![]() Update your closet staple with sexy cocktail party dresses, trendy little black dresses, and gorgeous party dresses. ![]() Today, a cocktail party is more likely to be a come-as-you-are affair, and cocktail dresses are found only at weddings, holiday parties and exclusive fashion and entertainment industry events.Cocktail dresses are the perfect go-to outfit for all your parties this season. For the most part, the days of cocktail etiquette, along with the semi-formal dressing standards, are long gone. Of course, this modern "golden age" has more to do with hip bars, creative bartenders and innovative concoctions than parties and dressing. From Yves Saint Laurent's mid-60's 'Mondrian' dress to the slinky slip dresses worn by cosmo-sipping Carrie Bradshaw in the late 90's, designers never stopped producing so-called "cocktail dresses," whether or not they were intended or used to fit that purpose.Įnter the 2000s, perceived by many to be the renaissance of cocktail culture. By the end of the 1960s, even upper-class women began hosting at-home drinking soirées in palazzo pants and jumpsuits, and the idea of the cocktail dress became more of a style than type of occasion wear. After all, in his 1957 autobiography "Christian Dior and I," the famed French designer stated the cocktail was the "symbol par excellence of the American way of life." įor true cocktail aficionados, the period between the 1970s and 1990s is seen mostly as a low point in the history of drink mixing, and the popularity of hosting semi-formal cocktail affairs slowly disappeared along with the cocktail shakers. This terminology was also a sly marketing technique used to attract booze-loving American customers who enjoyed hosting and dressing for cocktail hours. Dior famously dubbed one of his early evening frocks a "cocktail dress," leading to a rise in the use and concept of cocktail dressing by the end of the 1940s. Women's clothing in the Western world at this time was highly influenced by Christian Dior's "New Look" collection of 1947, which made cinched waists and full skirts the ubiquitous silhouette for formal dressing, along with the form-hugging sheath dresses popularized in films by the likes of Marilyn Monroe. The devastating effects of World War II had an obvious effect on cocktail dressing, but once the war was over, a surge in the popularity of at-home cocktail parties gave the cocktail dress a whole new life. Must Read: Willa Bennett Named Editor in Chief of 'Highsnobiety,' Eileen Fisher Launches Digital Platform to Tackle Textile Waste For years, the main selling point of cocktail ensembles was "practicality." Often times, the only difference between a stylish day ensemble and cocktail outfit was a change in accessories, hence the popularity of the cocktail hat and other coordinating pieces. Because of that, cocktail attire became synonymous with flexibility and functionality, allowing women to look not-too sophisticated during the day and not-too casual in the early evening. According to fashion historian Elyssa Schram Da Cruz, this new type of "Drinking Woman" was seen at "private cocktail soirées and lounges, and the cocktail dress, as a short evening sheath with matching hat, shoes and gloves was designated to accompany her." Like the modern happy hour, the cocktail hour usually took place between 6 and 8 eight p.m., making the cocktail dress a necessary factor in a woman's transition between day and night. Equipped with greater amounts of independence, young women rebelled against the older generations by going to clubs, dancing the Charleston and smoking cigarettes with a cocktail in hand. Although not every woman was bold enough to wear short skirts and bob her hair during the 1920s, the decade is often marked as the era of the flapper.
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