|
 The history of the wedding veil, the crucial accessory of the bride to
compliment her image and the wedding ensemble, comes from old rituals and
religious traditions of ancient times. Nowadays
the veil is the fetching sheer fabric that is not designed to conceal the
bride's face. In the old times the wedding veil was presented as the opaque
dense cover to screen the bride from head to toes. The tradition to hide the
bride under the cover appeared during the times of ancient Greece and Rome
when the veil was believed to protect the bride from ill looks of envious
person s, to turn away from the evil eye and hex. However, in the ancient time
the veil was not white. The Greek brides concealed their faces under the yellow
fabric while the Roman brides were covered by the veil of vivid red color or
decorated the hair with multicolor fabric with embroidery.
Currently, the wedding veil should match the wedding ensemble in color,
texture and general style. And yet, it should be white since most wedding
dresses are traditionally white or of light ivory color. And opaque covers were
by the lapse of time replaced with translucent tulle and lace that do not cover
the bride's face but unlike the preceding task of veils. On the contrary, they highlight
the beauty and somewhat mysteriousness of the bride.
The medieval Europe enriched its
traditions and customs in the XV century when crusades resulted in several eastern
traditions. One of the trophies was a wedding veil though with some changes in
the meaning; in Muslim countries women had to hide their faces under the yashmak
even after the wedding party was completed hiding the beauty and charm of a
young woman, but in Europe the perception of the veil changed and European
trendsetters saw the veil as the symbol of modesty and purity. Tenderly white veil
symbolized the purity and innocence of a young woman getting married and to
some slight extent the traditions still keeps the meaning, possibly in some
particular countries and this is the answer why only a woman getting married
for the first time wear the bridal veil.
The other symbolic meaning of the bridal veil was the sign of belonging
to the origin of the husband. There was a popular belief that when a bridegroom
uncovers the bridal veil, he takes her under his protection and since that very
moment a girl becomes a married woman. That was the reason why the veil long to
the floor symbolizing the subjection of a woman to a man, and today its length
may vary from traditional long veil to the shortest one. Today the case when a
bride takes off a veil is getting common in every layer of the society showing
the equality of a woman with a man. In the ancient times such willful gesture
by the bride could have been considered as the sign of disobedience of the
bride to the newly acquired family, in particular it would show disrespect to
the husband-to-be.
There is another custom why the bridal veil appeared as the accessory of
the bride's ensemble. This is the tradition to conclude the agreement between the
bridegroom and parents of the bride. A husband-to-be was allowed to see the
face of the wife-to-be only after the wedding event was held, and the face of
the bride was covered under the long opaque veil from the bridegroom to avoid
refusal from wedding if he accidentally sees the face of a bride.
To the middle of the XX century the long and puffy veil turned into a
small veil which was short enough to cover just bride's eyes. That was easily
explained with post-war customs when the designers and clothes manufacturers
had to cut their budgets and models were far more modest and practical. The tendency
to look in a simpler way touched everyday wear clothes for women and wedding
ensembles. The classic puffy wedding gowns were happily replaced by modest
costumes and the long veil never matched that strict and loyal design. Thus, the
brides had to choose a small translucent veil with embroidery pinning it to the
hat or hair. That is too easy and practical.
The age of modesty in the wedding clothes was not that long and soon
after in the nineties a long veil came back to be in vogue. Though, the luxury veil
from the expensive silk and tulle was replaced by the more practical nylon that
is more durable unlike tulle. The length of the bridal veil should match the length
of the gown, and currently the longest veil is the one of 8,23 meters long that
was worn by the famous American TV anchorwoman Star Jones, half a meter longer
than the bridal veil of the Princess Diana.
The first American bride that tried on the veil was a Nelly Castas, a
bride to the Mayor Lawrence Lewis, the President Associate of George
Washington. Nelly selected such a veil not for the religious reasons. The reason
was too trivial; the mayor once saw his fiancée behind the laced cover and was astonished
with her beauty. So, Nelly realized that such a simple translucent cloth of lace
or tulle could make the face more attractive and magic for the surrounding
people.
|
