The trend towards virginal brides in white was established in the 19th century, triggered in particular by the white silk dress that Queen Victoria wore in 1840 when marrying Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Nevertheless, the creation of a special dress for the ‘most important day in a woman's life’ was reserved for the upper class for a long time, while the bride of lower origins had to resort to what was often a black Sunday state dress until well into the 20th century.
If you’re interested in the history of the wedding dress, or want to find inspiration for your own big day, the auction market is the perfect treasure trove. We also took a look there, more precisely to wedding dresses auctioned in the past.
The historical wedding dress
In 1916, a French woman in this Belgian lace dress stepped to the altar – a treat for the eye in Europe, which was then shaken by World War I. According to the consignor, it is said to be a creation of the House of Worth, which was opened in 1858 by the first star designer Charles Frederick Worth on Rue de la Paix in Paris.
When the Argentine María de las Mercedes Dose y Obligado and the Austrian prince Alexander von Dietrichstein married each other in Paris in 1930, the bride wore a gift from her dear friend Coco Chanel. For such a perfectly tailored vintage piece from Chanel, one of course expects to pay a fair sum. Christie's considered £5,000-8,000 ($6,000-10,000) an appropriate amount in November 2013, however the dress was ultimately sold for a proud £40,000 ($64,120).
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The haute couture wedding dress
The New Look, which Christian Dior referred to as the ‘Ligne Corolle’, was based on a narrow waist and a wide, calf-length skirt that said goodbye to the hardships of the post-war years. Here is a 1950s example from the French designer.
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In 1973, Yves Saint Laurent shocked audiences of his spring/summer show with a Greek-style dress. What was most surprising was the simplicity. However, the dress was quite influential – foretelling, perhaps, Princess Leia’s wardrobe from the Star Wars franchise that came to the cinemas in 1977.
15 years later, Emanuel Ungaro, who died in December 2019, created this dress, which leaves no doubt to it dating from the 1980s. Ungaro had his very own way of working, designing his creations ‘directly on the model’ and without first making sketches.
Another lace dream comes from 1995 – the year in which the new Lacroix boutique opened in London. The romantic dress was first displayed in the shop window before it was actually worn at the shop owner's wedding.
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The non-Western wedding dress
If a classic wedding dress is too boring or obvious a choice, bridal gowns from other regions of the world may work to inspire you. A touch of exoticism is created, for example, with the silk robe worn by a bride from Manchuria (north-east China), which is combined with an elaborate flower headdress. Red is the traditional color of happiness in China and still plays a major role in Chinese weddings today – even though these days the Chinese bride typically wears a Western dress at the celebration.
The wedding dress from the big screen
Films that feature marriages are immensely popular, for instance, My Best Friend's Wedding, Mamma Mia!, and of course Four Weddings and a Funeral. The 1969 film On Her Majesty's Secret Service was perhaps less comical when secret agent James Bond got married.
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The dress of bride Teresa ‘Tracy’ di Vincenzo, portrayed by Diana Rigg, was of course as extraordinary as the event: a flower jumpsuit in the style of the late ‘60s, which was combined with a delicate chiffon coat. The coat was auctioned at Christie's in London in 2001 and sold for £5,640 ($8,037) against an estimate of £1,500-2,000.
The celebrity wedding dress
Of course, stars also marry in real life. The best example of this is Elizabeth Taylor, who dared to go to the altar eight times. The first chosen was Conrad ‘Nicky’ Hilton, an offspring of the famous hotelier dynasty. At that time, Taylor was under contract with the MGM film studio, which accompanied and equipped the ceremony scheduled for May 6, 1950 in Beverly Hills with plenty of media coverage. The wedding dress was designed by MGM's chief costume designer at the time, Helen Rose. The auction of the dress in London in June 2013, where it found a new owner for £121,875 ($185,250), was more successful than the marriage between Taylor and Hilton, which ended in divorce on February 1, 1951.
The two marriages that Elizabeth Taylor entered into with the Welsh actor Richard Burton, whom she met and fell in love with in 1962 when she was filming Cleopatra, are of course almost as legendary. After they both divorced from their spouses at the time, the first Taylor-Burton wedding was held in Montreal in 1964. It was the beginning of a scandalous marriage, which involved affairs, luxurious jewelry and, unfortunately, alcohol. The divorce took place after 10 turbulent and passionate years in June 1974.
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But the separation was not long-lasting: the famous couple married again in October 1975, this time in Botswana in an open-air ceremony. The actress wore an airy dress of a hippie style by Gina Fratini. In December 2011, it was part of the Elizabeth Taylor Collection auction at Christie's in New York, where it found a new owner for $62,500, against an estimate of $10,000-12,000.
The royal wedding dress
Is there anything better than the auction of a Hollywood royalty wedding dress? Naturally! One from the ranks of royalty itself.
The most famous wedding dresses in this category are undoubtedly those of Grace Kelly, who married Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956, and Diana Spencer, who married the heir to the English throne, Charles, in 1981. Both are icons and modern treasures, and have therefore never appeared on the auction market. Grace Kelly's wedding dress, also designed by MGM designer Helen Rose, is today on display at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After her tragic death, Diana, Princess of Wales’ fairy-tale dress initially came into the possession of her brother, who exhibited it at the Spencer Estate in Althorp. According to Diana's will, however, it passed into the possession of her two sons in 2014.
And yet, in 2005 the British auction house Cooper Owen offered ‘Diana's 'second' wedding dress’, a simpler copy of the famous dress by the designer couple David & Elizabeth Emanuel, created for an emergency and which the bride is said to have worn during the fitting. Like wedding dress number one, this dress was kept strictly under lock and key before the wedding ceremony, but was subsequently taken to Madame Tussauds' wax figure cabinet, where it was used to clothe the waxen image of the newest member of the royal family.
This story was also confirmed by Madame Tussauds, but there were voices before the auction that saw the whole story a little differently, and none other than the designer Elizabeth Emanuel herself. In 2005, Emanuel told CBS that the dress was never meant to be an emergency dress, and above all that Diana had never tried it on: “She was so busy, we had to fit all our fittings around her schedule. There was absolutely no way she could have tried on that dress.”
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However, a 2017 Daily Mail article reads that there were a total of three dresses from the Emanuels' studio: the actual wedding dress, that for Madame Tussauds, and an unfinished emergency dress, the whereabouts of which was unknown. "It was hanging up in the studio for a long time, and then it disappeared. I don’t know if we sold it or put it into storage. It was such a busy time. I’m sure it’ll turn up in a bag one day!” said Emanuel.
Regardless of whether or not it’s real, and above all whether Diana ever wore it, the mysterious ‘second dress’ changed hands for £90,000 ($155,520) on December 7, 2005 and has become its own legend.
