It’s a perverse pleasure watching the characters in Mad Men smoke and drink away without any fear of consequence. With the days of the three-martini lunch well and truly over – say nothing for the disappearance of mid-century bar accoutrements like chrome smoking stands and Murano glass table lighters – it’s reassuring to know that while the cocktail hour might not be as much fun as it was, the spirit of the dress which was named for it remains intact.

The nip-waisted, full-skirted New Look silhouette pioneered by Christian Dior dominated cocktail fashions thru the 50s. Thankfully, the gloves and hat were soon replaced with a great pair of heels.

Born in the years after World War I, the emerging cocktail culture corresponded with sweeping social changes that led to the independent “modern woman” venturing out into more diverse groups of people mixing in clubs, lounges and private cocktail soirées. Bridging the gap between an afternoon dress – suitable for afternoon tea – and a grand gown for attending evening balls, came the transitional cocktail dress, knee length and worn until the late 1950s with elbow length gloves and flirty little hats.

Sparkling in Paco Rabanne’s futuristic gold paillettes, Audrey Hepburn in Two for the Road.

Favoring fine fabrics such as satin, silk, velvet and silk jersey – and after the success of Chanel’s little black dress a.k.a the LBD in 1926  –  the color black, the short, often tight-fitting cocktail dress quickly became a desired item of attire for all women in the 1930s. For those in the progressive and fashionable Cafe Society, it became a uniform.

Julia Roberts memorably went searching for a dress for a night out in Pretty Woman. “I got a dress,” she proudly tells Richard Gere. “A cocktail one.”

From its early realization and onwards – Christian Dior’s (Dior in fact coining the term “cocktail dress” in the late 40s) full-skirted New Look, Givenchy’s elegant renderings worn immaculately by Audrey Hepburn in the 1950s classic’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Sabrina, to Paco Rabanne’s swinging shifts in gold paillettes and Halston’s essential draped disco dress for Studio 54 – the silhouettes, like the partying habits, have changed with the decades. Whatever your poison, the pleasures of a bold dress in a flattering fit with a face framing neckline can be both intoxicating and life-affirming.

Modern day Bon Viveur: Kate Moss in a lace-panelled cocktail dress by John Galliano for Dior Couture.

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves

The post Now & Then: The History of the Cocktail Dress appeared first on EcoSalon.

The pullover with a high collared neck still has a powerful allure that communicates, “I’m different.”

The Gap revived this imagery in their 2006 “Keep It Simple” Campaign.

More familiar to the British as a polo neck, English polo players first wore turtlenecks in the 1860s. Their adoption by Noel Coward in the 1920s turned turtlenecks into a middle-class fashion trend, and early feminists made them into a unisex item. Since the middle of the 20th century black polo necks have been identified as the uniform of radical academics, philosophers, artists and intellectuals.

Stone memorably paired a gray mock turtleneck from the Gap with a Valentino skirt and Armani jacket for the 1996 Oscars.

As an anti-tie, smart form of dress for those who reject formal wear, the turtleneck – also available in a simpler variant as a mock turtle neck – was surely a deliberate fashion choice made by Apple visionary, Steve Jobs. Communicating a desire to stand apart from others, his ubiquitous black turtleneck became an essential part of his uniform as the leader of those who think different.

Jil Sander Turtleneck Sweater, Céline Leather Strap Bag

Enjoying a revival this season, the winter staple was seen anchoring looks on the runways of Ralph Lauren, Celine and Jil Sander. A fantastic layering piece for when you want to wear dresses year round. They’re at their best worn with skinny jeans, slim fit trousers or a pencil skirt. In this age of so-called fashion democratization, the pullover with a high collared neck still has a powerful allure that communicates, “I’m different.”

ALSO READ:

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves

The post Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks appeared first on EcoSalon.

Women in the 60s were happy to say goodbye to girdles and the tyranny of stockings.

It has long been assumed that the pill was responsible for women’s emancipation in the 1960s. Ask anyone who remembers the time when roll-ons, suspender belts and girdles gave way for good to panty-hose – and they may have a different view of what freedom was.

