The Best Petticoat for Your Wedding Gown

An essential part of your wedding attire, the petticoat servers as a bridal slip that will help fill out the look and feel of your gown. As an underskirt, it will lend shape and form to your figure, helping your true beauty shine through.

Many modern wedding gowns have integrated petticoats – check with your dress maker to see if it’s possible to get a customized solution that fits you better. In particular, slim, slender dresses work best with A-line crinoline petticoats, which have minimal visibility, while allowing you to show off your natural shape. For a fuller dress, the medium crinoline will provide a flaired silhouette that will accent a traditional dress, while a full crinoline is idea for a bouffant (full) style dress.

If you haven’t spent time wearing your dress, realize that they can be quite cumbersome, so you’ll want a comfortable, fitting petticoat that will allow you to have all of the form and function on your wedding day. Most bridal petticoats can be purchased at reasonable prices, and come a variety of colors, most prominently white and ivory. Check to make sure the color and style is fully compatible with the dress you select, and always give it a try before your actual wedding day.

Petticoats Featured in the Arts

Modern art, ranging from literature to film, has featured the petticoat as an expression of women’s fashion. Dating back to 18th century operas, petticoats were a symbol of the shifting modes in style. Carrying a Victorian sensibility, the garment has evolved into various shapes and forms over time.

One of the most prominent representations of this evolution is within Gone with the Wind, which showed the strong influence of classical European styles on the American South. Infused with notions of classicism, along with the onset of modernity, the petticoat’s shift from full bodied garment to a svelte accessory over the century showed a larger trend in fashion history.

Representing a larger liberation of fashion as an expressive movement, the 1950s musical scene demonstrated the use of petticoats in musicals such as West Side Story and Grease. Women in these musicals were vibrant and fully expressive, and today petticoats remain a retro symbol of the evolution of fashion over the past few centuries.