Unsolicited Fashion Commentary

[kokopelle]

Can anyone tell me what's up with the style of dress I keep seeing on TV? The "waist line" of the dress is right below the breasts. The result is attractive women looking like giant dolls. Yuck. It appears to be the wheel of fashion from the 60s turning around. As far as I'm concerned, it could have kept turning past this style.

(Edited 01/08)
I've learned that the style is called Empire. From Wikipedia:

An Empire silhouette is created by wearing a high-waisted dress, gathered near or just under the bust with a long, loose skirt, which skims the body. The outline is especially flattering to apple shapes wishing to disguise the stomach area or emphasise the bust. The shape of the dress helps to lengthen the body. The word "Empire" here refers to the period of the First French Empire.

The original empire line was seen on women from early Greco-Roman art when loose fitting rectangular tunics known as "Peplos" or the more common "Chiton" were belted under the bust, providing support for women and a cool, comfortable outfit suitable for the warm climate.

The last few years of the 1700s first saw the Empire dress coming into fashion in Western and Central Europe (and European-influenced areas), and it evolved through the Napoleonic era until the early 1820s, after which the hourglass Victorian styles became more popular. The style was often worn in white to denote a high social status (especially in its earlier years); only women solidly belonging to what in England was known as the "genteel" classes could afford to wear the pale, easily soiled garments of the era. Josephine Bonaparte was one of the traditional trend-setters or figureheads for the Empire waistline, with her elaborate, skilfully-decorated Empire line dresses. The complete and drastic contrast between 1790s styles (especially those of the second half of the decade) and the constricting and voluminous styles of the 1770s (with a rigid cylindrical torso above panniers) is probably partially due to the French political upheavals after 1789 (though there is not usually any very simple or direct correlation between political events and fashion changes). English women's styles (often referred to as "regency") followed along the same general trend of raised waistlines as French styles, even when the countries were at war.

The 1960s saw a revival of the Empire silhouette, possibly reflecting the less strict social mores of the era (similar to when the unconstricting 1920s "flapper" styles replaced the heavy corsetry of the early 1900s).

Comments

[r-monoxide.livejournal.com]

babydoll dress is coming back! I like it. all the old stuff I didn't toss out from the 90's is cool again.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

Just color me a fashion dunce. My closet is fashion timeless in that it all it has are golf shirts (for work), t-shirts (leisure), jeans (leisure), and Puritan brand slacks (work). Nothing truly fashionable.

men!

[wulfwalker.livejournal.com]

that style is called empire style. it can be flattering on women who don't have a waist.

Re: men!

[greensh.livejournal.com]

You'd be flattering in nothing at all! Oh... I meant, you're flattering all the time.

Is the idea of the style to completely eliminate the waist? The body becomes all heads, breasts and legs? Very strange. I wonder if the old-guy style of having the belt just below the same portion of the chest is going to come back to create a matching set.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

You're right... the woman wearing this do look pregnant. While this is not a bad thing, I don't think is the look they were striving for. IMO the fashion clash occurs because the Empire style comes and goes, but pregnancy clothes will always be somewhere in the fashion sphere.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Put me in the "makes me look pregnant" category.

I hate the Empire style. Hell, it even made GWYNETH PALTROW look a little heavy in Emma.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

I realized that something was terribly wrong with this style when Jennifer Love Hewitt (Ghost Whisperer) featured the style. I find her to be very attractive and quite well endowed. While the Empire style may have given the show an opportunity (and I'm not complaining!) to show of Jennifer Love's cleavage, it was very unflattering to the rest of her body.

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I hear that the primary purpose of the existence of Ghost Whisperer is to show off her tits.

[greensh.livejournal.com]

I vaguely remember there being some psychic/medium plot too. ;)

On the topic of shows featuring the attributes of their stars, my lovely gf asked if I remembered the last season of Andromeda (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Andromeda"). I remarked something like, "isn't that when they had multiple ship members showing off lots of cleavage?" Happy days!

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Hey, spoilerriffic! I haven't even finished season 2 yet! :P

[greensh.livejournal.com]

Oops... sorry!

[redqueenmeg.livejournal.com]

Heh, no problem. I kind of figured I wouldn't get to drool over Tyr for all of the seasons.

But the thing is--everyone knows sci fi is about cleavage. :D

[valleysailor.livejournal.com]

My mom once told me if you keep anything long enough it will come back into fashion - about every 25-30 years it seems, some ill-conceived fashion ploy will resurface. I remember when platform shoes came back. I did not wait 30 years to wear those stupid shoes again. Color me fashion-less and give me a pair of flats with some nicely man-tailored slacks and a sweater any day.

Andromeda spoiler

[wulfwalker.livejournal.com]

look away, don't read this if you don't want to know...

who was the character in Heavy Metal that said " you die, she dies, everybody dies"....

last season was the fifth season in early 2005.