Wedding dress - History and modernity

Hello World, weddings and funerals - that is perhaps the most important events in human life, preparations for which no less, and possibly even more important than its direct holding. And the wedding for many of us have become almost the central event in the biography. And not surprisingly, the wedding dress choice, with such love and inner trembling, is the subject of special attention, able to turn an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

Did you know that the modern custom of using a wedding dress only once in their lives - a relatively recent European tradition, which was born at the time of Queen Victoria?

Wedding dress - History

But in the Middle Ages, the old lady could show sheen, having visited numerous relatives. This custom is still quite popular in India, where red wedding saris used by women on festive occasions throughout life.

However, not all traditions have been lost forever. Often we take this or that tradition, without thinking of its true value. Thus, the exchange of rings - is not only a beautiful ritual, but some financial obligation that binds a marriage better than any fine words. A bride's veil symbolizes protection from "evil spirits", which is not always favorable to valiant fun of our distant ancestors, steal future life partner. In addition, she helped hide the dignity of the potential spouses from prying eyes and thus protect it from the new kidnapping attempt.

For the Anglo-Saxon tradition, which has become dominant in contemporary wedding culture, characterized by particular attention to the individual subjects of the bride dress, which is best explained by the following rhyme: "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." Available in a wedding wardrobe of all these things guarantee a long and happy family life. As a rule, "something old" served up relatives. This could be an antique cameo, or even a wedding dress from the trunk beloved grandmother. New as a symbol of the future could impersonate dress, veil, pearl necklace, a bouquet of artificial flowers or a new coin, carefully posited in the shoe of the bride. Imported thing could be thrown further in-law or a silk scarf of a proud father of a family, who finally could not help but worry about his daughter.

The fourth element of the festive costume was blue, which marks the loyalty, love and great possessions. Note that white is not always the dominant color of the wedding. In the Middle Ages preference for bright shades. Especially popular were variations of red, blue and gray. White, although it represented the virginal purity of the bride, was considered highly impractical, and often replaced by blue, which was the symbol of the Immaculate Virgin Mary.

Not less love enjoyed and pink, about which, however, be some bias. "If you marry in pink, your condition will drown" - firm superstitious Englishmen. Perhaps the most unpopular wedding was a shade of green, is the belief of the attraction of gnomes and other fantastic creatures that were not always kindly disposed toward men. Brown and Beige were considered rustic colors, which were the lowest social strata. However, themselves representative of the "common people" in the main day of his life often preferred the venerable gray color. Subsequently, this outfit could easily be used on Sundays, when the village gossips gathered to gossip in the local church.

In 1840, Queen Victoria married Prince Albert, forever changed European perceptions of the wedding dress. The ladies of high society gave their hearts blinding white dress, thus expressing the sense of loyal to Her Majesty. Incidentally, in those days white was associated not only with the purity of the bride, as with wealth. After an extravagant white dress can be dressed just once in his life, and this meant that the lady can afford a luxury dress, which she can no longer be used in any other circumstances. The line between wealth and poverty had been laid and a wedding tradition that has become particularly noticeable with the advent of style of haute couture, the creators of which focused on the bride's wardrobe.

In the early twentieth century, the great Mademoiselle Coco Chanel made a new revolution in wedding style, providing the public an extravagant wedding dress to the knee with a luxurious train. World War II briefly interrupted by the rapid development kutyurnogo trends in wedding fashion, forcing the potential brides to wear their suits in the style of "militarian, but the second half of the twentieth century was indeed a" golden age "in the history of wedding dresses that regained not only lost in the Victorian era color, but became more comfortable.