Wedding Gowns

Fiesta Bridesmaid Gown

For over eighty years, the black dress was the designer’s favorite on fashion stages, of many celebrities on the red carpet, but also the secret weapon from every woman’s dressing room. In 1926, Coco Chanel changes the way women dressed, in the moment when she creates a black straight-line gown, knee-deep, from jersey. Called “Ford”, the gown succeeded to breach through the existing patterns. At that moment Vogue predicted that “it will become some sort of uniform for all women with good tastes”.

Till that moment, black could have been worn only by those who were mourning, and jersey was used only for male lingerie. Channel’s creation was a true revelation. Based on simple lines, similar to those from the shirt, the gown was as simple as it was innovating, austere when all other types of dresses were flamboyant’s, short and comfortable when the rest were long till the floor and not practical, sober and plain when other were in rainbow colors. Some were shocked, but women from all over became in love with the elegance and off-handedness of this dress. And so, a style star was born.

In world war two, style continued almost unaltered: on one hand because of the rationalization of textiles, on the other hand because it already became a uniform (accessorized when it was a professional outfit) for civilian women that worked in offices.

60’s generation created a ramification in the black dress design. Young girl preferred, in general, a mini version of the dress, and designers that approached those niches continuously broke the rules – shrinking the skirt more and more, creating offcuts and slits in the skirt or in the upper part of the gown, using transparent fabrics like tulle, voile and lace. Lots of women aspired at simpler and more classic models, similar to the one created by Hubert de Givenchy and worn by Audrey Hepbrun in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”.

The 70’s had their share of black gowns. Some were feminine and ornately with lacery, some were simple, deprived of ornaments. Anyway, in that period intense colors were preferred instead of black.

In the 80’s, the popularity of the jersey, for business outfits but also for evening ones brought the black dress back under the spotlight. Associated with the madness of the trends, the new designs incorporated details already popular in that period, like excessively wide shoulders.

The grunge culture of the 90’s was the witness of unexpected combination types – a black gown mixed with sandals or boots, even though the gown itself continues to be simple from a tailoring and stitching point of view.