Wearing white to a wedding, when you are not the bride, is becoming more and more acceptable, according to a new report.
One in two women now think it is fine to turn up to the happy event in any shade of white, ivory, cream, or any other colour normally reserved for the bride.
The research was commissioned by online retailer JD Williams after seeing a huge spike in on-line searches from customers for outfits, shoes and accessories in white, off-white and cream customers over the last month, compared to this time last year. Searches for “white” registered a rise of 86%, off-white 100% and cream 116%.
It was once considered the ultimate wedding guest faux pas, but a spate of celebrity wedding guests turning up in varying shades of white at recent high profile marriages, has helped drive the trend.
Famous faces that have broken the taboo include Judy Murray, at her tennis ace son Andy’s marriage, Kate, Duchess of Cambridge at Meghan and Prince Harry’s nuptials, plus Alexa Chung, Donna Air and Jennifer Lawrence at other celebrated unions.
Some happy couples have gone further and insisted that all of their guests wear white – all the women at Beyonce and Jay Z’s wedding in 2007 wore white and the men, black dinner jackets, while both male and female guests at her sister Solange’s wedding in 2014 and her mother Tina Knowles’ second marriage a year later, also wore white.
There is also a growing trend for adult bridesmaids to be dressed in white. Pippa Middleton will forever be remembered for her show-stopping rear-skimming gown at the wedding of Prince William and her sister Kate, while Cara Delevingne wore an off-white floaty, maxi-dress as her sister Poppy’s wedding attendant and Mila Kunis dazzled in a ballet-style ivory tulle frock as maid of honour at her brother Michael’s wedding.
As modern wedding celebrations become less formal, the strict rules about who should wear what have become far more relaxed. In turn, social media sentiment and wedding etiquette experts are now far more divided on the subject.
Suzi Burns for JD Williams said: “As we approach wedding season we have seen a clear and sharp rise in customers searching for outfits that in previous years would have been viewed as being too close to white in colour to wear as a wedding guest.
“Traditionally, the main reason not to wear white to a wedding was to let the bride in her white dress stand out and avoid stealing her thunder. However you only have to look at social media and photographs of weddings to see that things have changed a lot in recent years.
“Many brides don’t wear classic bridal gowns and equally just as many no longer wear an outfit in any shade of white, particularly if it is not a first marriage. Also a higher percentage of couples are choosing to tie the knot abroad, which lends itself to smaller beach wedding parties with more guests dressing for the heat in white or nearly white.
“As it is the happy couple’s special day, whatever a guest’s personal view, the easiest way to avoid causing offence is to check their preference before choosing your outfit.”
