In our culture, thewedding dress is traditionally white Although there is no rule that imposes it – in fact brides can also dress in other colors on the wedding day – the fruit of fashion and some social choices is the immaculate shade Symbol of purity and innocence. The white color actually represents the nobility: guarantee the cleaning of a white dress It implies having to wash it often, and this meant to be rich, to have water and hygienic resources. Also, dressing in white means Don’t have to get dirty to work the earth And, this too, it meant to be wealthy.
In reality, in Europe the bride’s dress has not always been white: tradition consecrates itself in 1840 With the wedding of Queen Vittoria, dressed in white in the wedding with Prince Albert. Before, in Roman era The brides were adorned with a yellow veilcolor of the goddess Vesta, protector of the hearth and the house; In the Middle Ages The bride wore the best dress of the wardrobe, or in any case an elegant dress.
The origin of the tradition of the white dress: the wedding of Queen Vittoria
The February 10, 1840in the royal chapel of Saint James in London, the twenty -one year old Victory, Queen of Englandbride in white dress his cousin, Prince Albert Coburg Gotha. The photo of the royal wedding literally travels around the world: the queen is dressed with a Honeton lace white dresstypical of the time, from very fine and elaborate processingprerogative of the nobles, indeed of the very noble.
It seems that the queen chose this lace and the white color not only for the refined workmanship, but precisely because typically British.
Vittoria’s wedding dress was built in 1840 in Beer, in the Devon county, choosing precisely Honeton lace varietymade with the Fuselli, with which the skirt, the flywheel, the cloak and the narrow sleeves are decorated to the elbow. The dress was then completed with satin, of course white.
The press was already widespread, and the images of the royal wedding make subjects dream and not, and thus the fashion of thewhite dresseven better if in lace.
Vittoria knew that the images of the wedding would be widespread and, according to the opinion of some historians, He didn’t want to wear the classic Hermellino cloak In order not to prevaricate the figure of Albert e really appear like his bridenot like her queen.
That photo is the beginning of a passionate love, although not born as a love at first sight: both came from a difficult childhood, Vittoria was a suspicious and wary woman, but but Albert’s grace and kindness conquer her for life. 9 children will be born in 17 years, and she will dress in mourning every day after his death, which took place in 1861 due to a typhoid fever.
Thanks also to the happy history of the sovereigns, The white dress thus quickly becomes a symbol of loveof union, and subsequently also of romanticism and purity.
The colors of wedding dresses in other cultures
What in our culture is the white color associated with the wedding dress, in other countries, such as the Chinais the redcolor that symbolizes the good omen and luck, accompanied by golden decorations. White, in China, is the color of mourning.
In Japanon the other hand, western influence is more felt, and many brides choose the whiteeven if the tradition includes at least three changes of dress during the ceremony, one of which is a Kimono Rosso.
Also in India The color linked to the wedding is the redto which is added the greencolor of nature, which symbolizes fertility. The green It is the color of the wedding too in Afghanistanwhile in Ghanaas well as in many areas of Africa, the bride is colorful, and the main color is the yellow. Also the Peruvian bride It is a riot of colors: the wedding day wraps itself in ponchotypical garment, decorated with geometric shapes from bright colors.