The history books credit Allen E. Gant with creating panty hose – or as he called them, Panto-legs – in 1959. The real inspiration was more likely his wife, Ethel, who decided to sew her stockings to her underwear after pregnancy made her too wide to wear her garter belt.

Racquel Welch in Valentino for French Vogue in 1967

The idea really took off in the 1960s with the widespread wearing of mini skirts. The beginning of the tights revolution saw an interesting shift in cultural perspectives. It was, for example, not considered shocking to wear a 10-inch long mini-dress but widely accepted that a groomed young lady never went out bare legged.

Fifty years later, Kate Middleton’s fondness for nude pantyhose has inspired modern day skirt-wearers to hit the stores in droves – despite fashion taste makers split opinions – to pick up flesh colored tights able to cover up pasty skin, prickly hairs or unsightly veins.

Karlie Kloss strides into the future of tights trends in Oscar de la Renta’s fall campaign 

If tan tights are just too 80s for you, consider the recent trend for combining tights with different colored shoes as seen notably on Karlie Kloss in Oscar de la Renta’s fall ad campaign.

A more interesting take on cold-weather tights than your basic-black, brightly colored tights can inexpensively update your winter looks with a mod-esque look that is a playful prelude to spring’s 60s inspired styles.

Pucci Print and Platforms

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves

Image: oscarprgirl

The post Now & Then: The History of Tights appeared first on EcoSalon.

An instant classic, whether or not you put pennies in your loafers for luck.

The iconic loafer was born in Wilton, Maine in 1934. Originally made to be worn indoors, they were designed with a distinctive strip of leather across the saddle with a diamond cutout for comfort and durability. First called Weejuns (sounding like Norwegians), they were made by legendary boot maker, G.H.Bass. But when prep school students in the 1950s decided to insert a penny into the diamond shaped slit, the name “penny loafers” stuck and the hand-sewn slip on with the ivy league heritage became ubiquitous for collegiate cool.

Emerging beyond a teenage fixation, the shoes evolved over the years with certain additions like tassels on the front and the introduction in 1966 by Italian designer, Gucci, of a metal horse snaffle bit. Paired with suits by continental businessmen in the 70s and adopted back by Regan-era men, they bordered on becoming a Wall Street uniform, reaching widespread use by the 1980s.

Welcome to the end of the tyranny of high heel. No longer the domain of sockless Italians or Gordon Gekko wannabes, the preppy stable now comes in every fabrication imaginable, including silver, studs and sequins. And as a much-needed alternative to the ballet shoe, a new generation of be-boppers (Elle Fanning for one) has fallen in love with the boy-meets-girl style just in time for fall’s decidedly bookish 70s looks.

Bridget Bardot proving an iconic shoe style is too sexy cool for school.

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves

The post Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers appeared first on EcoSalon.

Boots are an essential part of our wardrobe, but they didn’t take off as a fashion look until the 1960s & 70s.

Have you noticed the great shoe switch that has taken place over the course of the last couple of years? Not so long ago, the idea of wearing short boots or booties with skirts and dresses was far from modern mainstream style. As if in solidarity, stilettos these days appear to demand a rough and tough pair of skinny pants in order to feel modern and edgy.

London models wearing Ossie Clark designs and the boots that defined an era.

Boots are an essential part of all wardrobes now, but prior to the 1960s, the concept of a fashion boot was revolutionary. Before the introduction of the knee high-style that became known as Go-Go boots (from the French word la gogue for “joy, happiness”) women’s boots were purely for riding, walking or protection from rough weather.

The boots from the future – André Courrèges’ Fall 1964 collection kicked off the trend for tall boots.

Short boots with elasticated side gussets called Chelsea Boots – named after a well-heeled suburb of London – became popular with the mods and bands like the Rolling Stones and The Beatles. But as hemlines rose, so did the length of the boots. The new calf-contouring boots complemented the new shorter length skirts and drew attention to the legs.

Nancy Sinatra wrote “These Boots are Made for Walkin'” that brought attention to the style.

