The LBD turns 99 this year, but can you imagine a world before it?
Get up. Get dressed. Go to work. Repeat.
This routine is the morning drill for the 72.7 million women in the U.S. workforce. Whether she's a chemical engineer or a second grade school teacher, each of these women have this in common: a need to dress professionally. This 'need' isn't typically characterized by a clothing budget that could finance a third world nation, or style that could be sent down a twinkling Parisian runway, or a closet exploding with heaps of clothes from floor to ceiling. No, what those 72.7 million women need to wear to work they also need to wear out with friends, to dinner, or any day-to-day event.
So what single garment is up for the harrowing task? That's easy: the little black dress.
"It's easier to list activities where a little black dress isn't appropriate, like gardening or swimming in the ocean," Emily Popp, a Los Angeles based fashion blogger, said. "Short of that, LBDs are appropriate for almost everything. An LBD is so versatile because you can essentially think of it as a blank slate that is figure flattering. Add to it, and you can create a look that is casual or ultra-formal."
It's hard to imagine a world before the LBD. Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, Victoria Beckham and Angelina Jolie are all champions of the minimalistic design. Before them, it was Hollywood golden era stars like Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor who popularized the simplified fashion staple. The LBD now is a classic. But before Vogue published a sketch of the design 99 years ago, it was just another drawing Coco Chanel's sketchbook.
"Coco Chanel designed the 'Little Black Dress' using jersey fabric, making it simple, comfortable and practical," Milly & Grace Girls blogger Caroline Ott explained. "Before Chanel, jersey was only used to produce men’s underwear, so it was inconceivable at the time that the same material could make fashionable dresses for proper ladies. However, Chanel decided to tackle the inconceivable in the hopes of freeing women from their imprisoning clothing."
And pre-LBD, women's fashion was a far cry from today's working-girl comfy-chic attire, with suffocating corsets and constricting silhouettes being more the norm.
"Contrary to the constraining, heavy clothing of the early 1900s, jersey manufactured soft, lightweight clothing with fluid lines," Ott said of the original LBDs fabric. "Chanel designed the cut of the little black dress to compliment a woman’s figure, rather than to brutally disfigure a woman’s natural body shape the way the corset did. Therefore, her “Little Black Dress” quickly became all the rage."
It wasn't just the idea of constructing a dress out of fabric traditionally reserved for men's under garments that made the LBD groundbreaking—it was the 'B' word.
"The LBD revolutionized the color black as not being associated with just mourning anymore," Popp said. "Before, a black dress was what you wore to a funeral, but after the 1920s it became much, much more versatile."
Today Chanel is a brand for the upper crust, but when Coco founded the small hat-shop-turned-clothing-store in 1910, she had a starkly different market in mind: The nonconformists. Herself a sartorial rebel, she challenged the limits of fashion, and embraced women's emerging roles in society by creating clothes in which they could live their more independent lives. Her brazen blend of androgynous style in the form of the female power suit met sharply divided criticism and praise. Not long after the women's suit, Vogue hand-chose the controversial designer's new LBD to appear in its October edition.
LBDs soon evolved into a staple in the 1920s, outliving flapper dresses and other iconic styles of the generation. With the onset of World War II, more and more women entered the workforce, intensifying the demand for practical, professional clothing amidst heavy war rationing. Comfort and versatility made the LBD the obvious choice. Buying an LBD became more than a just splurge—it became a necessity.
"You're pretty much guaranteed to get a lot of mileage out of your LBD," Popp said. "Unlike splurging on something trendy, a little black dress is rarely a purchase that you'll regret later, because it's one of the few items that never goes out of style."
It's not all work and no play, though. The LBD is an essential component in any professional wardrobe, but its versatile nature allows it to seamlessly transition between countless events: Work, school, lunch dates, parties, dinners and everything in between.
"LBDs can run the gamut from relaxed all the way up to very dressy occasions, like a gala," Popp said. "Wear with a pair of flats and a denim jacket and you're casual enough for running errands or going to the airport. Or dress up with heels, your favorite jewelry and a bold lip and suddenly—you're fancy."
Whether dressed up for dinner at a five-star restaurant or down for a quick Starbucks meeting, there is one unifying factor that strings all LBDs together: Simplicity.
"One of Chanel's famous quotes is 'Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.' She was all about simplifying," Popp said. "The tenants of accessorizing an LBD are easy (add flats for a casual look, add heels for a dressy style—it's not brain surgery), but it's that type of simplicity that makes it so genius."
