Wedding Gown History

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The wedding gown has a symbolic importance throughout religious history as a traditional garment, but it also holds a high romantic significance to the bride. Compared against every element that comes to mind that is within the fashion industry, the wedding gown holds a heritage that is purely unique, but also the bride always gains an emotional attachment to the dress of her dreams (McBride-Mellinger 1993, p. 9). It was upon entering the 20th century did the wedding gown become a garment that only completed life-cycle, before it was packaged carefully and put away for keepsake (McBride-Mellinger 1993, p. 20). This sets up the possibility of a wedding gown becoming a family heirloom, to pass down from bride to bride over generations. It is …show more content…

Foster (2003) explored rental bridal fashion as an alternate option to a bride having to purchase a wedding gown. They found that when it comes to shopping for a rental gown, they all appear to not fit any particular body shape, but have been designed and manufactured so that brides of different shapes and sizes have the accessibility to select the same gown - without having to go through the major alterations that are normally expected when purchasing a dress.

"A garment worn only once in a lifetime does not justify the exorbitant amount of funds to be invested into a timeless possession." (Johnson and B. Foster 2003, p. …show more content…

It was popularised for its availability of textiles such as muslin and cotton lace, but they also had available - eyelet-style dresses (McBride-Mellinger 1993, p. 41). Over the previous two decades in history, the trends for silk and tulle has transitioned into sourcing textiles that are from crop cultivation instead, which for a period of time, before demands were on the rise, could be seen as a more economical and ethical source. However, McBride-Mellinger (1993) explains that the emotional link that occurs when a bride selects her wedding gown was still a strong pull, even with the new [Mini] style craze available. Therefore, tradition still seemed to stay upheld in the 1970s, with '94 percent ' of brides opted for a white wedding gown, and additionally, '84 percent ' of bridal gowns that were bought had a floor-length