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In Double X’s Closet Classics slideshow series, Erika Kawalek, author of the forthcoming Ragpicker, examines the 21st-century women’s wardrobe piece by piece. She begins with the little black dress.
There’s been a lot of discussion lately about what the recession means for fashion. One prediction is that women will practice “investment dressing.” The idea of spending a considerable sum on clothing that is cut from durable fabrics and then sewn into a trend-averse style may sound elitist and silly today, but before ready-to-wear became wear-and-toss, it was the principle on which most women built—and maintained—their wardrobes, the foundation of which was the black dress. A hard-wearing badge of middle-class respectability, revamped and retrimmed over and over again, for centuries the black dress was a woman’s one decent outfit, unfastened each night and hung on a peg.
The haute couturière Coco Chanel, whose life and work is being feted in two biopics this fall, is credited with inventing the little black dress (LBD). This is only partially true; there were many precursors. But Chanel was the first to take the self-effacing, austere black dress and make it undeniably chic. So we kick off this slideshow with Coco.
Click here to launch the Double X guide to the LBD.
Film still from Funny Face, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
SNL: Equal Opportunity Objectifiers
Jon Hamm spent most of the Saturday Night Live episode he hosted last night shirtless.
Confessions of a Woman Comedy Writer
Allison Silverman accepts one from New York Women in Film & Television (and tells us why it's rare).
Comments
from Valerie Steele
By: bo.beep | Mon, 01/25/2010 - 20:21
"Periodically, fashion journalists suggest that black is now so ubiquitous that it has become obvious, lazy, even boring. Fashionable women pay no attention."
Black dresses and conformity.
By: MessyONE | Tue, 06/23/2009 - 15:02
The LBD has, sadly, gone the way of all radical fashion - it's become a cliche, a cop-out, a way for people who don't really know how to dress themselves to abdicate all control over the way they look. There are still some who think of it as a fashion statement - but who takes a black tank dress seriously?
I see in that both Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren - both masters of repackaging other people's ideas into bland, preppy pap - have come up with....ready? Even MORE boring little frocks designed to flatter the figures of their ideal women. That would be the ones who are built like adolescent boys with bleached extensions and bad falsies. Oh sure, they've added a bow here and there and maybe some sequins, but all they've really done is create a uniform that their clients find safe and cozy.
I'm guilty of the Black Dress Uniform myself. The Boy has some corporate events to go to every year, and I dutifully haul out my nifty Armani or Calvin Klein flapper dress. You could even call the Calvin "vintage". It's a simple sleeveless sheath, trimmed in leather at the neck and armholes. I'm changing it out this year, though. I'll be taking about a foot of length off, covering the leather bits with studs, and wearing it with a classic motorcycle jacket made of green silk brocade. I'll have to make the jacket myself.
If I don't do that, I'll be making this:
http://www.voguepatterns.com/item/V1094.htm?tab=list/vintage_vogue&page=all
in any color but black. Because those of us with little waists need to show them off.
Sustainable Fashion
By: hungrybruno | Tue, 06/23/2009 - 13:46
There's an interesting experiment going on with this same idea, and in fact with a little black dress. Have you seen theuniformproject.com?
The "LBD
By: ronavis | Tue, 06/23/2009 - 09:51
Interesting article about a fashion staple, but curious that you spoke of Chanel's impact but showed a photo of a dress designed by Givenchy, without credit, I might add.