Get up. Get dressed. Go to work. Repeat.
This routine is the morning drill for the 72.7 million women in the U.S. workforce. Whether she's a chemical engineer or a second grade school teacher, each of these women have this in common: a need to dress professionally. This 'need' isn't typically characterized by a clothing budget that could finance a third world nation, or style that could be sent down a twinkling Parisian runway, or a closet exploding with heaps of clothes from floor to ceiling. No, what those 72.7 million women need to wear to work they also need to wear out with friends, to dinner, or any day-to-day event.
So what single garment is up for the harrowing task? That's easy: the little black dress.
"It's easier to list activities where a little black dress isn't appropriate, like gardening or swimming in the ocean," Emily Popp, a Los Angeles based fashion blogger, said. "Short of that, LBDs are appropriate for almost everything. An LBD is so versatile because you can essentially think of it as a blank slate that is figure flattering. Add to it, and you can create a look that is casual or ultra-formal."
It's hard to imagine a world before the LBD. Jackie Kennedy, Princess Diana, Victoria Beckham and Angelina Jolie are all champions of the minimalistic design. Before them, it was Hollywood golden era stars like Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor who popularized the simplified fashion staple. The LBD now is a classic. But before Vogue published a sketch of the design 99 years ago, it was just another drawing Coco Chanel's sketchbook.
"Coco Chanel designed the 'Little Black Dress' using jersey fabric, making it simple, comfortable and practical," Milly & Grace Girls blogger Caroline Ott explained. "Before Chanel, jersey was only used to produce men’s underwear, so it was inconceivable at the time that the same material could make fashionable dresses for proper ladies. However, Chanel decided to tackle the inconceivable in the hopes of freeing women from their imprisoning clothing."
And pre-LBD, women's fashion was a far cry from today's working-girl comfy-chic attire, with suffocating corsets and constricting silhouettes being more the norm.
"Contrary to the constraining, heavy clothing of the early 1900s, jersey manufactured soft, lightweight clothing with fluid lines," Ott said of the original LBDs fabric. "Chanel designed the cut of the little black dress to compliment a woman’s figure, rather than to brutally disfigure a woman’s natural body shape the way the corset did. Therefore, her “Little Black Dress” quickly became all the rage."
It wasn't just the idea of constructing a dress out of fabric traditionally reserved for men's under garments that made the LBD groundbreaking—it was the 'B' word.
"The LBD revolutionized the color black as not being associated with just mourning anymore," Popp said. "Before, a black dress was what you wore to a funeral, but after the 1920s it became much, much more versatile."
Today Chanel is a brand for the upper crust, but when Coco founded the small hat-shop-turned-clothing-store in 1910, she had a starkly different market in mind: The nonconformists. Herself a sartorial rebel, she challenged the limits of fashion, and embraced women's emerging roles in society by creating clothes in which they could live their more independent lives. Her brazen blend of androgynous style in the form of the female power suit met sharply divided criticism and praise. Not long after the women's suit, Vogue hand-chose the controversial designer's new LBD to appear in its October edition.
LBDs soon evolved into a staple in the 1920s, outliving flapper dresses and other iconic styles of the generation. With the onset of World War II, more and more women entered the workforce, intensifying the demand for practical, professional clothing amidst heavy war rationing. Comfort and versatility made the LBD the obvious choice. Buying an LBD became more than a just splurge—it became a necessity.
"You're pretty much guaranteed to get a lot of mileage out of your LBD," Popp said. "Unlike splurging on something trendy, a little black dress is rarely a purchase that you'll regret later, because it's one of the few items that never goes out of style."
It's not all work and no play, though. The LBD is an essential component in any professional wardrobe, but its versatile nature allows it to seamlessly transition between countless events: Work, school, lunch dates, parties, dinners and everything in between.
"LBDs can run the gamut from relaxed all the way up to very dressy occasions, like a gala," Popp said. "Wear with a pair of flats and a denim jacket and you're casual enough for running errands or going to the airport. Or dress up with heels, your favorite jewelry and a bold lip and suddenly—you're fancy."
Whether dressed up for dinner at a five-star restaurant or down for a quick Starbucks meeting, there is one unifying factor that strings all LBDs together: Simplicity.
"One of Chanel's famous quotes is 'Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.' She was all about simplifying," Popp said. "The tenants of accessorizing an LBD are easy (add flats for a casual look, add heels for a dressy style—it's not brain surgery), but it's that type of simplicity that makes it so genius."