Historical story

Maria Stuarda breaks the tradition and gets married in a white dress

Maria Stuarda in a white wedding dress

On April 24, 1558 Maria Stuarda (1542-1587) married the Dauphin of France , then king with the name of Francis II , wearing a dress that caused an immediate sensation for a reason that appears rather bizarre to our eyes:she was white.

In fact, before her, already the princess Philippa of England she, in 1406, she was married to Erik of Denmark dressed in a white robe, but the choice of the beautiful and unfortunate Scottish queen (see https://www.pilloledistoria.it/3839/storia-moderna/p Pittura-storia-maria-stuarda-patibolo) provoked an endless chatter and reproof in as much as white, in France, was the color of the queens in mourning.

We do not know why Stuarda decided to break the centuries-old tradition by opting for a color that was so unusual at the time for an occasion like marriage, but her decision perhaps depended on her very young age and relative virginity of the same, just fifteen.

When after only two years the equally young husband died due to an infection, not a few believed that this gesture had brought bad luck.

However, from a decidedly more frivolous point of view, we can say that Maria Stuarda was an innovator in the field of wedding fashion, she having promoted a trend that subsequently became, in the West, an appreciated and rooted tradition, namely that of the white dress on the wedding day .