White was not the traditional color of brides for most of recorded history. White was eschewed mainly because it was so impractical: White dresses would get dirty and stained quickly and then could not be reworn. Most brides couldn’t afford a dress that would only be worn once, so they simply wore their best dress. Brides of lower economic status might even wear black dresses. For example, Laura Ingalls Wilder reminisced about the black cashmere dress she was married in in These Happy Golden Years. Richer brides wore gowns made out of lush materials like silk, satin, and velvet that featured heavy embroidery and fur trims. Russia’s Catherine the Great was married in an ornate silver gown. However, even richer women often expected to wear their wedding dresses more than once. Edith Wharton chronicled the lives of wealthy New Yorkers in the 1870s in her 1920 novel  The Age of Innocence , in which May Welland Archer wears her elaborate wedding dress to social events after she’s married.

Evolution of Color

If historical brides were not wearing white, what colors were they wearing? Brides in ancient Rome wore long yellow veils. Meanwhile, Athenian women wore violet or soft red robes on their wedding day. During China’s Zhou Dynasty, brides and grooms both wore black robes trimmed in red over white underclothes. When the Tang Dynasty rose, brides began wearing green dresses. In 14th-century Korea, brides wore red, green, and yellow robes.

White dresses are now standard in Western weddings, but the first recorded use of a white wedding dress in the West was when Princess Philippa of England married King Eric of Scandinavia in 1406. She wore a white tunic lined in fur. Mary Queen of Scots wore a white dress when she married the future king of France in 1558, although at the time, white was the color of mourning for the French court. And Queen Victoria chose a white dress when she married Prince Albert in 1840. Her choice was reported in newspapers and magazines of the day, and soon, women began copying her.

However, white largely remained the color of choice for wealthier brides until after World War II. It wasn’t until the post-war expansion of the middle class that women of all social levels wore white dresses. Today, even brides from cultures where colorful dresses are typically worn for the wedding ceremony buy white wedding dresses for photo shoots. Women also rent white bridal fashions for photo shoots in typically romantic settings, like the Eiffel Tower.

Evolution of Style

Say the words “wedding dress” to most people in the 21st century and they imagine a white ball gown, but that’s not been the typical dress throughout history. Customarily, wedding dresses have reflected the everyday clothing of the time and the social class of the bride. Roman brides married in robes with long veils, for example. The typical Western wedding dress has its roots in Victorian England. Just like the brides of the British royal family influenced 20th and 21st century brides with their wedding dress choices, historical princesses also wielded significant influence. Queen Victoria’s daughter Vicky and daughter-in-law Alexandra followed her lead and wore white dresses, which further popularized the color. Weddings were typically held in the daytime, so dresses usually had the same silhouette as other fashionable day dresses. For example, in the 1920s, shorter, dropped-waist dresses were popular as wedding gowns.

By the 1930s, the idea trickled down to the middle class that a wedding dress could be a dress that was only worn once. Dresses became whiter and more ornate. As the century went on, brides began reviving historic dress styles for their wedding looks; Victorian and Edwardian dress styles became popular, and they remain popular to this day. However, each period has had distinct looks as well. Prairie dresses were fashionable in the 1970s, ornate formal gowns reigned in the 1980s, and Carolyn Bessette Kennedy wore a dress in the more straightforward and sleek style popular in the 1990s. Since the beginning of the 21st century, strapless wedding dresses have become quite popular, and brides have become more adventurous with silhouettes, putting a modern spin on fashion traditions.