Nowadays, we see evening dresses worn on a regular basis. Splashed across the news or fashion magazines are dozens of photos of celebrities wearing them at award dinners and other special occasions. To us they seem almost commonplace despite the fact that most women only wear one a few times in their life.
Most people do not realize that evening dresses have only really been part of a woman’s wardrobe since the mid-1800s. Prior to that women did dress formally for certain occasions but they tended to dress up their day-to-day dresses.
Modern Evening Dresses
Many of the modern styles of evening dresses that are worn today have their roots as far back as the early 1900s. From then the basic shapes were being used but evening dresses were still very flashy and flouncy. They did not have the crisp clean lines most dresses have today.
Modern evening dresses did not really take off until the 1930s. During that era, designers honed the shapes and came up with the modern silhouettes that you see in today’s evening gowns. These silhouettes include the sheath, the A-line, the mermaid and the less popular trumpet shape all of which you will see worn at modern award dinners.
