As a little girl… or even now… I am sure that you have laid about dreaming of marrying Prince Charming, looking gorgeous in your wedding dress. Of course, what color is the wedding dress every time you do this? I am guessing that more often than not it happens to be white and not red like some santa suits. Millions of women and little girls dream of getting married in a fairytale white wedding dress. But wait. Where did a white dress come from and why is it so popular?

Believe it or not white wasn’t always the traditional color for getting married in. Honestly, the tradition of a white wedding dress hasn’t even been around for ages and ages. A white wedding dress is something that every girl is instinctively born with today. You can’t get married in anything but white. Well, while this may be true for some and not so for others, white is worn to symbolize the virtue of the women and to just carry on the tradition.
Not surprisingly, the white wedding dress came from a place full of legends, and where tradition is important. So, low and behold, the white wedding dress was started in the English Monarchy. Queen Victoria was the first “celebrity” that was looked up too, who wore a white wedding gown. Because of her, the popularity of white dresses has become a true tradition among women around the world.

The marriage of Albert of Saxe and Queen Victoria in 1840, was not surprising. The gown she wore though caused quite a stir. It was considered flamboyant and did not start the  white wedding gown tradition instantly. Many of the upper class women though, saw this as a unique fashion statement and had no issues in copying the Queen by marrying in white dresses.

A white wedding dress though was worn to show wealth. Virtue was not in the meaning at all. If you could get married in a elegant white gown then you had to have money. White was not easy to clean, so a white wedding dress was something that you most definitely weren’t going to wear again. Spending money on a white gown was something that only the wealthy could do.

Only the wealthy and vain women insisted on being married in white. Most women still married in dresses of different colors and styles after Queen Victoria’s fashion statement. During the Edwardian times however, the white wedding dress gained popularity once more when Coco Chanel unleashed its brand new design….. a knee-length wedding gown, with a huge train in none other than white.

During the world wars though, most women couldn’t afford to wear white. Most just wore whatever they had when they were married. Only the rich kept wearing white wedding dresses. After the 1950’s though many Hollywood stars and royalty still wore white at their weddings. This sealed the deal and tradition of being married in white.

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