What's Your Prom Dress Style?

Wedding Dress Tradition And Queen Elizabeth's Love

Wedding dresses are more often than naught, the center piece to most weddings. With that being the case, can you imagine if that wedding was a royal one? We often think of beautiful gowns made from the finest of materials. That hasn't always been the case. Sometimes it's the love affair that overshadows the dress. That was evident in the love between Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.

Queen Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, were distant cousins that met each other when the Queen was just a 13-year old princess. It was known that Elizabeth was completely smitten with Philip and therefore, not only were they cousins, but also became good friends as evidenced from their letters to each other. Although they had a very long courtship, the couple finally decided to get engaged in 1946, but chose to keep it a secret.

Throughout their courtship, Queen Elizabeth and Philip had a number of things pulling at their relationship. Often royalty married other royalty, whether they were related or not. However, a couple of strikes against Philip was that he was not a wealthy man, as well as he was Greek Orthodox.

Regardless, the thing that brought the most hardship to the couple was that Elizabeth's mother did not want her to marry Philip. The reason she was so against their impending marriage, was that back in 1946 England had just come out of World War II and even though Philip was not German himself, he did spend some of his school years in Germany. In addition, the word was that Philip's black and white wedding dresses three sisters had married German Noblemen, in which led others to believe he had some Nazi ties.

Despite her mother's disapproval, their engagement was announced publicly on July 9, 1947. The wedding took place just four months later on November 20, 1947. Although the war was over, it still caused some problems for the wedding. Elizabeth was eventually allowed to marry Philip; however his German relatives were not allowed to attend the ceremony.

During the war, England had a system of rationing in place. So even though she was royalty, Elizabeth still had to save up her rations for fabric so that she would be able to purchase her wedding dress. Fortunately she was able to get pretty homecoming dresses enough rations set aside; otherwise it would not have been a true royal wedding without a spectacular wedding dress.

Her dress was designed by Norman Hartnell, who started to work on the dress three months before the wedding so that it would be done in time. Hartnell started his design with a great understanding for what kind of a dress he had to make. After all, this was for the royal wedding and with that he knew everyone would be watching, so he wanted it to be perfect for Queen Elizabeth's special day.

After receiving the payment for the dress, Hartnell said he "searched the London art galleries for a classic inspiration and found a Botticelli figure in ivory silk with a trail of smilax, jasmine, syringa and some white rose like flowers." Finding the right materials for the dress was hard due to the aftermath of the war, so in the end the designer ended up having to order 20,000 pearls from the United States.

The gown's fabric for the train was satin from a mill at Lullington Castle in England, which he did not want to use at first, but Elizabeth's mother insisted that it be maternity bridesmaid gowns from there. The body of the wedding dress was a soft Chinese silk from a Scottish firm called Winterthur, which caused a little controversy because they were saying it was made by enemy silk worms from Japan. However, Hartnell was able to prove that the silk was from China. The dress was embroidered with orange blossoms, syringa, white rose and jasmine. Wheat was also included in the design, which represented fertility.

The embroidery also included sparkling crystals and pearls that outlined the neckline, hem, sleeves and the 15-foot train. The dress also included a silk tulle veil, with a small diamond tiara and a simple yet beautiful pearl necklace to wear around her neck. The beautiful bride walked down the aisle of the famous Westminster Abby with her father King George VI.

Elizabeth had a very sweet bouquet that was made of white orchids with some sprigs of myrtle, which had come from the bush that Queen Victoria had planted and grown from her own wedding bouquet. After the wedding the bride placed her sweet bouquet at the grave of the Unknown Soldier which is a tradition in England's royal weddings.

Dazzling Prom Dresses And Shoes For The Prom Girl

The right prom shoes can jovani wedding dresses give that perfect finishing touch to prom dresses of all styles. You want to look your best for the prom and dazzle your date and your friends. If you already have a great prom dress, now it's time to find dazzling prom shoes to go with it. Let's explore the different styles of prom shoes and how they fare with certain prom dresses.

Make a Fashion Statement with Your Prom Shoes

Prom shoes are not merely shoes! They're fashion accessories used to complement the color and design of prom dresses. Prom shoes are used to draw more or less attention to your feet. Prom shoes can make your feet look smaller or narrower. And as with any formal wear, they can also complement your legs and toes. So the prom shoes you choose will greatly affect your complete, head-to-toe appearance at the prom. Make your fashion statement count.

Styles of Prom Shoes

There are several styles of prom shoes so you can easily find the right prom shoes for you. Whether your feet are wide or narrow, long or short, plump or skinny, there are prom shoes that can make your feet look beautiful. The popular prom shoe styles include open toe, closed toe, short heel, flat heel, high heel, wide heel and stiletto heel. Prom shoes can come with stay-up ribbon tape in a variety of colors that wraps upward around the ankles and lower calf for a glamorous look. Dye-able prom shoes can be dyed to match the exact colors of prom dresses.

With open toe prom shoes, you can paint your toenails to match your prom gown or eveningwear.

What's Your Prom Dress Style?

For the asymmetrically hemmed dress, your legs will shine - and so will your feet. So choose glitzy high heels on strap sandals to attract all eyes to your feet and legs. With a long evening gown, wear prom shoes with a stiletto heel. This will make your legs and feet look slender while making you look taller overall.

With a flared dress that's the length of your leg calves, wear closed toe shoes with a medium heel that straps around the ankle. These also look great with a high-low dress cut. For the long, flowing eveningwear, prom shoes will receive less attention, so you might consider choosing plain, open or closed toe prom shoes that are the same color as your prom dress. You might consider dye-able prom shoes if you're unable to find the exact color you need.

With princess style prom dresses, the open toe or closed toe sandal will work great. Choose heel height according to your own height and the shape and length of your legs.

No matter what style prom dresses you like, try on several types of prom shoes to find the perfect match. The same rules apply for homecoming gowns, Quinceanera gowns, or any other type of elegant clothing. You can also go online to a prom dress or prom shoe store and browse through hundreds of prom dresses and shoes. You'll be dancing the night away in your beautiful prom dress and shoes in no time!