Basic Trope: A white dress denotes a woman's virginity.
- Straight: Alice wears a white Fairy Tale Wedding Dress when she marries Bob, and it's implied (or stated outright) that the first man who will sleep with her is Bob.
- Exaggerated: Alice rides in on a unicorn, denoting Virgin Power while wearing a pure white dress.
- Downplayed: Alice actually already slept with Bob beforehand, but it's only with him and with condoms to prevent unwanted pregnancy.
- Justified:
- Alice's culture considers white to have connotations of purity, and also ties sexuality (in particular, women's sexuality) to moral character. Thus white is the color typically worn by first-time brides, Barrier Maidens, children being christened, etc.
- Alice is a nun and has never been with a man or with another woman, ever. And she clearly intends to keep it that way of her own free will.
- Inverted:
- Alice attends her wedding with Bob nude, and mentions that he will be the first man she’ll ever sleep with.
- Lady in Red
- Widow's Weeds
- Gender Inverted: Bob wears a white tuxedo when he marries Alice, and it's implied (or stated outright) that the first woman who will sleep with him is Alice.
- Subverted:
- Alice is wearing a white dress, but has had sexual contact before, either from Bob, or from some Romantic False Lead.
- Alice is pregnant.
- Alice has been married before.
- In Alice's culture, white isn't a symbol of purity but of mourning.
- Alice is an older woman. White in her culture is reserved for menopausal women.
- In Alice's society, women are not barred from wearing white dresses for any occasion.
- Alice is already married, but renewing her vows to Bob.
- Bob is the first man Alice slept with, but she dated a woman in college.
- Double Subverted:
- But she's a Technical Virgin; that sexual contact didn't include penetrative sex.
- Or, she's a "born-again virgin"; that is, she made a vow to not have sex again until marriage, whether of her own free will or due to pressure from family/religious leaders/etc.
- In Alice's culture, virgins typically wear red.
- Alice wears an off-white dress to suggest that this is her second marriage: she's either a widow or divorced from a former husband.
- Alice is visibly pregnant, but the pregnancy is a Mystical Pregnancy that did not result from sex on her part.
- Parodied:
- Alice wears a white Fairy Tale Wedding Dress when she marries Bob. Her being a fat and ugly Straw Feminist is enough proof that she hasn't slept with anyone else.
- After losing her virginity, Alice is forbidden to wear clothes ever again and has to walk around naked.
- Averted: There is not specific color linked to virginity.
- Enforced: Madonna-Whore Complex
- Lampshaded: "Alice, are you sure you should be wearing white?" "Yes, because I am a genuine virgin, unlike you."
- Invoked: Alice goes dress-shopping with her mother, who picks out a pure white dress for her.
- Exploited: A Serial Killer who specifically targets virgins runs a shop of pretty gowns and carefully watches the ones who choose white clothes.
- Defied: "Yes, I'm an old woman and I wear a white dress, what's it to you?"
- Discussed:
- "Alice is wearing white?! But she has kids..."
- Alice is wearing a white dress, while visibly pregnant, and someone comments on how distasteful that is.
- Conversed: "Originally, the white dress thing had more to do with Conspicuous Consumption than anyone advertising a bride's virginity."
- Implied:
- Alice is the only girl at the prom wearing a white dress, and it's implied that she's the only girl in the class with no sexual experience.
- Alice walks down the aisle in her white wedding dress, and someone comments on how "innocent" she looks.
- Bob takes notice of Alice wearing a pretty white gown, and comments on how "pure" she must be (perhaps in a poem or some Purple Prose) when he first sees her.
Back to Virgin in a White Dress and ride your unicorn while you're at it.
