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Story THAI KHANG PHAM
Photos INTERNET
At one of life’s pivotal moments, the wedding dress is a luxurious and elegant symbol of its wearer’s dreams of happiness.
The story of the white wedding dress
For much of fashion history in the West, there was no specific style for wedding gowns. Brides would typically walk down the aisle in their finest outfits alongside their future husbands.
The origin of the wedding dress originates from the Romans. They often used a tunic with a long design featuring a belt around the waist for marriage ceremonies. According to Roman beliefs, the white color represented Vesta, goddess of the hearth, home, and family. Therefore, wearing a white tunic was a way for brides to express reverence for the deity. At this time, the tunic outfit could not yet be considered a formal wedding dress, but rather a special garment used by women for an important moment in their lives.
In 1840, the birth of the white wedding dress was marked by the wedding of Queen Victoria to Prince Albert. According to fashion researchers at New York’s Parsons School of Design, the white color at that time did not symbolize elegance andpurity, but wealth and status.
The queen’s wedding dress had a corset-style top, with the bottom portion enhanced with a spare skirt to add volume to the dress, along with hand-embroidered lace details crafted by British artisans. With her unique gown, the queen inspired many young women who sought ideas for their own big day. From then on, the white wedding dress became a symbol of love’s celebration.
The trend of wearing white wedding dresses continued to evolve with designers, who made the gowns a special feature in fashion shows. Legendary French designer Jeanne Lanvin created an iconic wedding dress for her beloved daughter Marguerite Marie Blanche’s wedding to Count Jean de Polignac in 1924. The wedding dress is likely the most expensive and important outfit in a woman’s life, so its design is often placed in the most prominent position at high-end fashion shows.
Iconic fairytale wedding dresses
Wedding dresses not only bring elegance to women on their wedding day, but their designs also become symbols worldwide, reminiscent of historical weddings marking significant milestones in the global fashion flow.
In 1922, Princess Mary, the daughter of King George V, married Viscount Lascelles. Her pearl and crystal-adorned wedding dress became an iconic design with a drop-waist silhouette inspired by the trending flapper dress of the 1920s. The outfit was designed by William Wallace Terry, a leading British designer.
Another historically significant design is the wedding dress worn by Queen Elizabeth for her wedding to Prince Philip in 1947. Designer Norman Hartnell created an hourglass silhouette gown adorned with flowers, 1,000 pearls, crystals and silver threads. The accompanying veil, nearly four meters long, was embroidered with ears of corn and flowers. The design was inspired by Botticelli’s painting La Primavera (Spring), symbolizing love and renewal.
Any look back at memorable royal weddings cannot ignore the ceremony of Princess Diana and Prince Charles in 1981. The image of the British princess in her ivory-white silk taffeta dress, featuring distinctive characteristics of the 1980s with puff lace sleeves, became an iconic design in fashion. The dress was particularly notable for its hand-embroidered sequins and 10,000 pearls forming heart motifs on the bodice. The lace layers on the wedding dress were taken from Queen Mary’s old clothing, and the back of the dress featured small blue bow details. Princess Diana wore a diamond tiara from the Spencer family, and her white shoes were adorned with heart-shaped embellishments, embroidered lace, 524 sequins, 132 pearls and hand-painted floral motifs on the soles. The train of the dress, over seven meters long, became the longest royal wedding dress in history.
