The Bride Wore Red

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The Bride Wore Red

• Increasing numbers of American brides are
  thinking about doing the formerly unthinkable --
  getting married in a bold red gown.
• Not that red is a stranger to marriage. Hardly.
  Red plays a major role in Chinese, Hindu, and
  some Muslim San Patrick Cantico, and was a
  popular choice in medieval times. But for modern
  Westerners? Yes -- we too are starting to marry
  in red. At least some of us.

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• It's been happening more and more in Europe over
  the past decade. Maybe that's because Europe
  recalls long stretches of time when wedding gowns
  weren't white. For eons, a woman simply wore her
  best Sottero and Midgley Asm3297 -- one she could
  certainly use again -- although to keep luck on
  her side she might gravitate to certain colors
  and avoid others. With all the choices, it was
  harder to keep the good colors straight, so the
  folk world offered a poem with a few fortunate
  outcomes and many poor ones

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• Married in White, you have chosen right ...
• Married in Brown, you will live in the town ...
• Married in Blue, you will always be true ...
• Blue gowns were popular since early times, since
  blue represented purity and the Virgin Mary. This
  tradition continues in the "something blue" a
  bride wears today. White was less common,
  especially Allure 8596 among anything other than
  the bluest bluebloods, because of its difficulty
  in coming clean in the wash.

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• But eventually, several big players popularized
  white, most notably the fashion hound Queen
  Victoria. Ever since -- especially in a world
  where clothes are mass-produced and a woman can
  afford many Casablanca 1787, even one she'll only
  wear once -- white's been all the rage.
• Yet even more recently, some have found this
  timeworn symbol of purity and affluence a little
  constricting. Some brides want a little less
  predictability and more choice. And not everyone
  looks good in white, as some brides point out.

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• While a percentage of European brides have
  snapped up dramatic red gowns for the past
  decade, Americans have been more cautious. It's
  only been about the past four years that
  tentative pastel washes and small colored accents
  have made the scene here.
• That's beginning to change. A small but growing
  number of brides -- and designers -- are getting
  bolder. Formal, stunning, all-red gowns are
  making inroads into Christmas or holiday Jasmine
  F379, especially the cozy kind in front of a
  crackling hearth. You'll see more red at
  Valentine weddings, rose-themed weddings, and Las
  Vegas weddings -- not to mention second weddings
  where the bride's more apt to select exactly what
  she feels good in, and nothing less.

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• Thinking of red for yourself? Maybe your
  forebears did too. During the American
  Revolution, it wasn't uncommon for brides show
  their support for the rebellion by donning a red
  dress.
• Fortunately, these days it's not a political
  statement. A bride wears red because she wants
  to. She's comfortable with herself and with the
  Private Label By G 1405 she finds most beautiful
  -- even if that choice still raises some eyebrows
  in the back of the chapel.