- Hello, I'm Hamish Bowles.
International editor at large of American Vogue
and I'm here to tell you everything you need to know
about the little black dress.
Whoever said orange is the new black
obviously never owned one of these.
A versatile fashion staple,
marked by its above ankle length,
the little black dress, or the LBD,
is nearly synonymous with the cocktail dress.
Everyone who's anyone from Princess Diana
and Christina Stambolian,
to Billy Porter and Christian Siriano
knows the power the black dress holds.
But it was Coco Chanel who gave the first LBD
it's high fashion debut.
In 1926, a sketch of Chanel's calf-length, black,
crepe de chine dress made its way
to the pages of American Vogue.
Referred to as Chanel's Ford,
after the ubiquitous Model T of the same era,
the dress was described as
"the frock that all the world will wear."
Undoubtedly, Chanel's dress was revolutionary.
The drop waist and straight line silhouette
offered women a new sense of mobility and liberation.
On par with the more visible, vocal,
and newly enfranchised modern woman.
Some people speculated that Coco's use of black
was a defiant response to the uniform
she was forced to wear in her childhood at an orphanage.
Irregardless, for revenge or otherwise,
black quickly transformed from a color associated
with widows and religious figures,
to one dawned by movie stars and socialites alike.
Let's fast-forward to the prosperous 50s.
After the 1947 new look put an international spotlight
on French designer Christian Dior,
he shortened his dress length from the ankles
to just below the knees.
His iconic and alphabetic silhouettes, the A, H, and Y
to name but a few, gave the LBD a shapely, feminine twist.
Rounded shoulders, nipped in waists,
and full skirts were Dior's signature style.
Dior was the first to label
these evening frocks, cocktail dresses
and magazines, department stores, designers,
and customers were quick to rise to the occasion.
In the late 50s and early 60s,
youth culture was thriving,
and Audrey Hepburn was America's brightest star.
Hubert De Givenchy found a muse in Hepburn,
but he could have never predicted that his LBDs
would become nearly synonymous with the woman wearing them.
Hepburn's beloved characters, often exemplifying daring,
cosmopolitan women, made the little black dress
sought after by younger generations for the first time.
Even Barbie, known for her youthful wardrobe
of girly pink outfits,
was caught wearing her first black dress in 1964.
In Paris, however, a different shape was taking form.
Spanish designer and master couturier Cristobal Balenciaga
was experimenting with tubular silhouettes.
A callback to Chanel's 1920s designs.
His use of stiff silk gazar,
a moldable light-weight textile,
revolutionized what shape a cocktail dress could be.
Take his 1967 four-point dress, for instance,
decorated with a rhinestone broach and imitation pearls.
Since the late 1930s, Balenciaga found inspiration
from the sobering black he saw
in traditional Spanish folk dresses,
menswear, Catholic orders, and historic Spanish art.
During the later 1960s, freedom, feminism
and free-love reigned supreme.
This era was all about risks
and French designer Yves Saint Laurent
wasn't afraid to take them.
Already having earned the title
of world's youngest couturier,
after taking over Dior at just 21-years-old,
Yves Saint Laurent was a champion
of street culture, rebellion, and sex appeal.
His ostrich dress, made of sheer black chiffon
with plumage at the hips, turned heads on the runway
for freeing the nipple way before it was a trending hashtag.
Saint Laurent famously put Catherine Deneuve
in a school girl inspired LBD
for her role in "Belle de Jour"
and soon actresses were spotted wearing minis of their own
both on and off the screen.
By the late 70s and early 80s,
the LBD took a backseat to the more extravagant
and colorful designs that defined that era.
The period wasn't a total bust for the LBD, however.
The queen of rock and roll herself, Tina Turner,
regularly wore the dresses
of Tunisian couturier Azzedine Alaia,
whose stretched fabrics made his pieces
the obvious choice for performers looking for alternatives
to the classic leotard.
Designer Patrick Kelly too, self-referred to
as the black, male Lucille Ball,
gave the chic fashion staple a flashy twist.
His use of bows, hearts, and buttons
added an 80s flare to his designs.
After all, more is more in the era of the material girl.
But, like Madonna, the little black dress
was sure to make a comeback.
In 1985, for her debut collection,
Donna Karan introduced a concept of seven easy pieces
that helped you assemble your very own little black dress.
Karl Lagerfeld, newly crowned creative director of Chanel,
understood the power of nostalgia,
but instead of using the black crepe de chine material
in the original design, he opted for a modern combination
of black vinyl and polyester jersey.
Helmut Lang's collection similarly featured raw,
stripped down pieces.
His dress, featured in this 1989 issue of Vogue,
was described as fitting like a second skin
and, of course, all eyes were on the it-girls of the 90s.
Whether they were your favorite TV characters,
the world's biggest supermodels,
or a member of the British royal family,
black dresses became the obvious way to wear
the minimalist fashion revolution.
That brings us to 21st century.
With 80 plus years behind them,
designers were looking for even more ways
to reinvent the little black wheel.
One thing has always been certain though, sex sells,
and these designers knew it.
By this time, Versace and Dolce & Gabbana
were already Italy's go-to designers for overt sex appeal.
Dolce & Gabbana's Sicilian widow-inspired LBDs
were given a twist of Italian femineity
with the use of lingerie, black lace, and roses,
and who can forget the Prada dress
worn by Bond girl, Camille, in 2008's Quantum of Solace.
The mid to late 2000s were all about cut outs.
Anthony Vaccarello for Saint Laurent, Christopher Kane,
Olivier Rousteing for Balmain, and Donatella Versace,
all showed inventive black evening wear
with slits, gaps, and unexpected necklines.
Carly Cushnie, too, released a handful of black dresses
in her 2020 ready to wear collections.
But perhaps her most modern piece is this,
a designer in an LBD holding her own child.
The outfit of choice for the fearless, successful woman.
But it may be that the most interesting take
on the little black dress came not from a designer,
but instead, from who was wearing it.
The later year from the 2010s
has had men strutting their way down the red carpet
in black dresses of their own.
For one and all, a quick change of jewelry
or shoes can transform any black dress
from a daytime to an evening look,
making it the perfect choice for, well, anyone.
Perhaps the little black dress
really is fashion's great equalizer.
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