Before 1920s, black was associated with grief and was worn when mourning the dead. Besides these circumstances it was considered indecent to wear something black as depicted in John Singer Sargent’s painting, Portrait of Madame X.
However a widow’s mourning dress was closely observed at a time when details in fashion conveyed a sophisticated symbolic language.
During the Victorian and Edwardian age, a widow was supposed to wear a black mourning dress in several stages for at least two years. A palin balck dress was required to be worn with no embellishments and adornment on the day of mourning and the first year of death. The second stage which was for nine months allowed the mourner to wear black silk. Then the “ordinary mourning” for three months permitted the widow to use black ribbon, lace, embroidery or jet jewelry as accessories. In the final six months of “half-mourning” the widow could wear muted or neutral colors like shades and tints of purple were quite common. More importantly World War I and the Spanish flu epidemic claimed many lives resulting in several women wearing black in public.
The little black dresses continued to be prominent even during the Great Depression, predominantly through its economy and elegance, albeit with the line lengthened somewhat.
The little black dresses grew popular because of the Hollywood’s influence on the fashion industry in North America.However little black dresses were preferred due to practical purposes. The Technicolor movies became more popular and filmmakers regarded little black dresses perfect for movies as the other colors appeared a garble on screen and botched the coloring process. During World War II, the style continued in part due to widespread rationing of textiles and in part as a common uniform for civilian women entering the workforce.
The populariyt of Dior’s “New Look” in the period after the war and the sexual convervatism of the 1950s led the little black dresses to again being considered as a uniform and a sign of dangerous women.
The character of the fallen women in Hollywood movies began to be represented in black halter dresses which was in contrast to the conservative dressing sense of housewifes or theb Hollywood stars.The popularity of the synthetic material in the 1940s and 1950s expanded the scope, availability and affordability of many creations.
A divide was created in the preferences of little black dresses due to the generation gap of the 1960s.The younger lot preferred a miniskirt and designers catering to the youth culture continued to fulfil their demands thereby reducing the skirt length and designing cutouts or slits in the skirt or bodice of the dress using sheer fabrics such as netting or tulle. There were many other women in the 1960s who wished to wear simple black sheath dresses similar to that designed by Hubert de Givenchy and worn by actress Audrey Hepburn in the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
In the 1970s the little black dresses did make their presence felt. Some dresses were lacy and elegant others were simple and plain. Still there were some skimpy dresses. However other colours were preferred rather than black for women’s dresses especially for the disco or jet set.