Wedding Fashion

Unlike the 19th century, which would allow different shades of white in wedding fashion, Art Nouveau was a time when white wedding dress fashion was a must-have. Favorite fabrics for daytime women's clothes were silk chiffon, lightweight cotton fabrics such as batiste and voilée as they made clothes seem lighter, softer and more airy. For wedding dresses more expensive and sturdier materials were still used such as silk satin, silk taffeta and silk damask. 

Wedding dress
Split, Croatia
c. 1910
lace on tulle, silk, lace, embroidery

White continues
to dominate the post-war wedding fashion. On the west the wedding dresses were
made of ivory colour silk in a traditional long cut and fuller lower part or they were shorter dresses made of organza, lace and chiffon. In Croatia, considering the
fact that the wedding was officially in the registry office and optionally (often
secret) in church, the fashion of wearing two different wedding dresses appeared
in case you perform two ceremonies. The registry office was the place which
gathered all guests and therefore the civil wedding was a place of showing
fashion awareness. The church wedding was usually conducted in the presence of
only close family and in an unusual time – usually during weekdays in the
evening. For the church wedding the dress was more traditional (long
floor-length, long-sleeved, without neckline) or solemn day dress or suit. As
an accessory a headpiece was worn with a shorter veil.

Headpiece
Croatia
c. 1950
velvet, artificial pearls, glass beads

Wedding fashion od the 1980s followed daily fashion combining the impact of historical clothing and contemporary trends. Favourite fabrics are white taffeta, satin and lace. The dominant colour is still white. As and in the previous decade, the wedding dress is often a piece of clothing purchased for only one occasion. Some women were still more practical so their wedding outfit resmbled formal daily clothes. In the early 1980s, a typical wedding was romantic and traditionally feminine – long floor-length dresses, with an accentuated, narrow waist, long sleeves and a very long train. Wedding dresses were given an individual mark by using family legacy such as old lace or veil.

Wedding dress
Designed by Rikard Gumzej
Zagreb, Croatia
c. 1984
bourette silk, embroidery

Fashion in the field of ​​wedding fashion of the nineties has brought great innovations - bare shoulders, big chest, and a deep back cut. Popular wedding dresses whose top part is in the form of a corset and decorated with lace. Although white is still the most popular choice for wedding dresses,pale-pink also became a fashionable colour. It is mainly the choice of the bride who did not wish to opt for white, but never had the courage to choose a stronger color. Over the nineties in Croatia "wedding industry" started to develop - exclusive wedding salons opened for selling and renting wedding dresses and related fashion accessories, themed magazines appeared, and also the first agency for wedding organizations. One of the most successful salons in Zagreb for renting and designing wedding dresses is the Vesna Sposa salon founded in 1992. 

Coat
Designed by TWINS (Begović & Štimac)
Zagreb, Croatia
2014
artificial silk, sponge

Many designers do not make bridal collections but do design custom wedding dresses - such as Teo Perić, Robert Sever, Juraj Zigman, Igor Galaš, Atelier Boudoir or Twins. Dresses by Matija Vuica and Robert Pavlina became synonymous with wedding clothes.

Dress
Designed by Igor Galaš
2011
wool, artificial silk


All of Galaš's clothing made of wool can be seen as an organic sculpture or a vision of future clothing.

The dress is completed with a headpiece made by Mario Treščec