For hundreds of years, it was common for women to wear dresses at their wedding ceremonies, just because it was common for women to wear dresses in general. But it wasn't until the 1840s, when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, that the white dress became popular. Why are wedding dresses white? Do people always marry for love? This brief history of wedding dresses has some answers. For more than 800 years, from around 1070 to 1840, brides wore the best dress they had for their wedding day. Although the style was in keeping with all the dresses Queen Victoria wore at the time, reflecting the everyday fashion of the time, its otherness is now part of what makes the concept of a wedding dress so distinctive.
Princess Charlotte married in 1816 in a transparent dress that showed her white and silver dress. In addition, most wedding dresses are selected not only based on current trends and personal preferences, but also to match the overall theme of the wedding itself. Bustle is still used in wedding dresses, as it is a practical way to wear a long tail to make the dress easier to wear at a post-wedding reception. The idea of a wedding ceremony probably began in the classical world, during the days of ancient Greece and Rome. Beautiful white wedding dresses appeared in the 1950s, when the world emerged from the difficult economic times of the Depression and the rationing days of the war. This is, in part, how Western brides also came to dress in white and, in turn, how a particular type of white Western wedding dress began to colonize weddings around the world. Although Queen Victoria's former world empire has since retreated to the rainy islands where she came from, her bulky white wedding dress continues to inspire royal wedding looks to this day.
For brides who could afford to keep up with trends, dresses were somewhat tighter than in the previous decade. Women could spend less time sewing and more time living, giving them new freedoms and opportunities that would help shape the fashions and wedding dress design of the future. The lace frill of Queen Victoria's dress was reused for two other royal weddings, including that of the future George V of England. Although there were occasional examples of other women dressed in white before her, Queen Victoria is credited with starting the popularity of the white wedding dress. Although many people still associate weddings with a woman dressed in white and a man wearing a tuxedo, there has been a crack in traditional gender roles among heterosexual couples and greater recognition of non-heterosexual couples. Royalty and those with a high social position always dress at the height of fashion.
