Autumn brides and their attendants (1914)
Autumn brides and their attendants
by Frances Marshall
The most modish bride of the season steps to the altar unhampered by a train. In fact, her skirt is well off the ground, and her veil, voluminous in its fullness, is decidedly abbreviated, suggesting in its silhouette the youthful veiled figure of some Normandy peasant girl going to confirmation rather than the stately wedding array worn a few years ago. This abbreviation in skirt and veil is the newest note, but it is by no means universal.
Only last spring, Mrs Kermit Roosevelt wore a court train almost four and a half yards long, hunt from the shoulders, and the skirt terminated in another shorter train.
Although much attention is devoted to the subject of bridal veils this season, there will be very few face veils worn by fashionable brides, and this in spite of the fact that some prominent brides recently have worn them. Mrs McAdoo’s bridal veil hung to the waist in front. Mrs Kermit Roosevelt struck an interesting compromise when by way of a face veil, she wore a lace frilling about her wedding cap that simply covered the eyes. But the tendency is now to discard the face veil entirely.
The bridal veil itself was never so interesting or so varied as it is autumn. There is no longer a “conventional” or “correct” mode of wedding veil. Individuality in taste and appearance plays an important part in the selection of the veil.
The bride who would look bewitching in an old rose point veil worn shawl fashion, like a Spanish mantilla, would perhaps lose half her charm in one of the new high arrangements caught at the back of the hair by plumes of orange blossoms. And not every bride who possesses an antique lace bridal veil chooses to wear it, for she sometimes discovers that the full profusion of tulle is infinitely more becoming. The deciding point of the veil, then, seems to be on of greatest becomingness.
A bride’s dress must be designed to set off her beauty, to give her individuality and personality. The bridesmaid’s gown has no such function to perform. The bridesmaid’s individuality, for the time being, does not exist. She is merely a lay figure and her gown is created for the sole purpose of riving a satisfactory background — the proper touch of color.
If she chances to look her best in the mode of hat and gown selected by the bride, well and good. It really doesn’t matter if she doesn’t, so long as the gown and hat she wears are well displayed. It is for this reason that, occasional divergence from the rule notwithstanding, the bridesmaids are usually clad all alike. There is harmony and effect in repetition which cannot be gained in a bridal party in motley array. So the bridesmaids’ gowns should be designed after the wedding gown has been thought cut and whatever attendants — flower girls or pages — are to be or the party should be arrayed in keeping.
Like the bride’s gowns, those of the bridesmaids are made with short skirts this season, and exceedingly pleasing is the effect of the short full frocks similar line and color.
When there is to be but one attendant — a maid or matron of honor — the gown cannot so easily carry out a decorative effect. Any gown suitable for the time and place is satisfactory. That is to say the maid of honor for a house wedding in the evening is suitably dressed in an elaborate evening gown; for a church wedding, an elaborate day costume with suitable hat and accessories is in order.
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Publication: The Washington Herald (Washington, DC)
Publication date: October 11, 1914
Original title: Fashion's Latest Word in Smart Creations
