The Black Dress And Coco Chanel

The Black Dress Changed Fashion Forever

The art deco movement of the 1920's called for simplicity and sophistication at the same time and the previous centuries dresses that were long and flowing and somewhat bulky were in zinc with the desired lifestyle of art deco, at no stage did the movement wish to revert and cover up the women of the day and the need for a dress for social outings was in need and crying out to be designed by one of the eras fashionistas and Coco Chanel was to answer this calling with her famous black dress she called the FORD which she reduced the puffy long sleeves to nothing and then went about bringing the length above the knees for all the ladies of the day to show off their long hidden legs for the world to see. Her thinking was that simple can be added upon and a simple black dress could be worn just by its self or accessorized to the hilt with jewelry, hats, scarfs, stockings and coat jacket all at the wearers discretion and impulses depending on the social outing. The simple design of Coco Chanel became known as The Little Black Dress and no women of the day would be caught without one in her closet or traveling suitcase, The black dress changed fashion all over the world and no matter where you were as long as you had a little black dress you were never caught short of an elegant dress for all occasions and situations. This trend has continued for what is close to a century as the famous little black dress constantly makes appearances in Hollywood and the catwalk runways of the modern world.

So all throughout history the black dress is only promoted as a display of evil, death and misfortune until the early twentieth century where a lady by the name of Coco Chanel designs a dress that will change fashion history and the outlook on the colour of black forever in the eyes of not only the fashion world but also the public at large. Her timing was perfect as the world was in a period of flamboyance and rejoice of self discovery regarding women's place in society and the way they promoted themselves publicly, the roaring twenties as they were known was a time where the world discovered that style and elegance was only an idea away as fashion trends were embraced for nearly everything in life including cars, furniture and fashion garments. People were living high off the stock market and a new class of society was sweeping the world at large from Paris to New York the world embraced new ideals and fashions as previously sacred social boundaries also began to crumble which allowed for trends such as dancing the Charleston and doing the foxtrot to become the norm and these high times needed a certain sophistication that demonstrated new found freedoms. So in Paris a clever designer threw away all taboos and went about making a dress that would change history right up until today.

The traditional attire for any villain has always been black and when you think about a witch you most likely will imagine her to be dressed in a black dress and a black robe and hat as they fly through the sky on their broom laughing into the dark night. The witch traditional seeks the darker side of the spiritual world and the black clothing represents this and also the fact that it is considered that a flowing black dress allows for the magnetic energies of life and spirits to travel far more easily when required, where as a tight fitting garment would not allow for this to happen. Also back in the earlier centuries the clothing was made to be worn for many years and as a rule a witch would not wish to waste anything so she would happily wear the same black dress for as many decades as possible. One example of a modern villain would be the film Misery where Annie Wilkes who the main character and villain spends most of the movie in a dark shade of grey that looks black depending on the light and there is a reason for this because the darker shades of clothing coincide with the darker aspects of life all throughout history. You only have to think of a vampire and there is a strong chance you will imagine her to be wearing a black dress as part of her evil costume. The Gothic movement have long been associated with black clothing and black dresses as their fashion statement of black clothes labelling them as being anti social with the dark clothing bestowed upon them with black make up to confirm this desired social platform of a culture that live for the darkness of night and fashion ideals to confirm this to all on lookers.

Throughout the history of the world up until the twentieth century the color black has been synonymous with the darker side of life as it has represented such entities as death and villainy resulting in the black dress being the garment of choice in these situations and traditions. The ideals of each religion would be reflected on the mourning wife wearing dark clothing as their religion called for and the dark clothing was normally a black dress which over many centuries became known as the most significant item of clothing when mourning was being carried out. Although certain religions do not see death as the final end most of them still reverted to dark clothing and items such as a black dress to publicly display their grief and sorrow of a lost friend or family member or even a head of state such as a queen or king. The passing of a royal member of the ruling monarchy would more often than not see the whole country in bereavement and a day of mourning called for with the appropriate attire such as black dresses and suites to be worn by the citizens of the mourning country, to the point the black mourning dress became an industry is certain countries as whole female members of families ordered a black dress to follow their traditions.

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