Valerie Steele's "The Black Dress"

"For her fifth wedding, the bride wore black and carried a scotch and soda." - Phyllis Battelle, journalist, on heiress Barbara Hutton's 1953 marriage to Porfirio Rubirosa

Every time I question my own analytical infatuation with the world of fashion, I remember that there is a woman in the world named Valerie Steele. Heaven bless her! If you didn't know that there is, in fact, an academic side to the fashion world, Dr. Valerie Steele is the Director and Chief Curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Her many books explore the different moments of costume history that have adapted the way we get dressed each day - for instance, and entire book on The Corset, why it was so important, and why it was ultimately (and thankfully) shed from our wardrobes. My personal favorite is The Red Dress, a book published a few years ago exploring the connotations of the color red, especially when compounded with the design, drape, and wearing of a dress.

Toulouse-Lautrec, 1893
Vigee Le Brun, 1790
Sargent, 1893 

Dr. Steele's latest work, The Black Dress, works as a companion book to the previous color/dress study, drawing on the same creative comparisons of image, design, and quotation to discuss a garment we all know so well. The black dress is so ubiquitous that most of us would surely count multiple versions in their closets: some for work, some for casual affairs, and then even more multiple options for evening or cocktails. Black is the new black, end of discussion. Dr. Steele's new book gives a nod to this "everyday" black so common in our world (especially in a big city,) while tracing the history and symbolism of this wardrobe staple. Like Christo wrapping up monuments only to provide a new perspective on something so familiar, Dr. Steele wraps up "the black dress" and then strips it away, leaving a greater appreciation of such a simple garment.

Citing great literature, film and painting, Dr. Steele compares and contrasts all that we've ever known of the black dress as modern women. Its elegance, its "spotlight" attributes, its danger, its quietness, its no-question-about-it-standby-ness that we all appreciate. The result is a beautiful and edgy presentation on the cycle of design and trend, from the perspective of an item that most every woman knows intimately. Throughout it all, Dr. Steele's wit and creativity shine from the pages. The mix is delicious, connecting Balenciaga to Goya, Wharton to Sargent, Hugo to Viktor & Rolf.

Gilda - 1946
Rear Window - 1954
Gone with the Wind - 1939 

The cinematic references are perfect too, if just a little customary: Givenchy's Breakfast at Tiffany's dress and Jean Louis' Gilda dress are certainly expected in any round-up of black dresses. I was ecstatic however, to find a mention of Marlene Dietrich's exquisitely mysterious black dresses from Shanghai Express. (This film, though not available on DVD as yet, is incredible! It sometimes airs on TCM and is worth every moment - watch it just to learn exactly what it means to be "key lit"...) Two other cinematic black dresses that I think should have been mentioned: the black gown Vivien Leigh wears at the Atlanta Bazaar in Gone with the Wind - her mourning dress shocks everyone when whipped around the dance floor among only pastels and jewel tones; the black dress worn by Grace Kelly in Rear Window - it's sexy, glamorous, aloof, and mysterious at the same time. Both these gowns change the direction of their respective films, and are certainly memorable.

Despite my humble preferences which will only be voiced here, Dr. Steele's The Black Dress is certainly a must for any costume library. An interesting, serious, yet lighthearted look at something that will never go out of style...Thank goodness! The only question is, what color dress will Dr. Steele look at next?

Comments

[chic and charming]

Sounds fascinating! I'll look it up next time I am in Borders.