![]() Even at the court level, wardrobe inventories discuss the fact that royalty and courtiers alike tended to wear their most fashionable garments, with no real consideration of one-time use or symbolism of color or style. In pre-industrial times, the idea of ceremony-specific clothing, particularly for a one-time event, was beyond the means of the vast majority of the population. This stems, in part, from simple economics. It is not until many centuries later that most cultures adopted recognizable ensembles to mark the occasion. ![]() These too, while spec-ified for use in weddings, and ranging from simple flow-ers to elaborate metal tiaras, were accessories. The first clear references to specific wedding apparel, in the form of bridal crowns and veils, come from the Hellenistic period of Greece. However, it appears that even at the dynastic level, dress for weddings was less occasion-specific than a matter of showing off one's best garments and accessories. Information is nearly as scarce for the first great urban societies, where nothing is known of the wedding dress or practices of the bulk of the population and only dynastic marriages survive in the written record. It is not possible to determine from archaeological evidence whether or not prehistoric societies celebrated marital unions in a specific manner or marked those celebrations through the use of special garb. Even in Islamic societies such as Saudi Arabia, this doubling up of wedding attire has proven popular among the upper classes. This has been particularly popular in Japan and Korea, where the couple dresses according to the religion and architecture of the wedding chapel, or holds two separate ceremonies, and might change ensembles five to seven times during the course of the celebrations. Even in countries with strong local traditions, if there are no specific religious strictures that would prohibit them and the economic resources are available, couples may opt to hold two ceremonies, one in the tradition of their own country and one of the western variety. However, the primacy of the "western wedding style"-that of a bride dressed in a white gown and a groom in typical western formal attire, has supplanted many local traditions, at least for the middle and upper classes. This can range from Japanese kimonos to long body-and face-concealing robes in Islamic cultures, to elaborate saris in India, to hand-embroidered and metal-encrusted Hmong dress. There are generally local or national traditions, based on religious and/or societal norms that have developed over time to provide identifiable wedding apparel. ![]() In contemporary non-western industrial societies, the situation is complex. The throwing of the garter to the male attendants serves more or less the same function as the tossing of the bridal bouquet to the females: that of determining the next to wed, although the previous stipulation that all attendants be unmarried having disappeared, this old "good luck" charm is vitiated. Anglo-phone folkloric touches suggest the inclusion of "some-thing old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue," as well as a single garter, a remnant of the days when the public removal of one's garters was a significant symbolic gesture. These range from yarmulkes at Jewish weddings, to crowns held over the heads of the bridal couple in Orthodox Christian ceremonies. The former may include specific types of headgear, for both bride and groom, and possibly all attendees. ![]() ![]() Other accessories have become standard, some of which are mandated by religion or culture, and others of which are remnants of folk practice. Family members usually attend, playing a prominent role, and are dressed in equally formal, but generally more subdued styles of clothing than the bridal party. Attendants are generally present, the number, gender, age, and dress of whom being peculiar to each culture. The groom is attired in keeping with the degree of formality of the bride. Contemporary OverviewĪs of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the global, urbanized standard of wedding apparel has followed the Western tradition of a bride dressed in white or off-white, with a head-covering, whether a veil or head-piece, and carrying flowers, a book, or some other object. A wedding dress is apparel used in conjunction with wedding ceremonies, including accessories that may differentiate nonmatrimonial dress from that worn specifically for weddings. ![]()
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