Patterned leggings, sandals with socks, and Canadian tuxedos are among some of the worst fashion crimes one can commit. However, there is no greater fashion sin than wearing white to a wedding. The reasons are obvious, white isn’t just a color you typically whip out of the closet, it has certain connotations and at a wedding, these become even stronger. No one wants to be the person at the wedding in white unless that person is a jealous ex or toxic family member that wants to steal the show. But typically white is reserved for the bride, not only is wearing white to a wedding a fashion mishap it’s also simply unethically. Or so we thought.
The classic white wedding dress was popularized after Queen Victoria’s wedding to Prince Albert in 1840, where she was photographed wearing an elegant lace white dress. After wide circulation of her wedding photos many women opted for white dresses for their weddings, this became the norm and since then it has been frowned upon for guests to wear white. However, if we have learned anything from the royals, it’s that sometimes the old ways aren’t the best ways. With ever-changing wedding trends and traditions, the white wedding dress has stayed pretty consistent, even in celebrity weddings that tend to be a little unusual. Even if the white wedding dress itself is still the expectation, this ban on white for the guests seems to be changing rapidly.
Like most things in the fashion world, this change in wedding attire has been brought about by celebrities and social media. Recently celebrities have been attending high-profile weddings in all-white designer clothing, an example being victoria Beckham attending Vogue editor Edward Enninfuls wedding in a floor-length silk white gown. Beckham’s gown was certainly out of the ordinary and if we were somehow unaware of her own very high-profile relationship she could easily be mistaken for the bride. While this dress is certainly stunning, wearing this to a wedding is only something Victoria Beckham could get away with. last week popstar Dua Lipa attended Simon Porte Jacquemus’ wedding in a beautiful sheer white dress. Unlike Beckham’s stand-out white dress, most of the guests at the Jacquemus wedding wore white, but only a few, like dua Lipa, were lucky enough to be dressed by Jacquemus himself. Between the star-studded guest list and the beauty of the South of France, the wedding screamed elegance, and the predominantly white dress code added to this. Jacquemus and his husband, Marco Maestri, opted for black and white suits making the fashion of this wedding even more untraditional yet so iconic.
While Jacquemus may have brought the all-white weddings back into the mainstream, we can’t forget the woman that started it all; Solange Knowles. At Solange’s 2014 wedding to Alan Ferguson, the theme was all white and resulted in some stunning looks and even better pictures. While it is out of the ordinary the all-white look added a touch of grace and simplicity that can be lost in the stress and excitement of a wedding. Additionally, Solange’s white jumpsuit by Stéphane Rolland was a masterpiece all on its own. Solange’s iconic wedding is the blueprint for the recent trendy all-white weddings, she took an unordinary approach to wedding traditions and made something incredible.
