PHOTOS: 20th Century Wedding Dress Trends
Weddings are an ancient custom, a ceremony that’s steeped in tradition that dates back centuries. However, weddings are also a reflection of whichever stylistic trends are currently in vogue, and nowhere is this more true than in the bride’s choice of wedding dress.
From understated elegance to over-the-top glitz and glamour, let’s explore some of the 20th century’s most iconic weddings.
The century kicked off with the Edwardian era.
This 1905 photo of the wedding of Nicholas Longworth and Alice Roosevelt (shown next to her father, President Theodore Roosevelt) shows the finery that guests at a high-class wedding might wear at the dawn of the century.
Alice Roosevelt is wearing a veil, gloves, and a tailored lace wedding dress. At the time, wedding gowns would generally be made of luxurious fabrics like silk satin or lace and would feature high collars and intricate patterns.
Brides would accessorize.
The complexity of a woman’s wedding wardrobe has ebbed and flowed over the years, ranging from complicated to simplistic. In the early 20th century, it’s safe to say that mainstream style trended in a more complex, ornamental direction.
Joseph Kennedy and Rose Fitzgerald are seen tying the knot in this 1914 photo. Rose’s hat gives a glimpse of the flapper styles that would soon become mainstream, while her veil and patterned lace dress harken back to fancy Edwardian styles.
Things became more simplistic.
Wedding dresses became subtly but noticeably plainer in the 1910s and ’20s, as skirts trended in a narrower, more flowing direction and were frequently made with lighter fabrics like chiffon or tulle.
Prince Albert, later King George VI of Britain, is seen marrying Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923. Bowes-Lyon is wearing a dress that’s less tailored than what was seen in prior decades, with a looser and less ornamented silhouette.
In the ’20s, flapper fashions were in.
While Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) wasn’t about to fully embrace flapper style for her 1923 wedding day, her elegant and stylish hat offers a nod to the fashion trends of the ’20s.
Headpieces were often tailored in a flapper style and adorned with veils or bandeaus with pearls and feathers. This era marked one of the most dramatic shifts in bridal fashions of the 20th century.
It was a brief period of optimism.
While the 1910s would see material shortages due to World War I and the 1930s would be heavily affected by the Great Depression, the Roaring Twenties were a brief respite from early 20th century strife.
British aristocrat Edwina Cynthia Annette Ashley can be seen here in an example of 1920s glamour. While her dress owes a lot to the traditional gowns of the past, her lower neck and the geometric beading on her headpiece shows a nod to ’20s fashion.
The 1930s brought restrained glamour.
During this decade, it’s safe to say that many couples were married in humble ceremonies, but glamorous weddings would still take place for those who were insulated from the worst of the Great Depression.
These wealthy London socialites are dressed to the nines for their 1935 wedding. The bride is seen in a glamorous dress with a long train — harkening back to the more classical fashions of the early 20th century.
There was still luxury to be had.
The late ’30s, sandwiched in between the Great Depression and World War II, understandably led many couples to abandon frills for their wedding day — but for the wealthy few, stylish and expensive wedding dresses were still an option.
This dress design, dating from the late ’30s, features long sleeves and a high neckline — both staples of wedding dresses of the era. It also has embellishments like intricate beading and lace insets.
Big weddings were less common in the ’40s.
The war years caused many couples to tie the knot quickly in informal ceremonies, as service members generally had limited time in which to get married before they’d be deployed again.
Future film star Marilyn Monroe looks elegant in this photo of her 1942 wedding to James Dougherty. While brides might have a veil and a bouquet of flowers, in many cases they would wear an existing dress for the big day, as sourcing a new wedding dress was impractical.
1940s brides opted for a simpler look.
For those who wanted a traditional look during a World War II-era wedding, a classic wedding dress was still achievable despite fabric rationing and material shortages.
Most 1940s wedding dresses, even fancy ones, had a decidedly modest look to them, with simpler and less voluminous lines. Materials like lace and silk were rare luxuries, so many dresses were made of synthetic or other affordable materials.
The ’50s were a golden age.
John F. Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy are the picture of 1950s glamour in this snapshot of their wedding day. Fashion designer Christian Dior’s “New Look” was a major influence on bridal fashions during these years, with dresses that featured nipped-in waists, full skirts, and structured bodices.
Dresses like this were seemingly at odds with themselves, with necklines that plunged to daring depths paired with the modesty of sleeve caps. Despite this, bridal fashion of the 1950s is seen as iconic today.
Audrey Hepburn was a style icon.
Actress Audrey Hepburn was a fashion icon no matter what wardrobe she was wearing, and this extended to her planned wedding to British industrialist James Hanson. For the occasion, Hepburn had a custom-designed gown from Italian fashion house Fontana Sisters.
Like Fontana’s other gowns, Hepburns, dress was elegant, mostly free of embellishments, and form-fitting. Hepburn ultimately called off her wedding and donated the beautiful gown to a poor Italian bride.
Princess Grace’s dress was iconic.
Princess Grace of Monaco’s wedding dress, which she wore for her 1956 marriage to Prince Rainier III, was actually designed by a costume designer at MGM who’d worked with Kelly on several of her films.
