How Victorian Wedding Dresses Changed the Bridal Fashion

Inspired by the evolution of wedding fashions in the last centuries, so many women are around the lookout for vintage-inspired wedding gowns. There are so many ravishing retro ensembles inspired through the centuries and decades past, but If we had to pinpoint a period that had changed the essence of the wedding dress, it might be the mid-1800s. It was within the Victorian era that white wedding gowns became the norm as opposed to the oddity.

How Queen Victoria Influenced Bridal Fashion

Queen Victoria was very influential popular in many different aspects. One of the main influences she had is on bridal fashion and white wedding gowns. Before she wore a white dress to her wedding dresses in 1840, it wasn't a typical tradition. She purposely finds the white wedding gown to show off the handmade lace, meant for lace manufacturing in Devon. She had lace trim around the skirt and she or he also were built with a lace shawl that they wore.

As her influence increased, the white wedding gown became symbolic of status. The white fabric was difficult to get, and never practical to put on again, there have been no dry cleaners at that time, therefore it became quite the show of wealth and power. The white dress wasn't originally symbolic of purity and innocence, but symbolic of status.

By the 1890s improvements within the textile industry had made the white fabric a bit more affordable for that general public. The bridal dresses from the Victorian era were opulent, with a lot of handmade details, lace, pearls, and ruffles.

Victorian Wedding Dresses Aesthetics

The victorian era was almost a hundred years long period, therefore it is difficult to find what's distinctive within Victorian fashion. The 1800s were very diverse when it comes to silhouettes, styles, cuts, patterns, that changed frequently. Fromm outrageous styles from the beginning of the century towards the very tailored look right at the end, we now have tried to pinpoint some of the elements that you're very much desired in today's bridal fashion.

Lace

Whether it's a lace wedding dress or an embellished veil, today lace is associated with weddings and brides. And it was Queen Victoria that inspired this trend for wedding gowns. After its boom within the 1700s, lace was built with a slight dip in popularity before the late 1800s, so to be able to revive the flagging lace industry in Devon, Queen Victoria commissioned Honiton lace on her wedding ensemble. Nowadays we can see a vast number of lace wedding dresses and bridal dresses with lace details.

Huge Sleeves

In the first 1890s huge sleeves, called "leg of mutton" sleeves were back popular. Puff sleeves were the staple of 80's bridal fashion, but this trend is placed to have another moment in 2020/2021 wedding gowns. Oversized sleeves aren't a dated, cringe-worthy type of decades past, and several top designers like Vera Wang, Reem Acra, and Monique Lhuillier.

Corset Bodice and Petticoat Skirt

One of the signature silhouettes of Victorian gowns is a ball gown and they're worn with petticoats. The corset bodice was tightly laced to create the waist as tiny as possible and make the contrast towards the full crinoline skirt. This may be the princess ball gown silhouette that nearly every little girl imagines wearing to her wedding, plus some of them do.

Bustle

There is a time called "The Bustle period" during the 1800s. A bustle would be a padded undergarment accustomed to add fullness, or offer the drapery from the skirt, worn underneath the skirt within the back, to help keep the skirt from dragging. Today, bustles are put into the wedding gown during fitting that will help you raise the train from the dress and prevent you from stepping around the train.

Train

The train would be a must for Victorian dresses because it added towards the luxury from the gown. Today, we're seeing a major increase in elaborate wedding trains to add a wow step to a simple, yet elegant wedding gown.

Modern Victorian Style Wedding Dresses

Authentic Victorian wedding gowns can only be viewed as a part of the museum exhibition. In the modern era, they're just too heavy, improper and you would want an army of people that will help you get dressed. However, modern materials and fabric manipulation techniques permit the designers to produce bridal gowns which are as sumptuous, as lavish, and detailed because the original Victorian wedding gowns.

At FeelTimes we now have carefully curated the selection of wedding gowns that look like they've been transported from the 1800s, but additionally some of these that come with the current twist.