Wedding Veils Typically Worn During The 1920s

This 1920s fashion plate shows the bridal veil long in back and short in front.

       An occasion on which a Western woman is likely to wear a veil is on her white wedding day. Brides once used to wear their hair flowing down their back at their wedding to symbolize their virginity. Veils covering the hair and face became a symbolic reference to the virginity of the bride thereafter. A bride may wear the face veil through the ceremony. Then either her father lifts the veil, presenting the bride to her groom, or the groom lifts the veil to symbolically consummate the marriage. Brides may make use of the veil to symbolize and emphasize their status of purity during their wedding however, and if they do, the lifting of the veil may be ceremonially recognized as the crowning event of the wedding, when the beauty of the bride is finally revealed to the groom and the guests.

       In modern weddings, the ceremony of removing a face veil after the wedding to present the groom with the bride may not occur, since couples may have entered into conjugal relations prior to the wedding and it may also be considered sexist for the bride to have her face covered whether or not the veil is a sign of virginity. In Scandinavia, brides wear a veil usually under a traditional crown but do not have their face covered (instead the veil is attached to and hangs from the back).

During the 1920s, modern brides typically wore their hair short
 and their veils short across the front of their face only.

Vintage hair and makeup from HairComestheBride.