Raelene recently completed her PhD in Anthropology. The thesis is titled 'Fairy tales for sale: An anthropological perspective on the wedding industry in Perth, Western Australia'. An important element of this thesis is considering the ways in which women use film and magazine content in the construction of their wedding days.
Fashioning tradition: The Social Construction of the Contemporary Bride
Why do brides wear white? According to many young women interviewed in Perth, Western Australia, brides wear white because it is 'traditional' to do so. Women planning their weddings regularly reported that they wished to have a 'proper' wedding, and that wearing white was an essential element of the socially acceptable and desirable wedding. However, in this paper, we challenge the widespread understanding of the white wedding dress as being 'popular' simply because it is 'traditional'. We use anthropological approaches to understanding tradition in order to debunk the notion that tradition is simply a relic of the past. Rather, we accept that tradition is very much a product of the social, cultural and political present. We argue that, in order to understand why brides choose to wear white bridal costumes in 2003, it is important to consider the ways in which the white wedding dress expresses the complexities and contradictions of contemporary feminine identities. Using insights gained from interviews conducted with women between 1998 and 2002, we explore the ways in which the current fashion of the white wedding dress assists as well as confines women as they construct and negotiate their identities as women and as brides.
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