Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Missouri History Museum, host institution, issuing body.
2. University of Chicago. Press, distributor.

Description

1. 160 pages : color illustrations; 26 cm

Summary

1. "What's the most important garment in a woman's closet? More often than not, the answer is 'the little black dress.' For decades, fashion magazines have touted the LBD as the perfect solution to almost every fashion crisis. Dressed up or down, with flats or heels, statement jewelry or a subdued jacket, the little black dress can be worn anywhere, for any occasion. Where did the little black dress come from? And how did black become the color of choice for every occasion? In Little Black Dress, Shannon Meyer answers these questions by offering a visual history of the black dress, illustrating its transformation from a traditional mourning garment to the fashion staple it is today. Beginning with the Victorian era, Meyer describes how widows were required to wear plain black clothing with no decoration for one year and a day, as a symbol of full mourning. This gave way to concepts such as 'ordinary' and 'half' mourning that allowed for different fabrics and embellishments. Then, in the early twentieth century, women began to slowly adopt black into their everyday wardrobe, and, in the 1920s, Coco Chanel launched her revolutionary first line of black dresses, advertising them as versatile, affordable, and fashionable choices for women. As Meyer shows, other designers quickly followed suit, and black has since prevailed as a universal, ever appropriate, always fashionable choice. Richly illustrated with seventy full-color photos of dresses and accessories spanning 150 years, and including information about the designer, original owner, and historical context for each, readers will find Little Black Dress a stylish guide to this wardrobe essential. Designed to accompany an exhibit by the same name at the Missouri History Museum, the book will impress historians and fashionistas alike"--

Subject

1. Dresses > History > Exhibitions
2. Dresses > History > Pictorial works > Exhibitions
3. Black > Social aspects > History > Exhibitions
4. Color in clothing > Social aspects > History > Exhibitions
5. Black > Psychological aspects > History > Exhibitions
6. Mourning customs > History > Exhibitions
7. Fashion > History > Exhibitions
8. Fashion designers > History > Exhibitions

Contents

1. Mourning Traditions -- Degrees of Mourning -- Expressions of Grief -- Early Uses of Black in Fashion -- Coco Chanel and the Little Black Dress -- Black and Everyday Versatility -- Black at Night.

Call number

1. JQF 17-263

Note

1. "Designed to accompany an exhibit ... at the Missouri History Museum"--Back cover.
2. "Distributed by University of Chicago Press."

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references.

Author

1. Meyer, Shannon, 1974- author.

Title

1. Little black dress : from mourning to night / Shannon Meyer.

Publisher

1. St. Louis : Missouri History Museum Press, [2016]

Copyright date

1. ©2016

Type of content

1. text
2. still image

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references.

Local note

1. EXHIBITION CATALOG. COLOR PICTORIAL.

Added author

1. Missouri History Museum, host institution, issuing body.
2. University of Chicago. Press, distributor.

LCCN

1. 2015038886

ISBN

1. 9781883982843 (paperback)
2. 1883982847 (paperback)

Research call number

1. JQF 17-263