1.
The rite of a white
wedding dress came from the princes' palaces and only spread slowly at the
beginning of the 19's century.
2.
Only at the beginning
of the 1920's white wedding fashion represents the bourgeois-churchly moral,
the virginity of the bride which equates purity.
3.
The lifting of the
veil was part of ancient wedding ritual, symbolizing the groom taking
possession of the wife or the revelation of the bride by her parents to the
groom for his approval. An opulent veil was supposed to enwrap the bride like a
precious present.A wedding dress or wedding gown is the clothing worn by a bride during a wedding ceremony. Color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. Most brides choose a dress of white to symbolize purity of the soul.
WESTERN CULTURE
Weddings performed during and immediately following the Middle Ages were often more than just a union between two people. They could be a union between two families, two businesses or even two countries. Many weddings were more a matter of politics than love, particularly among the nobility and the higher social classes. Brides were therefore expected to dress in a manner that cast their families in the most favorable light, for they were not representing only themselves during the ceremony. Brides from wealthy families often wore rich colors and exclusive fabrics. It was common to see them wearing bold colors and layers of furs, velvet and silk.
Over the centuries, brides continued to
dress in a manner befitting their social status - always in the height of
fashion, with the richest, boldest materials money could buy. The poorest of
brides wore their best church dress on their wedding day. The amount of
material a wedding dress contained also was a reflection of the bride's social
standing and indicated the extent of the family's wealth to wedding guests.
Today, there are wedding dresses available in all price ranges, and Western
traditions have loosened up to include a rainbow of colors and variety of
lengths, which are now considered acceptable. Women may purchase ready-made
gowns, wear a family heirloom, or they may choose to have a dressmaker create
one for her. In addition, today many bridal salons have samples of wedding
gowns in their stores where the bride selects a certain style and orders one to
be made to fit.
Wedding dresses have
traditionally been based on the popular styles of the day. For example, in the 1920s, wedding
dresses were typically short in the front with a longer train in the back and
were worn with cloche-style wedding veils. This tendency to follow current
fashions continued until the late 1940s, when it
became popular to revert to long, full-skirted designs reminiscent of the
Victorian era. Although there has always been a style that dominates the bridal
market for a time, and then shifts with the changes in fashion, a growing
number of modern brides are not choosing to follow these trends. This is due in
large part to non-traditional and non-first-time weddings, and women who are
marrying later in life.
Today, Western
wedding dresses are usually white[1], though
"wedding white" includes shades such as eggshell, ecru and ivory.
[…]
Mary, Queen of Scots, wore a
white wedding gown in 1559 when she
married her first husband, Francis Dauphin of France because it was her
favorite color, although white was then the color of mourning for French
Queens. The first documented instance of a princess who wore a white wedding
gown for a royal wedding ceremony is that of Philippa of England, who wore
a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with grey squirrel and ermine in 1406.[3]
White did not become
a popular option until 1840, after the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Victoria
wore a white gown for the event to incorporate some lace she prized. The
official wedding portrait photograph was widely published, and many other
brides opted for white in accordance with the Queen's choice.[4]
The tradition continues today in the form of a white wedding,
though prior to the Victorian era, a bride was married in any color, black
being especially popular in Scandinavia.[5] Later, many people
assumed that the color white was intended to symbolize virginity, though this
was not the original intention. (It was the color blue that was connected to
purity.) The white gown is in fact a symbolic Christening gown. It is a
variation of the white surplice worn in the Western Catholic tradition by
members of the clergy, church choirs and servers and the gowns worn by girls
celebrating their first communion and at their confirmation and also by women making religious vows.
Jews have gone to great lengths [6] to follow[7] these
Western (Judeo-Christian) customs, whilst adhering to the laws of Tzniut.
Today, the white dress is understood merely as the most traditional and popular
choice for weddings.
NATIVE AMERICAN
CULTURE
The indigenous peoples of the Americas have varying traditions related to weddings and thus wedding dresses. A Hopi bride traditionally would have her garments woven by the groom and any men in the village who wished to participate. The garments consisted of a large belt, two all-white wedding robes, a white wedding robe with red stripes at top and bottom, white buckskin leggings and moccasins, a string for tying the hair, and a reed mat in which to wrap the outfit. This outfit also would serve as a shroud, since these garments would be necessary for the trip through the underworld.
