Little black

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The little black dress based on Hubert de Givenchy's interpretation from 1961

The Little Black Dress ( French: Petite robe noire ; American English Little Black Dress , LBD ) is a classically elegant black dress . It is closely related to the shift dress and is designed as a cocktail dress , for example . It is considered a classic of women's fashion and can be worn on many occasions.

background

Diane Kruger in the Little Black Dress (2009)

Black dresses were reserved for grieving widows in the 19th century . A discreet black dress with lush lace appeared for the first time in Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina as a color of seduction that highlights the personality of its wearer . The protagonist wore it to the ball where she met Count Alexei Vronsky. When in 1884 the painter John Singer Sargent exhibited his painting Madame X , a portrait of Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, a married society lady who was reputed to be loving, which she showed in a black dress with a plunging neckline, one thing resolved Scandal from: The fact that she wore this color in public could only mean that she had "died" of her husband.

history

Fatal dress with a red bolero that can be transformed from a little black dress into a long evening dress

The little black dress became popular and has been called this since the American Vogue in 1926 published the design of a black sheath dress by Coco Chanel with its quote “This simple dress will become a kind of uniform for all women with taste”. It was a drawing of a narrowly cut dress made of black Chinese silk, covering the knees, with narrow long sleeves. The top, loose in the front like a blouson, was kept taut in the back. The Vogue editors named it after the black automobile “Chanel ' Ford '” - “a model that everyone will wear - 'Model 817'”. With the Little Black, widows - as a result of the First World War - should be able to express both their grief and their wish for the future. For this purpose Coco Chanel had designed the fashionable piece. Around 1927, the house of Chanel brought out a little black dress as an ensemble made of wool jersey with a pleated skirt. The simple piece of clothing soon shaped the fashion of the 20s and stood as a symbol for a new, modern type of woman. With her first model, Coco Chanel had inspired the fashion world. Since then it has been reinterpreted time and again by designers and has remained an epitome of elegance and style to this day.

However , in Amy Holman Edelman's book Das kleine Schwarze (1998), designer Karl Lagerfeld expressed doubts about the actual authorship of Chanel: “Little black dresses appeared for the first time between 1918 and 1920, and I have the feeling that they are on the mourning clothes in the World War I go back. ”The New York fashion designer Nettie Rosenstein (1890–1980) could also be considered as the author.

The little black dress had its greatest success in 1961 with Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in a sleeveless model designed by Givenchy in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's . The dress worn by Hepburn was auctioned in 2006 for 692,000 euros .

Fabrics and styles

The little black dress is common in women's fashion, for example, as a narrow cocktail dress made of satin . Frequently used fabrics are also chiffon and viscose . The special thing about the little black dress is that it can adapt to any new style. It can be worn both short and long, off the shoulder or with shoulder pads, with a narrow skirt or flared with a multi-layer petticoat . There is basically no clear definition of the little black dress.

literature

  • Amy Holman Edelman .: The little black dress. Simon & Schuster, New York 1997. German edition: Das kleine Schwarze. Translated by Henriette Zeltner. 3rd edition dtv, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-423-36212-X .
  • NJ Stevenson: The History of Fashion. Styles, trends and stars. Haupt, Bern u. a. 2011, ISBN 978-3-258-60032-1 , pp. 160 f.
  • Andre Leon Talley : Little Black Dress , Rizzolo, New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-8478-4057-1 .

Web links

Commons : Small black  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Sara Hakemi: Black as the night. The little black one. In: Alfons Kaiser , Susanne Kusicke (eds.): Poncho, parka, Prada bag. Small glossary of essential clothing items. HC Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-54160-7 , pp. 29-33.
  2. ^ Susanne Mayer: Exhibition Little Black Dress: Just black. In: The time . Online August 14, 2013, accessed July 28, 2017.
  3. ↑ The Little Black One: The Wonder Weapon Every Woman Should Own. In: The world . November 18, 2015, accessed July 28, 2017.
  4. ^ Ensemble, Designer: Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, approx. 1927. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Metropolitan Museum of Art , accessed on July 28, 2017.
  5. ↑ The “Little Black One” made the big entrance. In: Augsburger Allgemeine . September 27, 2010, accessed July 28, 2017.
  6. ↑ Johanna Lutteroth: The little black one: So simple! So sexy! one day on Spiegel Online , September 22, 2008, accessed on July 28, 2017.
  7. ↑ Sabine Glaubitz: Givenchy turns 80 - the inventor of the “little black dress”. dpa article on sueddeutsche.de , May 11, 2010, accessed on July 28, 2017.
    The true style icons - style instead of style , picture 7. süddeutsche.de, November 24, 2010, accessed on July 28, 2017.
    Paola Saltari: A question of style: 10 extraordinary women who changed the fashion world . White-Star-Verlag, Wiesbaden, 2010, ISBN 978-3-86726-162-3 .
  8. ↑ Audrey Hepburn dress auctioned for over 650,000 euros. europolitan.de, December 6, 2012, archived from the original on June 11, 2013 ; accessed on July 28, 2017 .
  9. ↑ Vanessa Loewel: Unheard of Black: The Story of the Little Black. arte.tv , January 16, 2007, archived from the original on November 19, 2015 ; accessed on July 28, 2017 .