For better (or for worse), white is the colour most associated with bridal dresses in Western culture, with this also now extending out to continents and countries where white typically wasn’t used in bridal wear. Believe it or not, bridal wear has a long and varied history and it doesn’t all start with when Queen Victoria wore a white wedding gown for her wedding in 1840!
In this Bodleian Weddings Journal article, we have decided to investigate the history behind wedding dress colours, whilst also celebrating brides past and present (including those at the Bodleian!) who have chosen not to wear white wedding dresses. So do find a comfy seat, and settle in as we first take you back in time…
The associations with brides and white has a strong history. Ancient Greek brides were said to have worn white and carried white flowers, and Ancient Hebrew brides typically wore white trimmed with blue. Additionally, this also isn’t limited to Western cultures, as white kimono (Shiromuku) with woven decorations have been worn for Japanese Shinto weddings (well, daughters of Samurai could) since the Heian period (794 – 1185).
But the choice of colour for the wedding dress was more to do with economic reasons than any kind of tradition. Many women wore simply their “best dress” to their wedding ceremony, which could have been any colour. Likewise, if you could afford a new dress for your wedding, unless you were very wealthy it was unheard of for you to wear a dress once then keep it away in your wardrobe. So many women purchased dresses that they were very happy to wear repeatedly. The upkeep of white clothing was expensive and time consuming, so being able to afford and wear a white dress (without any discolouration or stains!) was itself only accessible to the wealthy.
In fact, one of the most common colours for bridalwear in Medieval Britain was blue! This was associated with the Virgin Mary, and with those connotations the colour symbolised purity and loyalty. The popularity of blue might also be the origin of the “something blue” part of the classic Old English good luck rhyme for brides. Surprisingly, red is also cited as a popular choice, but during this time there were very little “rules” brides had to follow when selecting their wedding dress.
You do see white being worn occasionally from the 1500s onwards. Katherine of Aragon married her first husband, Prince Arthur in “white satin embroidered with pearls and gold thread, crowned with a white silk veil.” and Mary, Queen of Scots would also marry her first husband, the Dauphin of France, in a white dress. But these could have been personal choices. After all, the favourite colour of Mary, Queen of Scots was white!
A hundred years later, we start to see white and metallics (such as gold or silver) being used for wedding dresses. English Princess Mary (1631 – 1660) wore “white embroidered with silver” and another hundred or so years later Empress Catherine the Great of Russia wore “brocade stitched in gold and silver thread” in 1745. Cloth embroidered or woven with gold/silver would have no doubt shone brightly in the sunlight and illuminate beautifully in candlelight for the evening – making it a fabulous choice for wealthy brides. It appears this trend for metallic threads wasn’t limited to white dresses. One wealthy British bride in 1714 chose a “blue satin over a rose-colored petticoat trimmed in silver”, could the blue satin perhaps have been the bride her incorporating “something blue” into her wedding day? Interestingly, Catholic Spanish brides during this time preferred black silk for their wedding dresses!
It’s important to remember that the recorded wedding dresses mentioned above were all worn by very wealthy brides (all of the ones mentioned by name were either Princesses, Queens, or Empresses by birth or marriage!) so the vast majority of brides would have not had light-coloured fabrics, as these would be a nightmare to clean. You can imagine as well that gold or silver embroidery would be above many bridal budgets.
Interestingly, bridal trends started to change, or maybe more accurately became more formalised in the 1820s. This was the decade that bridal white began to become the “traditional” choice. With fashions becoming increasingly lavish, this is also when the concept of not “out-shining” the bride also emerged. The easiest method of enforcing this rule was to have one colour designated as solely for the bride, and this colour also happened to be an expensive colour to upkeep too!
This colour choice was also firmly solidified by the previously mentioned wedding dress worn by Queen Victoria, about two decades later. With increasing literacy rates, more people were reading newspapers, which of course would eagerly report royal and society weddings. Even before the invention of the photograph, illustrations in newspapers or fashion plates in magazines would be spread around, and the white wedding dress saw a huge explosion in publicity and popularity worldwide.
But we also need to put a spotlight on countries and groups who do not typically wear white for weddings. To give an example, in India and other South Asian countries, red is considered lucky and is traditionally worn at weddings. This is also the same in China, and white was seen as a colour of mourning, so unfit to wear for a wedding. But now, with western cultural ideas having spread across the world, the white wedding dress can also be seen here too. Additionally, many brides might also choose to wear a traditional outfit alongside a white western gown and swap into the other during the event.
In the 21st century, more brides are choosing to move away from white wedding dresses (or even dresses at all!). Whether it’s to touch upon the multicultural aspects of a ceremony and the couple, or a personal preference. All of us at Bodleian Libraries Weddings hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about the history and culture of the wedding dress, and who knows maybe we’ll see some brides in all kinds of colours this year!
If you enjoyed this little dip into history, do have a read about the Hidden Historical Couples of the Bodleian Libraries or the Uniqueness of the Bodleian Library.
References for this journal post were:
Edwards, Lydia. How to Read a Wedding Dress : A Guide to Changing Bridal Fashion from the 18th to the 21st Century. 1st edition. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2026. Web.
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. World Clothing and Fashion : An Encyclopedia of History, Culture, and Social Influence. Armonk, NY: Sharpe Reference, an imprint of M.E. Sharpe, Inc., 2014. Web.
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