Wedding dress why is it in white

Not only do many brides outside of Western culture don different hues for the ceremony—in China and India, for example, red is the most auspicious shade—but the white dress is also a relatively newer development in the Western tradition itself.

Meet the Expert. She lives in North Carolina. Why do brides wear white? Read on to find out. Throughout most of history, marriages were more about family, business, and political alliances than they were about true love—which meant lavish celebrations for weddings were typically reserved for nobility, who provide our clearest windows into times past and likely influenced the rest of society. Though there are some instances of rulers in Ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece donning white pleated linens for celebrations, it was, for centuries, largely customary for brides to simply wear their best dress for the occasion.

The first white wedding dress on historic record was worn by Philippa of England, who married Eric of Pomerania in and went on to become the Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Truly in love with her betrothed, she opted to put his masculine ego ahead of her role as the ruler of the British Empire.

Though sumptuous in its own way, her white lace gown was an unexpectedly demure choice. Especially because, in lieu of a crown, she donned a wreath of wax orange blossoms. Victoria also married on the cusp of the Industrial Revolution. There was a growing middle class in England, eager to display their newfound wealth, and they took their cues from their young queen, whose wedding-day images were distributed in magazines and newspapers everywhere.

What also helped: Victoria pushed white wedding dresses onto her daughters and daughter-in-law, Alexandra, who went on to become queen herself in Up through the more conservative 50s, wedding dresses tended to mimic the cut and styles of everyday clothes.

But as fashion grew more risque, casual, and gender-fluid in the free-wheeling 60s and 70s, a white dress represented a nod to older eras and customs. These days, white wedding dresses are a mixture of both fashion and tradition, with styles mimicking—and heavily influenced by—what appears on red carpets and in runway shows.

At the time, most women exchanged vows in dresses they already owned, and there was only one group of people who could afford to own anything white: the leisure class. There weren't dry cleaners and laundromats around in the late 19th-century, so it took money to maintain a white outfit. Academy Award-winning actress Norma Shearer and movie producer Irving Thalberg on their wedding day in Buying a white dress was seen as extremely impractical, especially when one considered the festivities of a wedding.

Between the drinking, the dancing, and the scooping of desserts, chances were the frock would be ruined and only be worn once. No working-class woman would be able to afford that kind of frivolousness. In , Mary Sheehan Ronan, a year old American bride, wrote in her journal: "I had dreams of a white dress with a train, a bridal veil, and wreath of orange blossoms, but when the time actually came I considered conventional things inharmonious with the simplicity and unconventionality of our way of living.

But that was the norm for brides who didn't come from money. In , when a newly engaged woman wrote into Washington's Tacoma Times newspaper seeking a recommendation for a "plain wedding dress," the columnist recommended buying a frock in white wool, which could easily be dyed for another occasion. But, she asked, "Why not be married in your traveling suit? It took until after World War II for the middle-class to begin copying the look of the wealthy, thanks to the boon in prosperity after the war.

With rations gone, it became a novel idea to buy a dress just to celebrate in for a day, and when Hollywood began marching brides in white across theater screens, the quaint, chapel-like look became part of the tradition. Elizabeth Taylor wore a striking yellow dress and floral headdress for her wedding to Richard Burton. That's not to say that brides have only been wearing white since. Brigitte Bardot wore a pink gingham dress, complete with lace-trimmed sleeves and a tea-length skirt, in , and Elizabeth Taylor only wore white to two of her eight weddings.

More recently, Keira Knightley wore a pale gray Chanel dress for her nuptials, Sarah Jessica Parker wore a black ballgown in , and Julianne Moore wore lavender Prada in Even today, many different cultures wear different colors. Most young girls dreaming about their wedding day envision walking down the aisle in a white gown.

After all, white is traditional and many Southern brides love a traditional wedding with all the long-held customs on display, from something borrowed to something blue. Those who are truly historically minded, though, should know that brides didn't always wear white down the aisle. Back in the s and s, white was associated with mourning, according to The Washington Post , and no brides wanted to be reminded of grief on their wedding day.

While some daring brides, like Mary Queen of Scots in , made bold fashion statements by wearing white, it was certainly not the color most brides preferred. Instead, in early church weddings, brides were more likely to wear—brace yourself— red when they tied the knot, according to TIME. Wealthy brides mostly from the aristocracy would have jewel-toned dresses edged in fur and embroidered in gold and silver to make a splash as they formed their unions. CNN tells a story dating to When Margaret of York tried to walk into the church in her wedding dress, it was so laden with heirloom jewels that she had to be carried into the sanctuary.

Dresses were displays of wealth, brilliantly colored and decorated to the extreme. We're pretty sure that covering your dress in so many jewels that you have to be carried down the aisle counts as extreme.