Bridal White?
By Twistie
As you can see from this photograph of a bridal couple sometime in the 1880′s, wedding gowns have not always been white. In fact, in the American West between the 1830′s and the 1870′s the single most common color for a wedding gown was…plaid.
Plaids were fashionable throughout the period, and in a time when clothes were often handed down and remade by other family members, a white dress just wasn’t practical for the majority of brides.
Age and life experience also played a role in brides wearing colors other than white. A widow, for instance, would never consider wearing white even if she was quite young. In fact, etiquette manuals from the late Victorian period generally suggested grey or mauve as suitable colors for the woman who chose to remarry. An older bride would also be steered gently away from wearing white no matter how virginal she might be.
Then, too, there are cultures that think of some color other than white as the bridal color. German and Scandinavian women were usually married in black unless they were fairly wealthy.
Even now, some bold souls dare to choose color for their wedding days. If there’s a color you like and look good in, why not consider wearing that instead of white? You’ve certainly got a wealth of history behind you!
Related note: I did what I could to make it easy...
May 22nd, 2007 at 10:13 am
The fashion for wearing a white wedding dress started with Queen Victoria. Not that white wedding dresses were never worn before that, but it was her wedding, reported in all the papers, that began the fashion. Being able to afford a white dress for the wedding showed off your wealth–although I bet a lot of white dresses were dyed to a more practical color after the wedding.
As an “older” (and not very virginal) bride, I’m wearing ivory. Much more flattering to me than white.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:13 am
I am wearing ivory as well Pencils…AND I’m dyeing my gown black after the wedding.
May 22nd, 2007 at 11:51 am
in desi culture [india, pakistan, etc.] the bride usually wears red, although the color restriction isn’t that strict. and with multiple occasions to celebrate the wedding, the bride usually wears whatever colors she likes.
May 22nd, 2007 at 12:46 pm
[...] In the American West between the 1830’s and the 1870’s the single most common color for a weddin… [...]
May 22nd, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Asra–I have drooled over websites selling wedding lengha cholis, they’re *amazing.* The colors, the embroidery. Incredible. Must be wonderful to wear one of those!
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:38 pm
I don’t want to wear white, mostly because I’m a bit of a contrarian–if everyone else is doing it, I don’t want to.
Btw, I think I remember reading somewhere that at one time in early (Colonial?) America, the fashionable bridal color was a light golden yellow.
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:50 pm
I believe I’ve read that, too, Handmaiden. It’s certainly a nice thought if you look good in yellow.
And one of the prettiest brides I ever saw wore a bright shade of rose pink. It flattered her complexion wonderfully.
June 22nd, 2007 at 1:45 pm
The trend for white for brides started BEFORE Queen Victoria, but mostly because white
was considered the correct formal color in the Regency period. There are instances of white
wedding gowns before then – such as Mary, Queen of Scots, and even some mediaeval
representations, but it was not a set trend until the Regency period.
Susan