The LBD leading the Youth Revolution of today
- Chloe Payne
- Jun 1, 2017
- 4 min read
It’s no secret that Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel is an icon of style; and in the words of writer Gore Vidal, “Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn.” Of all Chanel’s radical creations it is the Little Black Dress, first created in 1926, that a generation of millenials is looking at in a new, fresh way; a way that allows complete self-expression. “Every season I build my new wardrobe around a little black dress,” says Christina Lyons, a fashion influencer and Instagrammer with 1.5 million followers. “This season my LBD is going to have a Gigi and Bella flavour; worn with an Adidas hoodie, leggings and a pop-star boyfriend.”
As Lyon’s confirms, today’s LBD is a representation of expression and a freedom to show who you are; a weapon to break boundaries. It’s an energy that is reflected in the LBD’s reinterpretation on the runways. With a club vibe setting the scene for the next generation of ravers, Versus Versace for AW17 used Gigi Hadid to open the show in a sexy mini dress. From Rei Kawabubo at Comme des Garcons, a breathtaking exploration of silhouettes: a variation of, enclosed, curved, exaggerated forms. Kawakubo, has said ‘Beauty is whatever anyone thinks is beautiful’. It’s a fitting statement for a collection that has morphed the expectations of the female body shape; questioning society’s attitudes on the female form.
Connecting with the millenial generation’s love of mixing it up, Molly Goddard’s AW17 elongated sheer tulle was an exceptional example of the innovation and refreshing adaptation of the LBD. These Avant Garde pieces are exactly what the millenials want: we can wear them however we want, with whatever we want, and that is the perfect example of self-expression. As long as it’s black.
Black is no longer tied down with restrictions to sadness and death; black is now anything and everything we want it to be. As Christian Dior said, “You can wear black at any time. You can wear it at any age. You may wear it for almost any occasion.” And that is why we love it. We can hide away in it we when don’t want to be seen or when we’re feeling mysterious. Or we can do the complete opposite: we can wear it to be seen; to be the sexy girl in the black mini on the dance floor, to be the sophisticated girl in the black midi in the office or the effortlessly stylish girl that catches your eye in the street. It can be anything and that’s why we love it.
It was Chanel who first provided us with an item that was once strictly couture; and the lust for that look has led to so many other designers recreating it; a blank canvas for imagination, which is why it has taken on a different form by so many. As Wednesday Addams said in the ‘Addams Family’ film, “I’ll stop wearing black when they invent a darker colour”. ‘Coco’s’ love for the colour stemmed from so many dark tragedies. A young girl brought up in solitude, Chanel was then struck with grief as she lost the man she loved, ‘Boy Capel’. Channeling this grief, her success came from her ability to see the ‘light’ within the ‘darkness’, and create something that was so much more than just an item of clothing. Instead, she created a dress that would mold and change with the ebb and flow of society; a dress that would become embedded within history and a partner to culture, technology, art and music.
One of the most radical fashion influencers Kanye West, shows this, not through the distressed sweatshirts or the Adidas collaborations but through his comments on racial diversity and artistic culture. In short, he puts a a spotlight on the colour black, his skin tone. Expressing his views through so many outputs allows the colour black to have a much deeper meaning and impact on something much bigger than just fashion. Kanye said on Twitter, “I have millions of ideas and I represent a new generation just trying to express themselves in a broken world.” The colour is obvious within all of his work, it could be said that the black catsuits that formed the basis of his Yeezy season 5 collection are the modern day interpretation of the LBD.
And so, fashion is what we want it to be, and Chanel had a vision and a determination, which has paved the way for all designers throughout the past 90 years; allowing the Little Black Dress to become exactly what we have wanted it to be in every decade. “In the beginning was Coco, and Coco was fashion, and Coco said to the multitude, fashion is not something that exists in dresses only. Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas, the way we live, what is happening.”
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