Cocktail dress – Best for the Party

Sometimes referred to as a party dress, a cocktail costume is a mid-length semi-formal dress that is often chosen for evening outings. While the style of dress itself emerged during the 1920s, current fashion designer Christian Dior has been credited with coining the term “cocktail dress.” The classic “little black dress” defined by Coco Chanel is a type of cocktail dress, & is often touted as a versatile must-have for any woman’s clothes. One of the most iconic images of the cocktail dress in popular culture is that worn by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Additional stars famous for wearing cocktail dresses include Twiggy, Louise Brooks, Kate Moss & Sarah Jessica Parker, even as some of the world’s most famous fashion designers.

Most cocktail dresses can be dressed up or down depending on which items they are paired with. One of the benefits of cocktail dresses is their appropriateness for both a professional environment in the daytime and a social outing in the evening. In the daytime, female may wear cocktail dresses paired with fitted jackets or cardigans, creating a traditional outfit suitable for an office environment. At the evening, the same dress could be worn to a lounge or club when paired with eye-catching accessories or the footwear most often worn with the frock, tall heels. Boots can also be worn with a cocktail dress if they are fitted rather than loose or clunky.  

Although the cocktail dress is known for its flexibility, there are various types of cocktail dresses that are essentially formal or fancy and difficult to dress down. These cocktail dresses are obvious by such features as sequins, halter necks, satin, bubble skirts, beading & plunging necklines. There are also certain styles of cocktail dresses that may be too informal depending on the occasion, such as dresses with buttons down the front, jumper-style straps, or dresses worn covered over shirts. In 2009, author Laird Borrelli- Persson published an illustrated retrospective called The Cocktail Dress, which offers a chronological look at the classic cocktail dress and its place in fashion as well as quotes by famous designers.