Albanian bridal attire looks marvelous! It is so elegant and richly decorated with gold embroidery and lace – a truly regal attire. It’s no wonder modern Albanian brides often use traditional wedding ensembles for their wedding or for a less formal wedding reception or for the 2nd-3rd day of the wedding celebration. Every bride wants to show off her beauty and wealth in this costly and ornate outfit. In this post, we’ll share with you a few late-19th-century wedding ensembles of Albanian brides from museum collections.
In modern Albania, women use both traditional wedding clothing and Western-style white bridal gowns. Both outfits are popular. Very often, Albanian brides dress in white wedding gowns for the official ceremony or/and the religious ceremony. And for the less formal wedding reception, they change into elaborate traditional apparel. Also, women choose a folk dress when meeting with their family members and receiving congratulations on the 2nd or 3rd day after the wedding. Besides, Albanian weddings usually last more than just one day – sometimes, up to a week, so the bride needs a few wedding ensembles for such a long celebration.
If to talk about the traditional wedding attire of Albanian women, it depends on the region of the country a lot. Because every part of Albania has its own clothing traditions and typical folk garments. But most often, the traditional bridal apparel consists of a blouse or chemise (made from light fabric and adorned with lace, embroidery, etc), baggy trousers or skirt (also decorative, with lace inserts and gold-embroidered bottom border), a very ornate short and tight-fitting vest (it serves as a corset and covers the bust, as the blouse underneath is usually semi-transparent), a long sleeveless coat (it is very richly embellished with gold embroidery and various trimmings – possibly the most beautiful item of Albanian folk wedding attire), and a veil (or some other headdress).
The whole complete look of an Albanian bride in the traditional wedding costume is striking, it takes your breath away.
Here are 3 wedding ensembles from Albania. They’re from the late 19th century and are stored at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
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