Traditions
The on-going history of bridal wear: Veils
Part 2 of 2
The wedding ceremony has remained one of the most cherished and practiced rites in probably every culture. In our society, the bride’s ensemble conjures as much, if not more, romantic association as the event itself. Over the past hundred years, the dress and veil combo have been adapted to every possible fashion trend, and yet remained an icon of soft femininity. As the decades progressed, new styles emerged in response to political and economic conditions as well as a reaction to styles that were no longer fashionable.
1930s Art Deco, Hollywood Glamour The stock market crash in 1929 and the ensuing depression jolted the current flapper look out of popularity, replacing it with movie star glamour. Slinky, bias cut, floor length gowns made of silk and satin conveyed a sexuality that had been lost during the previous decade. Accessories were sexier, harder, and the soft look of veils gave way to sparkling tiaras and the original bling, or chic berets. Hair was worn short and coloured for the first time – it was essentially a cleaner, shinier look than the twenties. A second development in dress styles signaled America’s re-accumulation of great wealth. Picture Gone with the Wind. Flounces, wide skirts and Juliet caps attached to veils turned brides into glowing girls and the edge of the early thirties disappeared.
1940s War Brides As World War II progressed, Canadian brides were forced earlier than their American counterparts to embrace sparse material allowances and had to get creative with their wedding attire. Putting on a wedding dress came to represent far more than designating ‘the lady of the day’, wedding gowns came to embody a sense of patriotism or defiance. Some brides wore their nursing uniforms and used parachute silk as veils to save their money, while others struggled to find themselves a white dress to signal the importance of the occasion, in spite of the current political climate. Often, all the women in a bridal party wore veils to designate their status in the ceremony.
The rich, however, continued with their opulent weddings and maintained the importance of the white dress and lavish veil. This was patriotism of another form; these dresses heralded the might, right and purity of the American psyche.
Post war prosperity and film (again) influenced the general public to wear white. It was at this time that wedding dresses stopped being used for other social purposes after the wedding.
1950s Big Bands, Supper Clubs and Foundation Garments Post war North America, the start of the baby boom and a festive mindset that probably sounds a whole lot grander than it really was, were the definitive elements of the fifties. The emergence of big band sound and swing dancing meant that dresses had to allow girls to really move. Picture Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly, maybe swing dancing isn’t the first image that comes to mind, but their shorter dresses, fitted bodices, full skirts and feminine fabrics put them squarely in the limelight of fashion. Wedding dresses also shortened up, flyaway and structured tulle veils matched the girlishness of the dress styles and once again the public were embracing a softer look. This style prevailed until the mid-sixties when there was a brief return to “the simple wedding” – big surprise with all that hippy stuff going on.
1970s Charlie’s Angels get Married Long veils and floppy hats took over from the shorter veils and pillbox hats made popular in the last decade. The return of the long, layered veil did the same for the seventies’ dresses that it did for the twenties’. It effectively bolstered the look and eminence of a bride in a fairly shapeless dress.
1980s Princess Brides It wasn’t long before flip hair-dos and easy-does-it dresses were replaced yet again by the fairytale phenomenon made hugely successful by dear departed Diana. Those gigantic sleeves, yards of train and piles of veil just about smothered the wife to be. Pearl-drop headbands, metallic tulles and huge pouf veils were used drag the onlookers’ eyes from the sheer immensity of the dress and all its details up to the outrageously eye-shadowed, blushing bride
1990s Basic white: the long reign of Vera Wang Almost over night the ultra sleek, unembellished, understated gowns of the nineties glided into prominence. And just like that, the wedding dress was reinvented again and Vera Wang stood at the helm of newly spring-cleaned bridal mothership. The poster child for this new style was Carolyn Bessette when she married John F. Kennedy Jr. Her veil fell lightly over her shoulder and looked like it was just part of the dress as it maintained the absolute lack of ornamentation and ostentation that had been so prevalent a few years before. This look, at first a breath of fresh air, soon took on a cookie cutter feel as every bride looked essentially identical. Reaction to this extreme revision of the wedding dress came quite recently, with a return to a broader variety of looks in the new millennium.
The Millennium Looks Back Pleats, lace, tea length dresses and slinky silk gowns – all less excessive versions than their famous predecessors are popular again. Wedding dresses can dictate the formality and décor of a wedding and it seems that now, more than ever, with the resurgence of dress designers and a boom in the economy, the wedding dress is the material embodiment of the event itself, and says a lot about the personal style and image of the woman at the altar.
all content: The Wedding Co.
