Wallis Simpson’s 1937 wedding dress was blue, a shade later associated with the name “Wallis blue.”
Simpson wore the dress when she married the former King Edward VIII, who had abdicated the British throne in 1936. The gown was designed by Mainbocher, the American fashion house founded by Main Rousseau Bocher. Its distinctive blue color became closely connected with Simpson’s public image.
The choice was unusual in an era when pale shades, cream, and white dominated many formal wedding photographs. The dress demonstrated that bridal clothing could communicate personal identity and fashion status without following a single color tradition.
“Wallis blue” is often treated as a generic description of any pale blue wedding dress, but historically it refers specifically to the color associated with Simpson’s gown. The dress itself is preserved at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.