wedding dress
The wedding dress or wedding dress is worn by the bride to the wedding ceremony . In a figurative sense, the appearance of animals at courtship time is also referred to as a wedding dress.
Europe
The traditional color for wedding dresses in Europe and the western world is white , as this color stands for purity and thus sexual virginity. Therefore, until well into the 20th century, pregnant women in black had to appear in front of the altar in many areas.
The association between the color white and innocence developed early on, but even in the 18th century , few brides could afford a special dress exclusively for weddings. Until the middle of the 19th century , there was hardly any distinction between a so-called fine dress and a wedding dress. Brides of the middle and lower classes were married until the early 20th century in their Sunday best , that is in their best dress that was either black or the respective regional costume corresponded. It was not until the 1920s that the white wedding dress took hold. Today there are wedding dresses in different colors and shapes.
One ascribes the impetus for bright colors to the nobility. Maria de 'Medici , who married Henry IV in 1600 , was one of the first brides to wear a light, eggshell-colored silk dress that was embroidered with gold ornaments. It is said that with this wedding dress the change in courtly fashion taste took place. Her wedding dress is documented in a picture by Peter Paul Rubens . In 1613, Princess Elizabeth of England also chose a light-colored dress. Hers was a brocade dress in silver and bright white. Other noble weddings now consolidated light colors, in particular the colors cream and white dominated in the well-off circles. In 1840 Prince Albert of Saxe-Gotha married the British Queen Victoria . She wore white silk and lace with a short bridal veil. In 1853, Napoléon III married. with the Duchess Eugénie de Montijo , who chose white velvet for the wedding. One of the most famous princesses gave her yes on April 24, 1854 in a lush dream in white when Sisi , Elisabeth of Bavaria, and Emperor Franz Joseph got married. In the present, the wedding dresses of top celebrities and members of royalty - such as B. Kate Middleton's wedding dress (2011) - great stylistic influence on international bridal wear.
Nowadays, special dresses are also fashionable for the bridesmaids . They also wear white dresses, but they are more simple than those of the bride.
Historical wedding dresses
The Aldobrandine Wedding, 1st century BC
Jan van Eyck: The Arnolfini wedding, 1434
Rubens: The Wedding of Maria de'Medicis, 1621
Marriage of Albert and Victoria 1840, painting by Sir George Hayter
Rembrandt, Bridal Couple, 1665/69
See also: Shiromuku