The wedding ceremony has remained one of the most cherished and practiced rites in probably every culture. In our society, the bride’s ensemble conjures as much, if not more, romantic association as the event itself. Over the past hundred years, the dress and veil combo have been adapted to every possible fashion trend, and yet remained an icon of soft femininity. As the decades progressed, new styles emerged in response to political and economic conditions as well as a reaction to styles that were no longer fashionable.
1930s Art Deco, Hollywood Glamour The stock market crash in 1929 and the ensuing depression jolted the current flapper look out of popularity, replacing it with movie star glamour. Slinky, bias cut, floor length gowns made of silk and satin conveyed a sexuality that had been lost during the previous decade. Accessories were sexier, harder, and the soft look of veils gave way to sparkling tiaras and the original bling, or chic berets. Hair was worn short and coloured for the first time – it was essentially a cleaner, shinier look than the twenties. A second development in dress styles signaled America’s re-accumulation of great wealth. Picture Gone with the Wind. Flounces, wide skirts and Juliet caps attached to veils turned brides into glowing girls and the edge of the early thirties disappeared.
1940s War Brides As World War II progressed, Canadian brides were forced earlier than their American counterparts to embrace sparse material allowances and had to get creative with their wedding attire. Putting on a wedding dress came to represent far more than designating ‘the lady of the day’, wedding gowns came to embody a sense of patriotism or defiance. Some brides wore their nursing uniforms and used parachute silk as veils to save their money, while others struggled to find themselves a white dress to signal the importance of the occasion, in spite of the current political climate. Often, all the women in a bridal party wore veils to designate their status in the ceremony.
The rich, however, continued with their opulent weddings and maintained the importance of the white dress and lavish veil. This was patriotism of another form; these dresses heralded the might, right and purity of the American psyche.
Post war prosperity and film (again) influenced the general public to wear white. It was at this time that wedding dresses stopped being used for other social purposes after the wedding.
1950s Big Bands, Supper Clubs and Foundation Garments Post war North America, the start of the baby boom and a festive mindset that probably sounds a whole lot grander than it really was, were the definitive elements of the fifties. The emergence of big band sound and swing dancing meant that dresses had to allow girls to really move. Picture Jackie Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly, maybe swing dancing isn’t the first image that comes to mind, but their shorter dresses, fitted bodices, full skirts and feminine fabrics put them squarely in the limelight of fashion. Wedding dresses also shortened up, flyaway and structured tulle veils matched the girlishness of the dress styles and once again the public were embracing a softer look. This style prevailed until the mid-sixties when there was a brief return to “the simple wedding” – big surprise with all that hippy stuff going on.
1970s Charlie’s Angels get Married Long veils and floppy hats took over from the shorter veils and pillbox hats made popular in the last decade. The return of the long, layered veil did the same for the seventies’ dresses that it did for the twenties’. It effectively bolstered the look and eminence of a bride in a fairly shapeless dress.
1980s Princess Brides It wasn’t long before flip hair-dos and easy-does-it dresses were replaced yet again by the fairytale phenomenon made hugely successful by dear departed Diana. Those gigantic sleeves, yards of train and piles of veil just about smothered the wife to be. Pearl-drop headbands, metallic tulles and huge pouf veils were used drag the onlookers’ eyes from the sheer immensity of the dress and all its details up to the outrageously eye-shadowed, blushing bride
1990s Basic white: the long reign of Vera Wang Almost over night the ultra sleek, unembellished, understated gowns of the nineties glided into prominence. And just like that, the wedding dress was reinvented again and Vera Wang stood at the helm of newly spring-cleaned bridal mothership. The poster child for this new style was Carolyn Bessette when she married John F. Kennedy Jr. Her veil fell lightly over her shoulder and looked like it was just part of the dress as it maintained the absolute lack of ornamentation and ostentation that had been so prevalent a few years before. This look, at first a breath of fresh air, soon took on a cookie cutter feel as every bride looked essentially identical. Reaction to this extreme revision of the wedding dress came quite recently, with a return to a broader variety of looks in the new millennium.
The Millennium Looks Back Pleats, lace, tea length dresses and slinky silk gowns – all less excessive versions than their famous predecessors are popular again. Wedding dresses can dictate the formality and décor of a wedding and it seems that now, more than ever, with the resurgence of dress designers and a boom in the economy, the wedding dress is the material embodiment of the event itself, and says a lot about the personal style and image of the woman at the altar.
all content: The Wedding Co.
posted by Lito Genilo at
3/03/2007 09:12:00 AM
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