Oct

Evening Versions Featured Lower Necklines Short Sleeves And Elaborate Fabrics And Embroidery – The History Of The Evening Dress

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evening gowns I know that the tradition of wearing evening dresses is around for centuries.

The art of weaving silk was firmly established in the Mediterranean around 1400, and basically, silk weaves became fashionable for those who could afford them.

The dawn of the Renaissance slowly changed this rigid social rank system, and allowed wealthy Patricians and merchants to visibly display their success. Rich fabrics and bright colours were strictly the domain of the nobility with clothing as a signifier of social rank and status. Besides, the vibrant court life of the 16th and 17th centuries with its focus on art, literature and music created a fertile environment for feminine formal clothing. It’s an interesting fact that the focus began to shift to France and the court of Louis XIV, with the advent of the Baroque era. So, the French Revolution had caused social upheaval, and firmly cemented the place of upper middle and upper class citizens in society.

Empire or Regency dress.

Starting with the late 18th century, the term evening or ball gown emerged, as balls and formal dances were no longer the sole domain of royals and aristocrats.

During the 18th century, a ball or evening dress was synonymous with court dress, as balls took place at court or in the palaces and salons of the nobility who copied the latest fashions at the courts. Whenever evening gowns for dances and theatre events, and ball gowns for the most formal affairs including balls and the opera, the 19th century distinguished between relatively high necked dinner gowns for formal dinners and soirees. Immediately preceding and during World War I, lines became looser and more fluid as a precursor to the boyish silhouettes of the Twenties. So Thirties introduced bias cuts and artificial fibres. In the course of the Twenties, the hemlines of evening gowns rose and cuts were very simple to match the new life style of the Flapper era. Together with the Empire cut, over the years the sheath, mermaid, Aline, and trumpet shapes became popular.