Items chosen to bring good luck to the bride. In this case, the veil was borrowed and the handkerchief was new.

A British Victorian sixpence, traditionally worn in the bride's left shoe on her wedding day.

"Something old" is the first line of a traditional rhyme that details what a bride should wear at her wedding for good luck:

The old item provides protection for the baby to come. The new item offers optimism for the future. The item borrowed from another happily married couple provides good luck. The colour blue is a sign of purity and fidelity. The sixpence — a British silver coin — is a symbol of prosperity or acts as a ward against evil done by frustrated suitors.

Folklore

An 1898 compilation of English folklore recounted that:

In this country an old couplet directs that the bride shall wear:—"Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." "The something blue" takes, I am given to understand, usually the form of a garter, an article of dress which plays an important part in some wedding rites, as, for instance, in the old custom of plucking off the garter of the bride. "The something old" and "something blue" are devices to baffle the Evil Eye. The usual effect on the bride of the Evil Eye is to render her barren, and this is obviated by wearing "something borrowed", which should properly be the undergarment of some woman who has been blessed with children: the clothes communicate fertility to the bride.^[1]

The earliest recorded version of the first two lines is in 1871 in the short story, "Marriage Superstitions, and the Miseries of a Bride Elect" in St James' Magazine, when the female narrator states, "On the wedding day I must 'wear something new, something borrowed, something blue.'"^[2]

The first recorded version of the rhyme as we now know it (the so-called Lancashire version) was in a 1876 newspaper, which reported a wedding where the bride "wore, according to ancient custom, something old and something new, something borrowed and blue."^[3][4]

Another compilation of the era frames this poem as "a Lancashire version", as contrast against a Leicestershire recitation that "a bride on her wedding day should wear—'Something new, Something blue, Something borrowed'...", and so omits the "something old". The authors note that this counters other regional folklore warning against the wearing of blue on the wedding day, but relates the use of the colour to phrases like "true blue" which make positive associations with the colour.^[5]

The final line "and a sixpence in her shoe" is a later Victorian addition; the coin should be worn in the left shoe.^[4]

In 1894, the saying was recorded in Ireland, in the Annual Report and Proceedings of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club, where it was attributed to County Monaghan folklore.^[6]

The wearing of the five items detailed in the rhyme is still popular in the UK and US.

Historical examples

In 1981, at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, the bride wore:

• something old – a very special square of Carrickmacross lace attached to Princess Diana's gown that once belonged to Queen Mary^[7]
• something new – silk spun at Lullingstone silk farm in Dorest^[8]
• something borrowed – a tiara from the Spencer family collection^[9]
• something blue – a blue bow sewn into the waistband of her dress^[10]

In 2011, at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, the bride wore:

• something old – Carrickmacross lace^[11][12]
• something new – a pair of diamond earrings made by jewellers Robinson Pelham and given by her parents^[11][12]
• something borrowed – the Halo Tiara, a diamond tiara made by Cartier which had been bought for The Queen Mother, and which was subsequently given to Elizabeth II on her 18th birthday^[11][12]
• something blue – a small ribbon sewn into the inside of the dress^[11][12]

In 2011, at the wedding of Zara Phillips and Mike Tindall, the bride wore:

• something old – a pair of diamond earrings.^[13]
• something new – her wedding dress, made by Stewart Parvin.^[14]
• something borrowed – the Meander Tiara, a diamond tiara with Greek key pattern, often worn by her mother Princess Anne.^[15]
• something blue – blue nail polish on her toenails.^[16]

In 2018, at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the bride wore:

• something old – sprigs of myrtle in the bouquet, and fabric from the wedding dress of Lady Diana Spencer^[17]
• something new – Givenchy wedding gown (designed by Clare Waight Keller), veil, and shoes, and Cartier jewelry, diamond earrings, and bracelet^[17]
• something borrowed – the Diamond Bandeau Tiara, loaned by the Queen for the occasion^[17]
• something blue – forget-me-nots in the bouquet, and blue fabric sewn into the hem of the dress^[17][18]

In 2018, at the Wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank, the bride wore:

• something old – unclear
• something new – new emerald drop earrings, a gift from the groom^[19]
• something borrowed – the Queen's Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara^[19]
• something blue – blue thistle flowers in her bouquet ^[19]

In 2020, at the wedding of Princess Beatrice and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, the bride wore:

• something old – her dress, borrowed from Queen Elizabeth II, a Norman Hartnell dress made in 1962 for the Queen to wear at the world premiere of Lawrence of Arabia.^[20]
• something new – the "upcycling" performed to the dress, modernising the hemline and adding organza sleeves.^[21]
• something borrowed – the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara, a diamond tiara which was also worn by Elizabeth II at her wedding to Prince Philip.^[22]
• something blue – Unclear, but the South African Sunday Times claimed that the "something blue" was Beatrice's blue blood; she was ninth in line to the British throne at the time.

In popular culture

See also

• Something old, something new (disambiguation)
• Something New (disambiguation)
• Something Borrowed (disambiguation)
• Something Blue (disambiguation)
• Old New Borrowed Blue
• Old New Borrowed and Blue
• Coventry blue

References