Not All White

This blog post focuses on your questions regarding colour, particularly white, in wedding dresses:

Maggie Craig:  Have recently been researching for a local history project in north-east Scotland, where a description of mid to late 19th century country weddings says that brides usually wore black, silk if they could afford it, because the dress became their (practical) Sunday best for years to come. I know – or think I know! – that white wedding dresses are comparatively recent but wondered if you had any comments on brides wearing black.

Susanna: What a great question! I am afraid I had to do a bit of research to come up with an answer. It does seem that, though the idea of brides wearing black is not very well documented, it has been associated with Scotland. This is perhaps in part because Jean Armour wore a black silk dress to marry Robert Burns in 1788.
Some sources implied that this colour choice resulted from Armour having already given birth to twins by Burns two years before they married. However, Naomi Tarrant, a leading costume and textiles historian in Scotland, believes this analysis might simply be the result of Victorian sentimentality. As you guessed, wedding dresses generally became a bride’s best dress – in fact, up until the 20th century no bride, regardless of her wealth, would expect to wear her wedding dress only once. Therefore, it is likely that if a bride wore a black dress, it was either an old dress re-dyed or chosen in that colour to withstand future wear as her ‘best dress’.
You are right that white wedding dresses becoming the dominant choice is relatively recent. While examples, chosen as demonstrations of wealth and connection to the court, exist in the eighteenth century, it is in the mid to late nineteenth century that they begin to take precedence and be expected of all brides, not just those that were best off.

E. Robinson: I went to the exhibition the other week and loved it – congratulations to all involved. I look forward to seeing the next exhbition you organise at the V&A. I was left with one question though:

As an 67 year old woman with three marriages under my belt (don’t get me started), I’d really like to know what your views on the feminist-based marriages that are becoming obvious in modern times are? In short, do we see a trend away from the white and symbolisation of virginity and purity in brides? This is of particular interest considering the volume of marriages taking place – just look at me!

Susanna: Thank you very much, I am glad that you enjoyed the exhibition.
As is the case with a lot of our cultural coding, it was only in the Victorian era that the associations of purity were firmly attached to white bridal wear. While Queen Victoria was not the first bride to wear white, she was the first royal bride to do so. At her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840, she set in stone this ideal of the blushing bride wearing a white dress and a veil. So, while white has always had associations with virginity and purity, the application of this symbolism to wedding dresses is actually relatively recent – although none the less embedded.
However, I think that modern brides are in a position to make their own decisions – either to reject wearing white, for the connotations it has held, or to wear it all the same, for the romantic ideal it represents. Equally, in the instance that you mention – of people remarrying, perhaps, as in your case, multiple times – there is room for reinvention. We have several examples of second marriages included in the exhibition. For instance, Sara Donaldson-Hudson’s mother did not want her to wear white to her registry-office wedding to Nicholas Haydon, who was divorced, in 1971. Instead, the bride wore the bright and bold Rajputana coat by Richard Cawley for Bellville Sassoon.

Jean Montpellier: In a world where so few brides do reach the alter as virgins, what place does the white dress truly have in today’s society?

Susanna:  The white wedding dress only truly gained its associations with purity in the Victorian period. Before that, and particularly in the late 18th century, white was selected for bridal wear as a symbol of status and wealth. At a time when garments had to be hand washed by servants, wearing white implied that both your wealth and wardrobe were extensive. Equally, these dresses were often decorated with silver thread, which was the most expensive. I would say that the symbolism of the white wedding dress has now, for contemporary brides, changed again. While brides in every other pre 20th century period would rewear their wedding dress, now bridal designs reflect the fact that this is a piece that will only be worn once. As a result, the designs have become more fantastical and further removed from everyday fashion. Arguably, while the eighteenth to nineteenth century bride chose white to show her social status, and then the mid nineteenth century bride chose it as a symbol of her purity, when a modern bride wears white she is aspiring to a romantic ideal and a resonating cultural image.