Fashion & Clothing

Black Dress

Practically every woman owns at least one black dress. They are one of the most versatile dresses you can own. If you choose the right combination of styling and material, you can wear it for most occasions. By dressing your black dress up or down using accessories and jewellery, you can wear it as a party dress, a cocktail dress or just as a smart day-to-day dress.

The History of the Black Dress

Because the history of the black dress is relatively short, it is easy to trace. Coco Chanel is credited with coming up with the iconic little black dress and few people disagree with this assertion.

In 1926, Coco Chanel sent a picture of a simple black dress she had designed to American Vogue who published it. The dress was very simple, it was straight and calf length decorated with two simple inverted v shaped horizontal stripes in a different tone of black. It had a simple drop waist. To be quite frank would only really flatter the thinnest of women, but must high fashion is designed to do exactly that. Even the fabric it was made from was not particularly special it was crepe de chine.

At first, it went practically unnoticed, as did many of Chanel’s very simple dresses. However, it did make a mark, at least at a semi-conscious level. By 1930, more black dresses came to market and more and more women began to buy them. At first they were mostly young women, because to many older women black was still a colour that you only wore if you were in morning.

However, it took until 1961 for the black dress to become the iconic fashion item it is today. The bombshell that was Audrey Hepburn was the lady who made it happen. She wore a little black dress in her film Breakfast at Tiffany’s and the rest, as they say, was definitely history. They flew off the racks, and it was no longer just young women who were buying these dresses. Designers came up with slight variations on the original dress and quickly every woman had at least one black dress in their wardrobe.

If you want a black dress visit the Little Black Dress website. There you will find literally hundreds of dresses to choose from.