Designer André Courrèges was thought to have originated the style when a low-heeled, white plastic calf length boot was featured as part of the “Moon Girl” look in his Fall 1964 collection. The Go-Go boot and its subsequent – more-earthbound – incarnations came to define an era of streetwise style that has never ceased to go out of fashion.

The ultimate Boho icon, Talitha Getty wore her white pair on a roof-top in Marrakesh.

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves

The post Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots appeared first on EcoSalon.

Does the return of gloves this season require us to reconsider what “lady like” means?

On July 1, 2011, Daphne Guinness – whose visionary and eccentric style has captured the imagination of the fashion world – staged a mock funeral wake to debut her much-anticipated design, a glove made in white gold chain mail. Handmade to fit her arm completely, it features intricately articulated fingers and more than 5,000 diamonds creating decorative birds along the arm.

Posing in an Alexander McQueen bodysuit, Guinness lay motionless at a mock funeral with the armored glove revealing the essence of her style.

Named Contra Mundum (or Against The World), Guinness explains, “It’s sort of us against the world. It’s about wanting to watch, but not wanting to be seen. I feel it’s a pact, if that makes any sense.” The glove is at once an incredible testament to the handmade – considered to be one of the most technologically advanced pieces in the world it’s worth an estimated $1.76 million dollars – and reveals the core message of Guinness’ style iconry – the concept of fashion as a form of armor, protection for a delicate soul.

With winter’s icy temperatures chilling our extremities, you may be pulling on a (more affordable) pair yourself this month. But beyond their functionality, gloves have long been understood as an accessory able to translate the cultural expectations of women.

It’s the subtle interpretation and manipulation of what gloves can mean, that make them such fascinating fashion watching.

From their early history, gloves were emblems of status and power, worn by royalty and the aristocracy. Taking on a symbolic importance in the chivalrous middle ages, they were used as a form of guarantee, thrown down as a challenge and given as a token of affection from a lady to a suitor.

Have you ever tried to do anything with gloves on? It’s difficult. But women then found a way around the problem by slipping their hands out of the finger-part, and popping them out the opening. To this day they are a cultural signifier that remains shorthand for class. And it’s the subtle interpretation and manipulation of what that can mean, that makes them such fascinating fashion watching.

The last interest in gloves was in the middle of last century, their power cleverly manipulated by actress Grace Kelly.

Grace Kelly, the ice princess ideal of 50s womanhood was famous for her white gloves. Even then – at a time where rebellion hellions such as Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Elvis Presley were emerging –  the “lady like” gloves appeared to be a throwback to an earlier time. But in an era where many female star’s careers were manhandled by big studio bosses – Kelly’s cleverly calculated image of austerity and steely resolve unnerved her MGM bosses and secured her freedom from roles that required her to “wear thirty-five different costumes and look pretty and frightened.”

Gloves in fashion now. Models in Christian Dior opera gloves. Harper’s Bazaar Spain, December edition.

It was a glove affair on Fall’s 2011 runways. Designers including Alber Elbaz, Frida Giannini at Gucci, Miuccia Prada, Jean Paul Gaultier and Donna Karan ushered in a season of forties glamour revolving around a new on-the knee skirt length replete with conservative pearls, shrugs and gloves. The mid-length opera gloves seen at Lanvin had a surprising modern look, conveying power and strength – the “lady like” characteristics now essential for life as a woman in the 21^st century.

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

The post Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves appeared first on EcoSalon.

Skinny jeans are an unlikely mainstream fashion choice that’s here to stay.

Since the skinny jean’s most recent emergence on the Balenciaga runways in 2003, the narrow legged style never fails to kick off debate amongst fashion lovers. No one then imagined that the unforgiving style would be embraced beyond fashion’s 1% (i.e. models). And yet, almost a decade later, the skintight styles remain a fully paid up member of mainstream America’s hardest working denim.

An impressive achievement when you consider skinny’s origins. The drainpipe jeans of the 1950s were embraced as the uniform of rock n’ roll’s “bad boys,” and again in the late 1970s by punk subculture bands such as the Clash, The Ramones and The Sex Pistols who adopted the skinny as the ultimate badge of the rebel.