A Pueblo bride wore a cotton garment tied above the right shoulder, secured with a belt around the waist.
In the traditions of the Delaware, a bride would wear a knee-length skirt of deerskin and a band of wampum beads around her forehead. Except for fine beads or shell necklaces, the body would be bare from the waist up. If it were a winter wedding, she would wear deerskin leggings and moccasins and a robe of turkey feathers. Her face would be painted with white, red and yellow clay.
The tribes of Northern California (which include the Klamath, the Modoc and the Yurok) had a traditional bridal dress woven in symbolic colors: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow (orange) for the west; and black for the north. Turquoise and silver jewelry were worn by both the bride and the groom in addition to a silver concho belt. Jewelry was considered a shield against evils including hunger, poverty and bad luck.
The indigenous peoples of the Americas have varying traditions related to weddings and thus wedding dresses. A Hopi bride traditionally would have her garments woven by the groom and any men in the village who wished to participate. The garments consisted of a large belt, two all-white wedding robes, a white wedding robe with red stripes at top and bottom, white buckskin leggings and moccasins, a string for tying the hair, and a reed mat in which to wrap the outfit. This outfit also would serve as a shroud, since these garments would be necessary for the trip through the underworld.
A Pueblo bride wore a cotton garment tied above the right shoulder, secured with a belt around the waist.
In the traditions of the Delaware, a bride would wear a knee-length skirt of deerskin and a band of wampum beads around her forehead. Except for fine beads or shell necklaces, the body would be bare from the waist up. If it were a winter wedding, she would wear deerskin leggings and moccasins and a robe of turkey feathers. Her face would be painted with white, red and yellow clay.
The tribes of Northern California (which include the Klamath, the Modoc and the Yurok) had a traditional bridal dress woven in symbolic colors: white for the east, blue for the south, yellow (orange) for the west; and black for the north. Turquoise and silver jewelry were worn by both the bride and the groom in addition to a silver concho belt. Jewelry was considered a shield against evils including hunger, poverty and bad luck.
EASTERN CULTURE
Many wedding dresses in China, India (wedding
sari) and Vietnam (in the
traditional form of the Ao dai) are colored red, the traditional color of good
luck and auspiciousness. Nowadays, many women choose other colors besides red.
In modern mainland Chinese weddings, the bride may opt for Western dresses of
any color, and later on a traditional costume for the official tea ceremony.
In modern Taiwanese weddings,
the bride generally picks red (following Chinese tradition) or white (more
Western) silk for the wedding gown material, but most will wear the red
traditional garmet for their formal wedding banquets. […]
Red wedding saris are the traditional garment choice for brides in Indian culture. Sari fabric is also traditionally silk. Over time, color options and fabric choices for Indian brides have expanded. Today fabrics like crepe, Georgette, charmeuse, and satin are used, and colors have been expanded to include gold, pink, orange, maroon, brown, and yellow as well.[8] Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards (lehnga, choli, etc.).
Red wedding saris are the traditional garment choice for brides in Indian culture. Sari fabric is also traditionally silk. Over time, color options and fabric choices for Indian brides have expanded. Today fabrics like crepe, Georgette, charmeuse, and satin are used, and colors have been expanded to include gold, pink, orange, maroon, brown, and yellow as well.[8] Indian brides in Western countries often wear the sari at the wedding ceremony and change into traditional Indian wear afterwards (lehnga, choli, etc.).
At Japanese weddings, brides
will often wear three or more dresses throughout the ceremony and subsequent
celebrations with a traditional kimono, white and color dress combinations are
popular. White is used because in Japan it symbolizes death - in this case, the
bride becomes dead to her family. The bride will eventually remove her white
kimono to reveal another colored one - usually red - to symbolize her rebirth
into her husband's family.
However over the years Africa has also take the culture of wedding gown very serious,and its now part of them.
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