Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About the White Wedding Dress
Queen Victoria set two main fashion trends during her lifetime: deep black for mourning and white wedding dresses. (Although black had been worn in the Western world for mourning since Roman times, Queen Victoria elevated it to another level.) Before her, royal brides wore wedding dresses in a variety of hues, with red being one of the most popular, while white dresses were reserved for women who were being presented at court.
Intent on making a statement, the fashion-loving Queen chose a non-traditional dress and flower crown for her wedding to Prince Albert on 10 February 1840, which she said was “the happiest day of my life.†The dress was made from Spitalfields cream silk-satin with a flounce of Honiton lace at the neck and sleeves. With its slim waist, full crinoline petticoat, and lace embellishments, it’s still considered the ‘classic’ wedding dress silhouette in the West today.
As accounts of Victoria’s wedding spread, other European leaders followed suit. The new dresses were conspicuously luxurious: laundering clothing was taxing in the 19th century and white dresses were hard to maintain. Unlike today, wedding gowns were worn several times during a lifetime; even Queen Victoria brought hers out for other events. As white dresses gained popularity for weddings, they gained new symbolism—the color began to signify purity and innocence, in addition to wealth. White also looked good in early black-and-white or sepia-toned photography.
However, it would take another few decades for white wedding dresses to be democratized among middle-class marrieds in Europe and the US. Until then, many women simply wore the nicest dress they owned on their wedding day. As society became more prosperous in the aftermath of the Second World War and clothing became cheaper to produce, the white, single-use wedding dress—and lavish party to show it off—became a distinctive part of getting married.
The portrayal of weddings in Hollywood, as well as the speed and ease with which people could see images of celebrity weddings, helped cement the notion that marriage demanded a white dress. In 1956, film footage and photographs of Grace Kelly in her wedding gown, made from lace, silk, pearls, and tulle, quickly made their way across the globe. In 1981, 750 million people watched Charles, Prince of Wales marry Lady Diana Spencer in her ivory silk taffeta gown with a 25ft train by David and Elizabeth Emanuel. More recently, Kate Middleton’s Alexander McQueen by Sarah Burton dress and Meghan Markle’s dress by Clare Waight Keller for Givenchy inspired copies overnight.