History of wedding dresses

Any girl dreams that one day she will go down the aisle in a luxurious wedding dress. And in old photographs you can see wedding dresses not only of our mothers, but also of grandmothers. And someone, perhaps, still has a grandmother's wedding dress in the house, which is quite possible to touch. What is the history of wedding dresses? What wedding dresses were worn by our distant great-great-great and many more times great-grandmothers who lived in the Middle Ages? And in what wedding dresses did the girls of Ancient Greece get married?

The history of wedding dresses is the ancient world.
In ancient Egypt, girls wore "kalaziris" for weddings. This outfit was a piece of cloth that wrapped around the figure from chest to ankles, with one or two straps. The main role was played by decorations: anklet and hand bracelets, magic amulets, rings, beads, belts.

In ancient Greece, the bride's outfit consisted of a piece of long fabric, which was wrapped around the body, with two fasteners, the more noble the bride's family was, the more luxurious these fasteners were. Head of the bride bedspreads yellow cape, which symbolized the sun and happiness.

In ancient Rome, girls-brides wore a scarlet veil on their heads, against which their skin looked pale and marbled, like Roman statues, and the color itself symbolized the passion, love and innocence of the bride.

The history of wedding dresses - Russia.
In Russia, during the times of Kievan Rus, brides dressed up in long white shirts with wide sleeves and red sundresses, of the same color, red, which symbolized happiness, joy and beauty, ribbons were woven into braids, and heartwarming was worn on top. After the wedding, the braids were wrapped around the head, which indicated a change in the girl's status from a bride to a married woman. Aristocrats wore a cloak-mantle with gold embroidery over a sundress, and their head was decorated with a hoop crown with ringing pendants. And only starting from the 18th century, Russian brides began to follow European fashion in the way that a decree of Peter I was issued on this score.

As a matter of fact, wedding dresses were never exactly wedding dresses, they could well be worn after the wedding, and white was not used at weddings for many centuries, brides, both in Europe and in Russia, preferred dresses in red, orange and yellow flowers.

The first mention of a wedding dress, which should have been worn for a wedding, dates back to the 15th century. It was a dress with a corset, high waist, V-neck, long sleeves. At that time, the state of being "a little pregnant" was in vogue and the girls had special pillows that were placed on the belly under many dresses, including wedding dresses. On the head of the bride they wore a high headdress in the form of a pyramid - enen, which was decorated with a veil made of silk. And in order to keep such a large hat on their heads, the brides were forced to walk with their heads down. The colors of the dresses were still red, scarlet and purple.

For the first time, Queen Marguerite of Valois, Queen Margot, decided to wear a white wedding dress. Prior to that, it was believed that white is the color of only the brides of Christ. The girls followed her fashion, but widows, getting married a second time, had no right to dress up in white, they wore black dresses with red inserts.

During the Renaissance, wedding dresses were sewn from white satin or silver brocade, embroidered with precious stones and pearls... The bride's pearls were also woven into her hair.

In the Baroque era, fullness comes into fashion, as well as dresses with puffy skirts and sleeves. At this time, wedding dresses were mostly golden in color, well, or yellow and green. By the way, in Ireland, wedding dresses were mostly green before.Also, in the Baroque era, wedding dresses were first decorated with lace, and then without them it will be very difficult to imagine a wedding dress. Pearls were used for jewelry. At the beginning of the 17th century, for greater splendor, at least three petticoats were worn, as well as stockings with lush bows and flirty strings. By the end of the century, pink and coral colors for wedding dresses were in vogue.

In the 18th century, the Medici collar (a fan-shaped lace collar) came into vogue, and dresses also began to be decorated with embroidery and gold. Pastel colors come into fashion: light blue, pale pink. And commoner girls often got married in gray dresses.

In the Rococo era, wedding dresses were mainly of silver tones, always with a train, the length of which determined the status of the bride, and lush and complex hairstyles and wigs also came into fashion.

In the neoclassical era, light-colored dresses were in vogue, and in the 1790s, white wedding dresses became fashionable. By the way, even earlier than this time, Anna of Austria, Mary Stuart and Marguerite Valois, whom we have already mentioned, had white wedding dresses.

At this time, white wedding dresses, as we remember, with a high waist and short lantern sleeves were in fashion, and the bride's head was decorated with a headpiece made of artificial flowers orange - "fleur d orange".

But soon, fluffy skirts and decorations from ruffles and lace are back in fashion. In the 20-30s of the XIX century, wedding dresses were bell-shaped. In the 1930s, the brides' heads are again decorated with a wreath of orange flowers made of silk, cotton wool and velvet, and the sleeves of the dress are trimmed with floral twigs. In the 50s of the XIX century, jewelry, in addition to diamonds, and gloves were included in wedding fashion. Empress Eugenie of France introduces Brussels lace. She married in a dress made entirely of lace. By the 90s, the skirts of wedding dresses are getting narrower, and the sleeves, on the contrary, are even wider.

In the 1900s, wedding dresses became more closed - stand-up collars appeared, and skirts were slightly shortened, now they barely cover the ankles, corsets are out of fashion.

And then the fashion for wedding dresses changes at the speed of light, or even faster. After the First World War, a wedding bouquet appears. Coco Chanel offers a bold wedding dress with a short knee-length skirt and a long train at the back. In the 30s of the XX century, lush wedding dresses, often with a corset and a jacket, are again in fashion. In the 50s thanks to Dior puffy skirts of wedding dresses were in vogue again. And the 60s is the era of minimalism and short skirts. In the 80s, the fashion for long romantic wedding dresses with ruffles and embroidery returns.

Well, today the bride can afford any version of the wedding dress, any color and any length, based only on her own idea of ​​how exactly her perfect wedding dress should look like.