What colour do you instantly associate with a bridal gown? White, of course. However, did you know that the bride's dress has not always been white?

Being married in white, to evoke virginal purity, dates back only to the end of the 18th century in Europe. Before then, the young bride-to-be wore her most beautiful dress on this special occasion. For many centuries, especially in Europe's country class, this favored dress was red.

Red, the colour of joy, celebration and pleasure, was until the 19th century, the colour with which the cloth makers had the most success in dying. The madder, from which they were extracting the pigment used to produce red, had better results than the pigments used for other colours, be they blue, green, black or white. Fabrics infused with red tended to keep their colour, unlike the others, which faded when exposed to sun or water. Ultimately, red always appeared more dense and vivid than others colours.

Today, although "traditional" marriages are on the decline, the most popular colour for a wedding gown still remains white, a colour we have been associating with weddings since the 1800's.

Dictionnaire des couleurs de notre temps; Michel Pastoureau, 1999; p. 145-146.

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