Dresses set fashions
From Victoria to Diana to Meghan, royal weddings have shaped bridal fashions. Robyn Gibson, an associate professor of visual and creative arts education at the University of Sydney, investigates the history of royal wedding couture.
WE might not know who designed Meghan Markle’s wedding gown until she walks up the aisle at St George’s Chapel tonight to marry Prince Harry, but we can be assured that her dress will inspire bridal trends for years to come. And if history is a guide, Markle, like the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, will have scrutinised dresses worn by past royals before making her important decision.
Some have suggested Markle may not wear white because she is divorced
(she was married to producer and actor Trevor Engelson until 2013). Yet the ageold tradition of wearing white to the altar has not always been wedding etiquette. Until the mid19th century, white — being the colour of mourning for French royalty — was rarely seen. Black was a favourite for Scandinavian brides.
An important precedent was set when white was chosen by Queen Victoria for her marriage to Prince Albert in 1840. The Queen selected this pure colour as a sign of frugality, not wishing to appear ostentatious in front of her British subjects. She did, however, forbid anyone else from wearing white to her wedding and had the pattern for her dress destroyed so it could not be copied.
Royal weddings have provided some of our most memorable bridal moments. The Queen Mother married King George VI in 1923 in a simple wedding dress very much in keeping with an era in which Chanel made unstructured styles de rigueur. Many weddings of the 1930s were second marriages, due to the carnage of World War 1 and this resulted in a major shift in traditional wedding attire.
Most notable was the famed wedding of the Duke of Windsor to twicedivorced, American Wallis Simpson. In keeping with the austere times, Wallis wore a simple pale blue dress designed by Mainbocher, who was responsible for much of her everyday wardrobe. It became one of the most copied dresses of the times.
Due to austerity measures following the World War 2, fabric for wedding dresses was scarce during the 1940s. Ingenious solutions were sought. Parachute fabric, or the heavier silk used to contain the supplies dropped from military aircraft, was reused to create bridal gowns.
Even thenPrincess Elizabeth had to use clothing ration coupons to pay for the heavy duchesse satin of her 1946 wedding dress. The government allowed her an extra 200 coupons, since her gown was viewed as a national investment. The train was symbolic of rebirth, hope and growth in the period following the war.
Kate Middleton’s 2011 wedding gown, designed by Sarah Burton, creative director of Alexander McQueen, was a 1950sstyle dress made with satin gazar, lace and organza, nipped in at the waist with a full skirt designed to resemble an opening flower.
It was inspired by the dress Grace Kelly wore for her marriage in 1956 to Prince Rainier III of Monaco. Created by Helen Rose, a costume designer in the wardrobe department of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, this gown was made with taffeta and embellished with 125yearold lace. It had three petticoats: a smoothing one, a ruffled one and a foundation petticoat.
Like the Duchess of Cambridge’s traditional dress, it had an instant impact on style history, inspiring thousands of copies worldwide.
But let’s not forget Kate’s other wedding dress: a second McQueen strapless evening dress worn later that day. Although she may not have invented the twodress concept, it has become very popular since.
Royal wedding dresses have both reflected and set the trends of the day. Princess Diana’s voluminous ivory wedding gown worn in 1981 was in true 1980s ‘‘Dynasty’’ style. The Emanuel design was totally excessive, with layer upon layer of silk taffeta and encrusted with more than 10,000 pearls.
Even with its dramatic 7.62m train, the dress was emulated the world over and the puffysleeve trend was born. Although it was not to everyone’s taste, we are still talking about it.
Markle’s dress will no doubt be photographed, scrutinised and copied by future brides who dream of fairytale romances — the stuff of Hollywood and her former world. — theconversation.com