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How the Little Black Dress Got to Be Black, and Little
Coco Chanel didn't create, just popularized
By Evann Gastaldo
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Posted Jun 22, 09 3:12 PM CDT
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(Newser)
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The ubiquitous little black dress can be the foundation of a recession-friendly wardrobe. But Coco Chanel—widely credited with inventing the LBD—actually just brought it from strict and severe to chic and sophisticated. Double X explores the history of this staple in women’s closets:
- Centuries ago, black was worn by the clergy and aristocrats. In the 17th century, Dutch burghers brought it to the masses.
- In the 18th century, black was also a color for rebellious women to wear, thumbing a nose at the pastels of the day.
- The tailor-made women’s suit, introduced in the 1880s, was a precursor to the little black dress.
- After World War II, the big black dress came on the scene—Dior’s model weighed nearly 7 pounds.
- By the 1950s, as one woman recalled in an oral history, “if there were 10 women at a party, nine would be in black.”
For more history, click the link below.