At the time of its creation, the little black dress was an (almost) miracle cure for the crisis and aesthetic excesses of the 1920s. A century later, the “little black dress” is making a comeback, aided by economic tensions, a tiredness of extravagant fashion and social networking logos. Here’s how.
You could write a book on the little black dress. In fact, there is a plethora of them in bookshops all over France. Even Sagan has written a novel about them. Since the beginning of the twentieth centurye century, it was to women what the white shirt is to men and the pâté en croûte to French cuisine: a sure bet. But by dint of being “iconic”, especially in its three-hole version to be worn at business lunches as well as social dinners, it had become boring and cliché, typical of the “powerful woman” as Léa Salamé would say, this tasteful quadra-quinqua, showing her arms to stay in the picture. Over the past ten years, while her eveningwear cousins, either sexy or very (un)dressed (at Dolce & Gabbana, for example), have continued to exist on the catwalk, the original, what the Americans call the “little black dress” (or LBD), has been snubbed by trendy designers.
But in March 2024, surprise, three…
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