AFRA Art Gallery Blog Team - May 10 2020

Persian Wedding Dresses

Persian dresses wedding

Persian are known throughout the world for their exquisite wedding ceremonies and parties. This also holds true for the beautiful wedding dresses the Persian brides wear. Read the article to know better about the wedding  dresses worn by Persians who live in Iran or other parts of the world.

Have Persian Brides Always Worn White for Their Wedding?

It is believed that the custom of the bride’s wearing a white dress for the wedding dates back to Victorian era and is essentially a western practice followed by the Iranians.
On the other hand, certain historical researches have confirmed that wearing a white wedding dress is rooted in Zoroastrian traditions. Both the Zoroastrians bride and groom sported white dresses and put on floral garlands. The color white is associated with serenity, innocence, and purity. Nowadays the groom wears a suit of dark colors and the garlands have become outdated. But the white wedding dress has carried on through generations. In modern Iran too, almost all the brides choose shades of white including eggshell, porcelain, daisy, etc.
Other accounts of history have a different point of view. In ancient pre-Islamic Persia, the brides wore green dresses and a thin green bridal veil. Among Persian, the color of green symbolizes a good fortune and brings luck for the bride and groom who wear green in their marriage ceremony.

Iranian Wedding Dress

Old Painting Illustrate Persian Wedding ceremony in Qajar Era

Wedding Dresses in Persian Folklore
Iran is a hot pot of different folk tribes and ethnicities. Kurd, Turk, Baluch, Ghashghaii, Gilak, and many other ethnic minorities live in Iran. Each of them boasts unique and vibrant handcrafts and textiles. Therefore, to express the pride they feel in their roots and lifestyle, some families prefer not to wear the typical wedding dresses and settle on folk costumes. Khos Duzi, for instance, is the art of women in south of Iran, most especially Hormozgan province. In a nutshell, in Khos Duzi, narrow embroidered strips are sewn to fine fabrics like velvet; plus, the sewing thread is either golden or silver. Another long-standing way of making embroidered textile is called Zari Duzi. Very thin threads of gold are woven into beautiful fabrics, as a matter of fact ‘Zar’ means gold in Persian language. Turkmen’s Suzen Duzi is another fine example of the cloth designing methods that are used in Persian tribal or folklore wedding dresses. While those who are living in big and small towns can no longer enjoy such amazing sights at wedding, some villagers in various areas of Iran perform the wedding ceremonies exactly as their ancestors did. There, the brides wear colorful or non-white dresses adorned with very small coins (poolak) or other ornamentation.

Sample of Persian Tribal Wedding Dresses

Persian Wedding Dresses and The Transformation of Trends

Persian Wedding Dresses  New Styles.Photo Credit:Paperswanbride.com

Persian Wedding Dresses and The Transformation of Trends
Believe it or not, fashion designers have not made dramatic changes as regards the appearance of wedding dresses. One reason for this might be the fact that such clothing is not an ordinary costume and is in essence closely and strongly linked to the country’s traditions and rituals. However, with a kin eye, one easily observes that certain number of details of these dresses have undergone changes. Big layered satin skirts are not as popular as they used to be, since they were all the rage a few decades ago. Yet again, puffy skirts are still in demand for the sense of elegance they give the bride. Low-necked dresses have always been in style; in fact, only those brides who come from super religious families tend to cover the chest and neck completely. Another point worth mentioning is that rarely do Persian brides go for calf-length or knee-length skirts. 
However, wearing the gold jewelry set with very precious stones has been common among Iranian brides for years, nowadays, some brids specially who live outside Iran tend to use more modern simple jewelry which designed based on Persian symbols like calligraphy instead of classic jewelry.
Here you can see some sample of modern jewelry match with Persian wedding dress.
 

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