashion bringing large,
dramatic and feminine wedding dresses.
Wedding Publications
Bride’s magazine (originally titled
So You’re Going to Be Married)
appeared in 1934, with Wedding
Belle, Modern Bride, Bride-to-Be
and Bride and Home appearing in
the decades to follow. Even
general interest women’s
magazines, such as Good
Housekeeping, published
wedding-related columns and
featured brides on magazine
covers. The covers,
advertisements and columns all
encouraged wedding
consumption as part of the
American dream. Even amid the
Great Depression, Bride’s made
little reference to the budgetconscious bride. These
publications not only informed
the bride of the latest wedding
fashions, but also told her where
she could obtain these styles for
herself.
Autumn 1934
Summer 1935
1940s
–
Weddings and War
World War II
1939-1945
Rationing
With many of America’s resources going
towards military efforts during World War II,
fabrics used to make clothing were rationed.
Initially, fabric used for bridal wear was
included in rationing regulations. That soon
changed after the Association of Bridal
Manufacturers appealed to Congress and the
War Production Board to lift the restrictions for
bridal designs. Using the argument that
America’s soldiers were fighting for the
traditional values upheld by marriage and
weddings, some bridal attire rations were soon
lifted.
1945: Bride with White Bouquet, Nikolas Muray
World War II
1939-1945
Wedding Suits
Despite lifted restrictions on wedding apparel,
many women did not feel that the luxury of the
traditional white dress was fitting within World
War II hardships. Given the especially short
engagements (couples wanted to marry before
the groom was sent off to fight), the white
wedding dress seemed especially out of place
for many brides.
The wedding suit offered a practical solution. It
used non-rationed material in an outfit that
could be worn again after the wedding day.
1939-1942, Marshall and Snelgrove Ltd.
Bridal Shops
June 1942: McCall Cover, Nikolas Muray.
By the late ‘40s into the early ’50s, bridal shops became more prevalent than before the war in part because
of the influence of Bride’s magazine and its emphasis on the consumerist practices of the wedding. These
shops helped women to emulate the styles of Hollywood starlets who gained greater authority in fashion
as mass-media evolved. Previously in the 1930’s, only major department stores hosted bridal departments
within their stores.
Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten
November 20, 1947
American Vogue spread, January 1, 1948
LIFE, November 20, 1947
Taking place a few short years after the end of World War II, the wedding of the now-reigning Queen
Elizabeth and Prince Philip reminded the public of the former luxury of white weddings. England still
rationed many goods, including fabric. Princess Elizabeth had to save her ration coupons like any other bride
of the period in order to obtain fabric for her gown. Nevertheless, designer Norman Hartnell created a gown
of richly embroidered silk satin with 10,000 pearls.