As black as a painter’s blank canvas is white, the Little Black Dress is an endless source of inspiration that will never go out of style. With a brand new eponymous exhibit, the Mona Bismarck American Center in Paris is rendering homage this summer to the most famous of female garments.
Wherever she is now, Coco Chanel is definitely puffing on a cigarette in satisfaction. 87 years after launching the Little Black Dress trend, the “Ford dress” as it was nicknamed in 1926 by Vogue, it still forms the basis of any female wardrobe. From July 3rd to September 22nd, the eternal little black dress will be stripped down at Paris’ Mona Bismarck American Center through fifty different models from every era and style. Organized by the Savannah College of Art and Design Museum of Art (SCAD) in conjunction with André Leon Talley, editor for American Vogue and auctioneer for the event, this exhibit will retrace the history of this feminine wardrobe classic, from its debuts as the “poverty of luxury” to its advent as an iconic piece.
Far from having invented the Little Black Dress, Coco Chanel rather adapted a garment that many women were already wearing in that era. After WWI, a number of these women were in mourning. In a moment of genius, Chanel made a simple black dress, an elegant piece. Modest in its style as well as its shape, the fashion newcomer caused a scandal with its pious black color that contrasted with its knee-length trim. Hardly enthusiastic towards Chanel’s moderate style, Paul Poiret belittled the creations and nicknamed them the “poverty of luxury”. But less is more, and this dress was a crowd pleaser. With its simple style, it was just as easily made a day dress as a soirée get-up according to the accessories one paired with it.
Ever since, fashion designers have continued to reinterpret this iconic piece. From Givenchy to Azzedine Alaïa and more accessible brands like Sandro and Zara in between, the Little Black Dress is discreetly imposing, incarnating what Jean Cocteau once said about Chanel’s style: “the nobility of silence in the face of fashionable noise”. According to André Leon Talley, the Little Black Dress exhibit will be constructed around different depictions of the garment, at first a simple piece of fabric, then a contemporary symbol thanks to the incorporation of new shades and textures. Re-releasable to infinity, Françoise Sagan has turned it into prose while Guerlain has made it into a fragrance, both simply named after the original French title: “la petite robe noire”.
Legend has it that at a party, Paul Poiret asked Coco, who was wearing a little black dress, “What are you mourning Mademoiselle?” “You, Monsieur!” she responded. Indeed, Poiret’s Schéhérazade came and went; as for the little black dress? It’s immortal.
Exposition Little Black Dress
From 03 July to 22 Septembre 2013
Mona Bismarck American Center for Art and Culture
34 avenue de New York
75 016 Paris
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