Back in Black (Friday)

Black has a long history in fashion. From mourning to classic fashion of today, black can be found throughout the ages. The Ancient Romans were the first to use black for morning. In the middle ages, Benedictine monks adopted black as a symbol of humility. By the 1400s, high quality black dyes were available and black became very fashionable. Later Puritans and other protestant groups adopted black dress as white was the color of the Catholic church.

 Black became the color of the industrial revolution, which started in the mid-1700s. Workers in factories fueled by coal fires favored black clothing because soot and dirt didn’t show as much. In the 1830s and 1840s the Romantics and the later Gothics favored black because it was the color of melancholy. In the 1850s, aniline or synthetic dyes were invented, making it cheaper and quicker to dye clothing, especially black.

 In 1926 Coco Chanel invented the Little Black Dress (LDB). It was originally nicknamed “a Ford” after the black Model Ts that were filling the streets. Chanel’s LBD was a stark contrast to the colorful glamor of the jazz age. It’s advantage was that it offered women a versatile dress that they could wear to cocktail parties and then out to dinner or the theater afterwards just by changing their accessories. Chanel said, “"A woman needs just three things; a black dress, a black sweater, and, on her arm, a man she loves."

To this day, the LBD is a staple of any well-dressed woman’s wardrobe. For the rest of the 20th century, black makes an appearance in 1950s beatnik fashion with its ubiquitous black turtleneck and again in the 1970s punk culture with black leather jacket. Throughout the decades, classic black clothing never goes out of style, like Chanel’s LBD.

Come in the store on Black Friday and find the perfect LBD for you. They’re all 20% off.