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World Insight & Royal Archives => Royal Archives => Archives: Fashion and Style => Topic started by: cinrit on October 27, 2014, 11:36:39 AM

Title: Royal Wedding Dresses Throughout History
Post by: cinrit on October 27, 2014, 11:36:39 AM
QuoteThe designer of Britain's Princess Diana's wedding dress has begged Princes William and Harry to put it on permanent display.

The lavish gown - which featured 10,000 pearls and a 25ft train - has been in the possession of the late royal's brother Earl Spencer since her death in a Paris car crash in 1997 but now he has handed it over to her sons, Elizabeth Emanuel has urged her sons to allow the 1981 creation to be viewed by the public.

Elizabeth - who designed the dress with her brother David - said: "I'm hoping and assuming that it will go on display at Kensington Palace, as so many people want to see the dress.

"It's ridiculous that the Diana dress was not in the recent V&A exhibition Wedding Dresses 1775-2104. They had to make do with a video instead."

More: Designer Wants Princess Diana Dress on Display (http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/royal_family/designer-wants-princess-diana-dress-display-551427.html)

Cindy
Title: Re: Royal Wedding Dresses Throughout History
Post by: Limabeany on October 27, 2014, 08:10:58 PM
Here are a few videos and articles, @TLLK beautiful!

Royal vault opened to display princess dresses - Video on TODAY.com (http://www.today.com/video/today/42717507)

Royal wedding dresses in pictures - Fashion Galleries - Telegraph (http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/galleries/TMG8466339/3/Royal-wedding-dresses-through-the-years-in-pictures.html)

Historic Royal Palaces > Home > View Playlist (http://www.hrp.org.uk/MediaPlayer/ViewPlaylist.aspx?PlaylistId=125)

Royal wedding gowns - Photo 1 - Pictures - CBS News (http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/royal-wedding-gowns/)

Royal wedding dresses from history - Queen Victoria, Princess Margaret, Princess Alexandra (Vogue.com UK) (http://www.vogue.co.uk/news/2011/04/28/royal-wedding-dresses-from-history---queen-victoria-princess-margaret-princess-alexandra)

Royal brides: The fairytale wedding dresses worn by real-life princesses - Photo 1 | Celebrity news in hellomagazine.com (http://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/gallery/201001292842/royal-brides/wedding-dress/princesses/1/)

Timeless Classic Royal Wedding Dresses Not To Miss (http://www.weddingdressesilove.com/royal-wedding-dresses.html)
Title: Re: Royal Wedding Dresses Throughout History
Post by: TLLK on October 27, 2014, 11:34:18 PM

The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Readers' Top 10 Wedding Gowns: The Next Ones (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2012/11/readers-top-10-wedding-gowns-next-ones.html)

Princess Claire Of Belgium
The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Top 10 Best Royal Wedding Dresses: #9. HRH Princess Claire (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2010/06/top-10-best-royal-wedding-dresses-9-hrh.html)

Queen Anne-Marie Of Greece
The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Top 10 Best Royal Wedding Dresses: #1. HM Queen Anne-Marie (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2010/06/top-10-best-royal-wedding-dresses-1-hm.html)

The Duchess Of Kent
The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Wedding Wednesday: The Duchess of Kent's Gown (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/06/wedding-wednesday-duchess-of-kents-gown.html)

Crown Princess Mary Of Denmark
The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Wedding Wednesday: Crown Princess Mary's Gown (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/09/wedding-wednesday-crown-princess-marys.html)

Diana, Princess Of Wales
The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Top 10 Best Royal Wedding Dresses: #7. Diana, Princess of Wales (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2010/06/top-10-best-royal-wedding-dresses-7.html)

Infanta Christina Of Spain
The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Wedding Wednesday: Infanta Cristina's Gown (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/10/wedding-wednesday-infanta-cristinas.html)

Queen Elizabeth II
The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Wedding Wednesday: Queen Elizabeth's Gown (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/03/wedding-wednesday-queen-elizabeths-gown.html)

The Princess Royal
The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Wedding Wednesday: Princess Anne's Gown (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/03/wedding-wednesday-princess-annes-gown.html)

Queen Sofia of Spain
The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor: Wedding Wednesday: Queen Sofia's Gown (http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2012/05/wedding-wednesday-queen-sofias-gown.html)
[/quote]Since Limabeany shared the videos of the KP wedding gown exhibit I've taken a trip down memory lane. My personal favorites: MM, Maxima, Victoria, Anne's 1st wedding, and Marie. Now I will say that I thought Mabel's was beautifully fit to her, but if only she'd kept it to bows on the bodice and sleeves!!!

