#wedding gowns

Country Weddings

White Wedding Dresses Throughout History

The rumor that Queen Victoria started the “white wedding dress trend” is so widely spread that many people don’t question it, but while it is somewhat true, it’s not the full truth and here’s why.

It is true that after Queen Victoria’s marriage in 1840, the white wedding dress gained popularity up until in the late 19th century, when it became a standard color for wedding gowns. However, white wedding dresses already existed prior to that.

I’m starting this wedding dress history in the 18th century, when a wedding was less about love and romance and more about politics, so a wedding was the perfect opportunity for the bride to showcase her status, and since white fabrics were generally more expensive and rarer than other colors, it was a popular choice. However, that doesn’t mean that other vibrant colors and/or prints weren’t just as popular back then, if not even more.

But since I’m focusing on white dresses in this post and I will make a separate post on non-white wedding dresses soon, here are two examples of an 18th century wedding dress.

The first one from 1747 is a Robe à l’Anglaise, the second one from 1775 a Française. As you can see, they both have trimmings and decorations and that is because the focus wasn’t on making the dress white as it is today, it was more about showcasing what you were able to afford, so intricate trimmings and embroidery were the way to go. People would also continue to wear their wedding dresses for other special occasions, it wasn’t really an exclusive garment that you’d only wear once. Maybe the super affluent ones could actually afford to do that, but it was way more common than not to wear one’s wedding dress to other events, as the wedding dress wasn’t really a separate type of dress but rather just a more expensive version of a formal dress.

The early 19th century brought light muslin dresses, so a lot of special occasion dresses were already white. In the later regency decades, these muslin wedding dresses were more intricately decorated with embroidery for example, as shown in these beautiful extent pieces from 1807 and ca. 1830.

I couldn’t possibly make this post without including Queen Victoria’s wedding dress.

I read that the reason the white dress was such a big deal was because she was expected to wear the crimson velvet robe of the state. Instead, she announced that on her wedding day she would focus on being Albert’s future wife rather than the monarch and chose to wear a white dress as a symbol of innocence and romance. But either way, the monarchs were the fashion icons of that time, so it’s no wonder those who could afford it started to wear similar things to the queen.

Moving on to the next decade, here is a lovely muslin wedding dress from 1851.

It’s a very down to earth dress, not very flashy and it’s interesting to note the gathered/smocked front as it’s something that was very popular during the 1840s and very early 50s.

From the 60s, we have this pretty light beige dress, and yes I know I said white dresses only but none of them are perfectly white so I think I’ll let it pass.

Notice how all of the dresses so far strictly follow the fashion trends of that time? I think it’s really interesting if you compared it to today because it would essentially be the equivalent of just wearing a white version of a semi-formal outfit, which isn’t really a thing and shouldn’t be in my opinion. I’m all for wear what you want but I feel like we’ve already lost the charme of beautiful fancy outfits and I’m glad we still have the traditional white gown for weddings at least. If you’re already wearing fancy gowns on a daily basis, obviously the only thing you can do to make it stand out is make it white (or any other uncommon color for that matter). I would also like to mention that when I came up with the idea to write about wedding gowns I was expecting them to be white versions of evening/ball gowns but they’re mostly just day dresses. Very surprising I think.

For the 1870s I have two examples, since one is strictly speaking not white and they’re both really lovely and worth a mention.

You can totally see the completely different styles and approaches even though they were made within two years from each other. I also really adore the leaf trimmings and the sheer (-looking?) fabric. What I don’t love though is the robe-like front, it looks a little too casual for my taste.

Let’s move on to the 80s with this gown.

Now, that’s what I call a wedding dress! It’s not too casual, it’s most definitely fancy and those pearl accents- It really reminds me of Worth’s work with pearls (I am seriously contemplating making a post just showing pictures of Worth gowns with pearl decoration cause those are my absolute favorite thing) but it was actually made by Messrs Gladman and Womack in 1885 and has never been altered.

Alright, next up we have the 90s, another amazing decade in fashion and I couldn’t possibly not include a Worth gown.

Here you can see actual high fashion of the time. The princess cut had already been popular since the 70s but by the 90s, it was mostly reserved for formal wear. I don’t know what it is that’s so pleasing about this dress, something about the shapes, they’re so balanced and perfect. It always amazes me how Worth can work with seemingly plain colors/without much decoration but have the result still outshine every other dress. Maybe there’s even something contemporary in this dress - it doesn’t represent the typical “kitsch” we associate with the Victorian era, like the 1880s piece for example which is an almost stereotypical example of everything fashionable in the mid 80s. It’s none of that, but at the same time it’s everything.

And finally, I couldn’t possibly leave out my favorite decade—

You got it. The 1900s.

Once again, it just looks like a white, fancy version of the day dress but notice how it has a really long train. Trains did become a thing again in the Edwardian era but weren’t that long for everyday wear. A lot of the examples above also have a longer than normal train, which was common for formal court gowns and the trend of having a long train stuck to this day! I think it’s really fascinating to look at old trends and analyze how they affect how we dress today. You might find more similarities than you’d expect.

Anyways, that is it for now. I hope I can actually get more consistent with my posting because I have quite a few ideas but I am also starting uni again next week after my semester break so we’ll see how that goes. Super nervous about it but I’m also excited!

champagne tulle lace long wedding dress

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Dark blue tulle sequin lace long prom dress, blue tulle formal dress

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