Some Facts From The History Of The Little Black Dress

By Author: Bimol Bee
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Undoubtedly, every young lady should have a little black dress in her wardrobe. In fact, it serves as a life saver in case of some party or meeting. However, up to the 1920s black dresses were mostly worn by mourning widows. In that period of time black dresses were added with certain accessories, design details and had definite types of materials.

But nowadays a little black dress is an important part of fashion that should be owned by each lady and worn for different sorts of occasions. While choosing the appropriate dress it’s recommended to avoid following contemporary trends but to choose a more classic dress. Let’s remind where this trend originates from.

Somewhere in 1926 Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel owned a picture of a short black dress in magazine Vogue. It had a straight shape, calf-length and suited any woman. But after the First World War great changes happened in fashion. The bouffant style hair gave way to short bobs, and few women wore corsets and even dared to use man’s wardrobes. In fact, women started dressing like boys.

At first, the designers didn’t want to accept such ...
... a radical change seriously but as time passed by they embraced it and women's wardrobes acquired an androgynous style. The clothes seemed to be waistless and bustless but they were always added with expressive accessories. Coco Chanel became a fashion icon and she assisted further development of the sporty look, women’s wearing little black dresses and their using of jersey knit.

In the course of the Great Depression the black dress successfully kept its popularity mostly due to the elegance it offered and a reasonable price. Hollywood helped the promotion of this product that played an important role in development of dramatic women’s characters who used to wear halter neck versions of this piece of clothing. The style of the little black dress continued spreading even during World War 2. The 1950s are characterized by a moderate style of clothes, so it became more of a uniform again. Besides, synthetic materials became extremely popular during the 40s and 50s.

The 1960s are characterized by changes of all sorts of people’s life and the style of a black dress was influenced as well. This period is significant for shortening of skirts, when the younger generation created a mini skirt version. Slits and cutouts were designed in the bodice area and sheer fabrics were mostly used for their sewing. The period of the 1970s is characterized by more lacy, feminine versions of black dresses. In addition, other colours were more preferable at this time. And the 1980s brought different shoulder details into fashion.

Probably, the most widely known in this style is Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffanys. One of her characters, Holly Golightly, used to wear the Chanel ideal with the black dress added with an ordinary string of pearls. Besides, the famous singer Edith Piaf wore a black sheath dress during all her career due to which she get got the nickname of the "little black sparrow."

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