Here Comes the Bride's Cleavage

Ever since Queen Victoria walked down the aisle in a white Dress that every woman in the English-speaking world wanted to imitate, bridal Dresses have been gaining importance in the wedding ceremony.

Here Comes the Bride's Cleavage

Here Comes the Bride's Cleavage

---

Here Comes the Bride's Cleavage

Here Comes the Bride's Cleavage

They got bigger, they got whiter, and they got poofier, and until recently, they all gave out the same message: "THE WOMAN IN THIS Dress IS DEFINITELY A VIRGIN!"

And there was a lot wrong with that message. For one thing, even in the old days, it wasn't necessarily true. ("Love knots" was slang for stitches put in to give the impression that a woman had an intact hyMen on her wedding night.) For another, the bride's virginity shouldn't be anybody's business but that of the happy couple. And nobody seemed to be paying the same meticulous attention to the groom's purity.

Beginning in the 1960's, some woMen began to rebel against the tyranny of the Big White Dress of Perfect Maidenhood. Many still went with "VIRGIN!" dresses, but increasing numbers went with dresses that just said "sweet" or "pretty" or, occasionally, "barefoot earth mother who makes her own granola."

Now that wedding dresses are no longer beacons of sexual inexperience, more and more brides see them as costumes for the most photographed day of their lives. And increasingly media-savvy brides want to manage those photo ops. When they think about how they want people want to see and remember them on their big day, many brides don't think "sweet" and "pretty" cut it. And so they go with "VAVOOM!"

Long story short, brides have turned the formerly sexless wedding dress upside-down. Or rather, the formerly sexless wedding dress has thrown itself, bodice heaving, down upon silky black sheets and... you get the idea.

While the brides of yesteryear wanted reassure their descendants that they had good moral characters and could provide an unbroken family lines, many of today's brides seem to want future tykes to know that Grandma was quite the hot number in her day.

Modern bridal dresses come in slinky, body hugging sheaths, with plunging backs, and even with occasional thigh-high slit skirts. Even Cinderella ball gowns come with necklines that show enough cleavage to make the guests wonder if the bride will be riding away in one of the pumpkins she's smuggling.

It makes sense, in a way. Most people are comfortable with the idea that the bride and groom may have established a physical relationship well before their marriage, and with the fact that the bride is an adult and a sexual being. And many brides have been so thoroughly harassed by women's magazines telling that they have to look perfect that they spend a full year obsessively working out before their weddings. Why not show it off?

And yet.

Remember how broadcasting one's virginity was more information than anyone really needed? The flipside can be true too.

So where's the line? There's no point in going back to the hide-your-ankles days, and every bride deserves to know that she's made at least one ex-boyfriend smack his palm into his forehead for letting her go. On the other hand, Grandpa Hubert should not be made to notice how bangable you are.

Definitely choose a dress that makes you feel gorgeous. Pick the one that makes you feel lovely and comfortable, and, yes, flirty and womanly can go in there too. A touch of sensuality? Definitely. As for the dress that makes you feel achingly, drop-dead sexy, pick that one too. Just pick it in a different color and use it to go clubbing on your honeymoon.

Here Comes the Bride's Cleavage