On this day, February 10, of 1840 the Royal Marriage has been arranged for Queen Victoria Of England, and the love of her life Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. “We must imagine that her personal happiness must have been so great in anticipation, that she had little time to describe what she wore. We know that she awoke in Buckingham Palace on the morning of 10 February 1840. A watercolour by the artist James Roberts gives us a glimpse of the room, some eight years later. She got up at ¼ to 9 and breakfasted three-quarters of an hour later. The Queen seems to have been more interested in writing a note to her bridegroom, which she wrote as cold rain splashed against the windowpanes. It is tempting to suspect that the Queen was simply impatient and anxious to get to St James’s Palace, to be married to Prince Albert, with whom she was so passionately in love.” –The Royal Central. Although it was a delightful view of their moment of marriage, the preparations and the choice of dress might have been a little bit interesting during that time.
The designer of the lace was a man named William Dyce from The Royal College of Art, and the maker of the dress was Mary Bettans in Spitalfields (you know, the place where she decided to have her dresses made there for her ball? That place). Together they created a beautiful silk satin white lace and dress for the ages.
According to the Fashion History TImeline, this dress was “structured, eight-piece bodice features a wide, open neckline. The off-the-shoulder sleeves are short and puffed. The pointed waistline is deep v-shaped, resembling the basque shape. Both the neckline and sleeves were trimmed with lace. The floor-length skirt was very full, containing seven widths of fabric in forward-facing pleats.”
This dress was also in the color of white. Normally, a royal wedding dress would consist of robes, jewels, and a crown just to name a few things, and the color white (and black) represented the colors of mourning. But Victoria chose white to match the lace of her dress. She also suggested that only her and her bridesmaides wear white dresses as well.
Ever since the beautiful wedding, Queen Victoria has created a trend of white dresses along with the bridesmaids! Interesting right!? It wasn’t until the modern age of 1950s that dresses counted as a symbol of purity, virginity, and innocence. Today, in days of post-modern era, white is still apart of the beautiful day of marriage, but other colors are now the say so of the bride. I have seen a peacock wedding with those amazing blue and green colors, as well as purple, pink, and even black! The Victorian Era brought out the boldness of fashion, uniquieness, and individualism.
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