The brides of the latest fashion catwalks are anarchic and bewitching

Emblem of purity and candor, the figure of the bride assumes a central role within the language of fashion, which since ancient times has enriched the codes of her clothing with allegories and symbolic messages. Starting from the orange veils, a color full of positivity, of the brides of Ancient Rome, passing through the famous cream-colored dress of Queen Victoria of England – the first to wear white during the wedding – arriving at the most fluid silhouettes and free of constraints, which persist from the 1920s to today: the wedding dress has always been the common thread between fashion and personal, but also religious, spirituality. Contemporary brides suddenly change course, and inhabit the catwalks dedicated to the next seasons with an electrifying and sensual charge, daughter of the trends of the moment and of the most iconic declinations of the past.

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“The Church of Versace”, the fashion show dedicated to the Spring Summer 2023 collection, closed the Milan show with a series of seductive proposals, poised between the sacred and the profane, which painted the distinctive traits of a fierce and bewitching contemporary bride. Purple, yellow, black and fuchsia on transversal slits, self-regulating, mesh gloves and tulle veils: Versace’s formal dresses seem extrapolated from the vampire looks of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” and they tread on the concept of eroticism by upsetting the canons of a candid figure, which has always been a symbol of innocence and virtue. Even more brazen is the bride of Dilara Findikoglu, who walks the disused catwalk of the show for Spring Summer 2023 with Victorian corsets in recycled silk, asymmetrical layers in tulle and skirts that also act as a veil, leaving the thighs uncovered. The Turkish designer staged a fashion show dominated by “pastiche”, mixing ancient charm with London underground vibes, in which brides overlay formal dresses with oversized printed t-shirts, or leave the breasts uncovered under very light organza veils, between frayed bustiers and lipstick stains.

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For Simone Rocha, within the Spring Summer 2023, the bridal trend is synonymous with metropolitan style and gender fluidity. Overturning the severe imaginaries of Catholic Ireland, the designer designs tulle mini dresses from which long silk straps fall, semi-sheer dresses with embroidered lace edges and layered veils that are nothing short of monumental, which cover the heads of models and models, indiscriminately . Simone Rocha’s brides are also men, and mix with an innate naturalness masculine suits, white dresses with ruffles, cargo pants, embroidered lace and waterproof bombers. The bridal veils also appear on the catwalk of Antonio Marras women’s Spring Summer, but they are transformed into hats in Sangallo lace which, in addition to the head, also cover most of the face, to imitate the characteristics of the balaclava.

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But the most recent shows aren’t the only ones to provide an unprecedented glimpse into the bridal fashion landscape. John Galliano has trodden his hand several times on this immaculate figure, immersing her in anarchic and anti-conventional landscapes that have repeatedly aroused criticism and amazement. There was the chimera bride of Dior’s Fall Winter 2009, with ceramic doll make-up and massive jewels, the cheeky one of Autumn Winter 2004, with quilted mermaid dress and bare breasts, or that of Autumn Winter 2015 by Margiela, with a dress in neoprene, plastic and rough canvas. Between outrage, surrealism and provocation, brides remain a constant reference point in the world of fashion, which enjoys adorning their figure with audacity, intensity and a good dose of shamelessness. But always with infinite creativity.