Appreciate the fact that RoSS voters looked beyond the most recent gowns to consider the ones from the past.

Double post auto-merged: October 27, 2014, 11:46:17 PM


Quote from: Lothwen on October 31, 2012, 04:40:54 PM
I loved Victoria's dress, as it really seemed to fit her (both literally and figuratively).  And while I adore Grace's gown, it really is a little too costume-y for my liking. 
Agree that Victoria's was one of the best. Like many I thought that her wedding was certain to feature the antique lace veil and the Cameo tiara. This was a simple and very elegant gown that complimented her veil and tiara.
Title: Re: Royal Wedding Dresses Throughout History
Post by: HereditaryPrincess on October 28, 2014, 04:56:05 PM
I love Mette-Marit and Madeleine's dresses. I also love Kate's dress, but not as much. Elizabeth II's wedding dress was also beautiful, I love the stars on her veil!

Since we can talk about historical royal wedding dresses too, I found a photo of a replica of Mary I's wedding dress:

http://home.earthlink.net/~elisale/images/Mary%27s-Dress1.jpg

You can read more about it here:

weddingdress (http://home.earthlink.net/~elisale/weddingdress.html)

Quote from: Curryong on October 28, 2014, 12:14:15 AM
Queen Victoria supposedly brought in the tradition of white wedding dresses as a fashion. Before that poorer brides wore their best dresses and continued to do that, and those that could afford to wore whatever colours they liked!

I knew that Queen Victoria introduced the tradition of white wedding dresses, but I always thought that the traditional colour for wedding dresses before her was blue, or at least that's what I've been told.
Title: Re: Royal Wedding Dresses Throughout History
Post by: Limabeany on October 29, 2014, 12:40:47 AM
The history of the white wedding dress | Reader's Digest | Reader?s Digest Australia (http://www.readersdigest.com.au/white-wedding-dress)

Quote
The white wedding dress is a recent phenomenon, before which almost any colour dress was acceptable, including black if the intended bridegroom was a widower. In early Celtic cultures, red was the bridal colour of choice, worn to invoke fertility; early Christians preferred blue, which was symbolic of truth and purity and used in depictions of the Virgin Mary, either for the whole dress or as a band around the hem. Right up until the late 19th century, most ordinary women were married in their 'Sunday best', which, adapted if necessary, could be worn again. Grey was much favoured as both modest and useful, and brown was not uncommon; white was usually just too impractical.

The white wedding dress as we recognise it today is a tradition started by Queen Victoria, who wore white to her own wedding to Albert of Saxe-Coburg in 1840. But white wedding gowns, worn as a token of the bride's purity and innocence, were worn by royalty and the wealthy long before then: Henry IV of England's daughter, Princess Philippa, is reported to have worn a tunic and mantle of white satin, edged with velvet and ermine, at her marriage to Eric of Pomerania (modern Scandinavia) in 1406; Anne of Brittany, daughter of Francis II, Duke of Brittany, wore white at her third marriage in 1499 to Louis XII of France; while in 1572, Margaret of Valois is said to have married Henry of Navarre in a dress trimmed with white ermine, topped with a blue coat with a 1.5m (5ft) train. Mary, Queen of Scots wore white for her wedding with the Dauphin of France in 1558, flouting the French custom that white was only to be worn in mourning for French royalty. (Ironically, her husband died two years later.)

The bride's wedding veil has several different associations. It may have evolved as a symbolic protection from malign spirits, in particular the Evil Eye. It also implies a bride's submission to her future husband, the man to whom she allows the privilege of lifting the veil. It has also been seen as a representation or development of the Anglo-Saxon 'care cloth' that was held over the heads of both bride and groom. The Saxon cloth was itself related to the Jewish chuppah, a square vestment held over the heads of the couple, and to the linen canopy that is traditionally used in Catholic wedding ceremonies.

Flowers carried and worn are bridal essentials. A floral crown was once de rigeur for both bride and groom. The blooms were carefully chosen for their meanings – orange blossoms for fecundity and roses for love, and combined with herbs: rosemary for remembrance and sage for wisdom; garlic would be added to ward off evil spirits. The crowning of the bride with a coronet of gold or silver, sometimes entwined with flowers, is still observed in Eastern Orthodox weddings. The buttonhole worn by the groom is the remnant of his crown and also dates back to the custom of a knight wearing the colours of his lady to signify his love.