![Since when do we get married in white? A famous queen who started the tradition Since when do we get married in white? A famous queen who started the tradition](https://img-3.journaldesfemmes.fr/NLQA7Uw_yvVN_tZGpQUqoKD-ZuE=/1500x/smart/441c437018334672a8fa99c82edf6ecf/ccmcms-jdf/39945575.jpg)
Traditionally associated with marriage, the color white has not always been essential! It was in fact a famous sovereign who made it the shade reserved for bridal dresses, almost 200 years ago.
Associated with purity and virginity, white is, today, the shade chosen by women for their wedding dress. This tradition is not new, because already, during the Roman Empire, young brides wore, the day before the ceremony, a white tunic on which a coat was placed on the day of the celebration. But from the Middle Ages, the color white will lose credibility and it is the colors that will win the day! Until the 18th century, expensive fabrics were in fact very sought after and brides generally married in red, because this color resisted water, air and light well. The color blue was also popular since this shade represented a symbol of wealth, a color at the time rare and expensive to produce. White was no longer in vogue, especially since it was often the color of the outfits worn by women going to court.
It was a Queen and not just any Queen, namely Queen Victoria, who restored the nobility of white wedding dresses. On February 10, 1840, when she married Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha at the chapel royal of Saint-James Palace, the sovereign, then aged 21, wore, in fact, a cream satin dress from Spitalfields, a district of London famous for its silk, covered with Honiton lace at the collar and sleeves. Fitted at the waist and equipped with a crinoline petticoat and a train, the dress was above all immaculate, which made a lasting impression!
We later learned that this color had not been chosen for its purity, but because it highlighted the sumptuous lace of the dress. Others also claimed that Queen Victoria had opted for this color so as not to overshadow her husband who was wearing his field marshal’s uniform in the English army. But no matter why white was chosen by the sovereign: her wedding dress remains today a model for young brides in search of refinement and elegance! Queen Victoria also imposed another non-color during her reign: black worn during mourning. Despaired by the death of her great love Albert in December 1861, the sovereign decided, in fact, to dress in black until the end of her life. Two opposing colors that contrast with the joy of marriage and the pain of mourning.