The dress featured a fitted bodice with ivory silk taffeta, tulle, and antique Brussels lace, along with a high neckline, long lace sleeves, and a delicate veil.
Elizabeth Taylor captivated in this dress.
While it wasn’t worn for an actual wedding, the dress worn by movie star Elizabeth Taylor in the film Father of the Bride is still a fantastic example of high-end 1950s bridal style.
During the era, fitted bodices were common, along with floor-length skirts — often with a train. Taylor’s dress also featured a cinched-in waistline to accentuate her feminine silhouette.
The ’60s brought dynamic shifts.
It’s safe to say that all aspects of fashion were shaken up by the various aspects of the counterculture that was so prevalent in the 1960s, and wedding styles were no exception.
Elvis and Priscilla Presley had a fairly informal wedding, and Priscilla can be seen in a relatively straightforward wedding dress. Brides during this era tended to favor mini dresses but, conversely, also saw a shift back towards higher necklines.
Princess Margaret went in a modern direction.
Princess Margaret’s 1960 wedding to Antony Armstrong-Jones (later Lord Snowdon) marked a sleek departure from what had been seen at royal weddings up to that point.
Margaret’s dress, designed by Norman Hartnell (who also created the iconic wedding dress worn by Margaret’s sister, Queen Elizabeth II), had a clean, column-like silhouette. It was a dress that was almost shocking in its simplicity, especially for a member of the royal family.
A bohemian aesthetic took over the 1970s.
By the 1970s, bridal style was so diverse that it’s difficult to assess all of the era’s trends. Personal expression was the order of the day, with dress designs ranging from hippie-influenced simplicity to romantic, classical gowns.
Princess Caroline of Monaco can be seen in one of the era’s styles for her 1978 wedding to Philippe Junot. While she’s wearing a headpiece and traditional white gown, its stripped-down aesthetic gives a bohemian chic look to the proceedings.
Wedding fashions could be everyday fashions.
The wide range of wedding styles in the 1970s can be seen in this photo of the 1971 wedding of Mick and Bianca Jagger at St. Tropez.
Bianca is wearing white and has a veil over her face, but her outfit is otherwise unrecognizable as a wedding dress. This photo is an encapsulation of the changing face of weddings: While formal ceremonies still took place, more and more couples opted for a more casual vibe, or eloped.
Some styles didn’t catch on.
The 1970s were a true grab bag of a decade when it comes to bridal style, as evidenced by this 1977 photo of a dress designed by French fashion designer Pierre Cardin. The unusual style of the dress almost resembles a tiered wedding cake.
Cardin designed numerous wedding dresses during this period, most of which featured unconventional details like asymmetry or sculptured sleeves.
The ’80s got bold.
While the ’60s and ’70s helped to strip wedding dresses down to their basic elements, mainstream fashion shifted towards a bolder, more ostentatious style by the ’80s.
This photo of singer Marie Osmond and her husband, Stephen Lyle Craig, shows that by this decade, many couples were looking for a return to formality, with traditional white wedding dresses adorned with lacy ornamentation.
Sometimes, wedding dresses are a fashion statement.
Madonna famously wore a wedding dress-inspired outfit during her 1985 Virgin Tour. The dress was designed by Maripol and offered a streetwise, risqué interpretation of a classic wedding gown.
Madonna paired the gown with chunky jewelry, layered rosaries, and teased hair for a punk-inspired look. The look became iconic in its own right, and helped to define Madonna’s image moving forward.
Princess Diana was a style icon.
Princess Diana made fashion waves during her entire life in the spotlight, and her grand wedding to Prince Charles at the dawn of the ’80s helped to establish her as an icon.
The royal wedding was evocative of something out of a fairytale, with Diana wearing puffed sleeves with a voluminous skirt and lengthy train. In keeping with the styles of the era, shoulder pads and high necklines were common.
The ’90s brought modern romance.
Mariah Carey looks stunning in this photo showing her ’90s wedding day, in which she wore a gown with an elegant, but simple design along with a tiara and veil.
During this era, slip dresses, sheath gowns, and A-line cuts were all popular styles. Traditional gowns would still be worn, but more and more brides leaned into contemporary styles.
Shoulder pads had a moment.
This 1994 image from the Haute Couture Spring Summer Show demonstrates that shoulder pads — generally thought of as a relic of the ’80s — were alive and well into the ’90s.
This particular dress was designed by Yves Saint Laurent and features dramatic shoulder pads as a defining element. While the look seems dated today, it created a strong silhouette.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Sophie Rhys-Jones wears a traditional gown in this photo of her wedding to Prince Edward at the tail end of the ’90s. While the 20th century saw countless adjustments and refinements to bridal fashion, this image shows just how subtle many of them were.
Various aspects of this photo place it firmly in the ’90s, but the ornamented white dress, bouquet, and Prince Edward’s formal wear shows that some traditional wedding fashions never truly go out of style.
The turn of the millennium brought more changes.
Traditional white wedding gowns will seemingly always have a place in the world of bridal fashion, but as the new millennium approached, a wide range of less conventional wedding dresses became popular.
This Yves Saint Laurent dress makes a bold statement by pairing a traditional white top with a soft pink skirt. In a sense, it’s the ideal blend of old and new.