Despite the industry’s counter-cultural chit chat this past season that pegged the latest flare silhouette to finally usurp the straight leg, it seems that for now, as far as Americans are concerned, skinny rules.

Skip the dreaded jegging styles and pull on the new Surry Skinny-Fit from Raleigh Denim. Made from homegrown raw indigo from Cone Denim Mills in North Carolina, the Surry has just the right amount of stretch and stitch. Each pair of jeans is hand signed and individually numbered.

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves

The post Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans appeared first on EcoSalon.

A blouse made for male poets that today’s modern woman wears.

The iconic loose fitting, full-sleeved blouse with ruffled front and frilly cuffs, most commonly known as a Poet Blouse has been around ever since the days of Byron. Originating from traditional dress worn by male artists and writers like William Blake, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron in the late 18^th to mid 19^th century Britain, the poet blouse is most commonly worn by women today who desire a little romantic flounce.

Apart from an androgynous moment in the early 1980s when the U.K. spawned feverishly handsome bands like Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran who revisited the look, it’s fairly difficult for the modern man to pull off. With exception to modern day gothic charmers, and Hollywood elite like flamboyant comedian Russell Brand and typecasted pirate Johnny Depp, this is a look reserved for women.

Express your romantic side in this modern poet style blouse from frei designs, a Chicago-based women’s clothing line created thoughtfully with ethically produced raw materials.

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves

The post Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse appeared first on EcoSalon.

Zig Zag Zig Zag.

If you watch the two lines of high voltage geometric color interact for long enough it can really get you going and – accounting for the recent thinking of Missoni’s executives –  send your mind a blowing. A design fueled euphoria being the only explanation for the Italian knitwear legend’s dodgy decision to sell out their signature stripe to mass retailer Target this year.

Known for its multitude of colorful kaleidoscope patterns including abstracts, florals and the eye-catching chevron stripe, the distinctive design created by Tai and Rosita Missoni in 1953 has certainly been copied before. Originally championed in the U.S. by Diana Vreeland, editor of Vogue magazine, Missoni reach the peak of their influence in the fashion world in the early 1970’s. Run by the husband and wife team until handing over design duties to their daughter Angela in 1996, the house of Missoni was remarkable for staying above the many trends of the fashion world.

THEN:  Hitting their stride in the early 1970’s, Missoni started out as a small knitwear workshop in Gallarate, Italy, in 1953 opened by founders Rosita and Ottavio.

When Target’s low cost versions of Missoni products went on sale causing a stampede on stores (with lines up to 100 people long waiting for restocking, and Target’s website crashing repeatedly), everyone was tempted, even mass fashion boycotters like us. The line sold out within 24 hours. Many items appeared on eBay within hours, at two to three times markup.

Ultimately, customers were disappointed. In line with Target’s price range, the fabrics used were not the luxuriously designed wools, cottons, rayon and silk typical of Missoni and customers complained widely about the 400-product collection’s cheap appearance, shoddy manufacturing and unprecedented anger at how Target handled the launch.

FUTURE: The Chevron stripe’s classic boldness is perfectly suited to fashion’s ongoing taste for imaginative contrasts and the eclectic.

With the Target collaboration, only time can tell whether Missoni has cheapened their name for good. One thing is for sure, the incident reawakened a desire for all things chevron striped. Seen everywhere from tights to menswear and DIY paint tutorials, the graphic stripes and chevron patterns have a classic yet modern boldness that never goes out of style, however we incorporate it into our lives.

Now & Then: The History Of The Cocktail Dress

Now & Then: The Trench Coat

Now & Then: The Bold Brow

Now & Then: The History of the Cuff

Now & Then: The History of Turtlenecks

Now & Then: The History of Tights

Now & Then: The History of Skinny Jeans

Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe

Now & Then: The History of Penny Loafers

Now & Then: The History of Go-Go Boots

Now & Then: The History of the Poet Blouse

Now & Then: The History of Ladylike Gloves

The post Now & Then: The History of the Chevron Stripe appeared first on EcoSalon.