It may seem that in the twentieth century, dress gave way to trousers and suits. But neither the women themselves, nor the designers abandoned it. So, the breakthrough of Chanel's "little black dress" is widely known: it turned out that you can choose a "boyish" silhouette, wear black not only as a sign of mourning or in old age, and look elegant without putting a ton of effort. Bird In Flight recalls other fashionable mini-revolutions of the last century.
For warriors and princesses
In 1954, French artist and fashion designer Madame Gre, inspired by antique statues, paired a gathered skirt with a tight semi-corset and created an evening gown that left one shoulder completely exposed. This is how the style became fashionable, called the "dress of the Amazon" in honor of the mythical tribe of women warriors: according to legend, the Amazons cut off their right chest so as not to interfere with shooting from a bow.
The image of the Amazon appeared in fashion for a reason. In the first decades of the 20th century, women led an increasingly active life, simultaneously getting rid of unnecessary clothing that hindered movement - rigid corsets and a heap of petticoats. Then they started talking about the benefits of sports for the female body.
"Amazon dress" has become one of the main options for evening wear. Such dresses, for example, were loved by Princess Diana. Gradually, this style began to be used to create clothes for everyday and even sports style. For example, Stella McCartney showed very short dresses with one sleeve made from fabric for sports suits in the spring-summer 2012 collection.
Who's in the bag
In 1957, Hubert de Givenchy created the complete opposite of the then dominant "hourglass". The sack dress sat loosely, was wide at the waist and narrowed at the bottom. In horror, fashion magazines called the style "awkward" - but active, working women quickly appreciated it.
The robe volante (flying dress), which appeared in France at the beginning of the 18th century, is considered the progenitor of the "bag". Its feature was a wide, free back. Of course, they did not appear at court in such an outfit, but they gladly wore it in a less formal setting. Later, the back of the dress, draping the back, was called the "Watteau fold" in honor of the artist Jean-Antoine Watteau, who often depicted women in robe volante.
Givenchy's dress turned fashion from the emphasized femininity and elegance of the 1950s to the much less strict and more vibrant, democratic and youthful looks of the next decade. However, soon the pendulum swung back: adding darts at the waist, the designers got practically a sheath dress - the main style of the 1960s.
Swan Lake
A tutu - a skirt made of several layers of tulle, tightly gathered at the waist and complemented by a fitted bodice - has been known since 1730. Then energetic jumping dances came into fashion, and ballerinas needed weightless skirts that emphasized the ease of movement. Over time, the ballet tutu became shorter and shorter until it turned into a rigid platform, almost parallel to the floor. But the classic long tutu made a good career in the fashion world.
Now fashion designers are finding a variety of combinations for thin, fluffy tulle: the Mallawi sisters in the 2003 collection for the Rodarte brand showed bell-shaped tutus made of different materials, connected with rough seams; Jean-Paul Gaultier in 2007 supplemented the pack with black leather, rivets and sneakers; and Sarah Jessica Parker's character in Sex and the City wore a tutu with a plain light T-shirt.
Back view
Candid dresses with open shoulders and a deep neckline were worn by women for many centuries, but they decided to show society a completely bare back only in the 1920s. Bathing suits, which have entered the wardrobe thanks to the swimming craze, paved the way for new notions of decency. Photographers also made their contribution, more and more often filming women in swimsuits for newspapers and magazines (by our standards, very closed).
In the early 1930s, Madeleine Vionnet introduced slant-cut dresses with an open back, many of which had a back trim that attracted attention to the lower back. This style came in very handy for American actresses: when Hollywood adopted the Hayes Code, which prohibited the appearance of deep cleavage in the frame, the actresses took off their bras and began to show their naked backs to fans.
It is these dresses that owe its appearance to the classic pose, which can still be seen on the red carpet: standing with her back to the camera and putting her hand on her hip, a woman coquettishly looks over her shoulder.
Doll fashion
Baby-dollar dresses can be found in pin-up drawings by Alberto Vargas for Esquire magazine in the 1940s. And this style got its name after the release of Elia Kazani's film Baby Doll (1956), in which the actress Carroll Baker played a young girl who embodied both innocence and sensuality. Previously, baby dolls were called short dresses with frills, which were used to dress small children of both sexes.
For adult outfits in the style of baby-dollars, chiffon, lace, silk in delicate pink, blue, lilac tones were used; they were richly trimmed with lace, bows, feathers and frills. Such dresses were worn as a negligee, in which you can appear only in the circle of loved ones.
Later, baby dollars were sewn from a denser fabric and worn as a full dress. In the 1960s, fragile boy figurines came into vogue, which could not be best suited for a baby dollar. Foale & Tuffin and Mary Quant produced cute floral dresses made from gauze, lace and cotton, reminiscent of the images from Alice in Wonderland.
In the 1990s, vocalists of grunge bands such as Courtney Love and Kat Bjelland began to wear like children's dresses. In their interpretation, the babydoll turned into an outfit of a teenage breakaway: dresses were complemented by torn tights, disheveled hair and aggressive, smeared makeup.
The style is still relevant in our time: Meadham Kirchhoff in the spring-summer 2014 collection showed translucent dresses in cream and yellow tones combined with black socks with lace trim and a collar in the style of Peter Pan, which refer to the image of Courtney Love.
Loops and stripes
Until the 1930s, knitting was mainly used for sweaters and skirts. And in the 50s, a sweater dress appeared - the same tight-fitting sweater that Hollywood stars loved, only a long one. The mass production of such products was opened by Hattie Carnegie from New York. Soon sweater dresses, which were sewn with different cutouts, wide collars or drooping shoulders, appeared in almost every woman's wardrobe.
Since the 1960s, knitwear began its triumphant march, turning from a niche material into one of the main areas of work for designers; Then the "queen of knitwear" Sonia Rykiel presented her famous knitted dresses with wide stripes. The modern British designer Julian MacDonald manages to use knitting to create evening dresses made of the finest spider web.
The shirt turns
A simple and comfortable shirt dress emerged in the 1900s by combining an English blouse (tailored after a man's shirt, with a turn-down collar, cuffs and buttons from top to bottom) and a skirt. It was originally a working woman's style, but in the 1950s it became a part of the housewife's image: women were dressed in this outfit in advertisements for household appliances, household chemicals and food. In the 70s, the shirt dress returned to the wardrobe of working women.
American designer Diane von Fürstenberg posed for the cover of Newsweek magazine in a loose-fitting shirt dress in 1976. It was the forerunner of the legendary wrap dress that Fürstenberg later created.
