The slip dress: true symbol of the 90s
A tribute to the garment loved by Kate Moss, Sofia Coppola, Courtney Love and many other 90s icons
December 21st, 2018
It seems that already in the late eighteenth century the Duchess of Devonshire and Marie Antoinette went crazy for a version in muslin with a band around the waist and the stars of the silent cinema used it to increase their glamour appeal, but to make it iconic were the 90s thanks to timeless it-girls like Kate Moss or Courney Love. Have you guessed what we're talking about? Yes, just of the slip dress. Elegant and sensual, women have always chosen it, as pointed out by Edwina Ehrman, curator some years ago of the exhibition Undressed: A Brief History Of Underwear at the V&A in London:
"to challenge contemporary morality, (as it) represents the difference between what should be public and what should be hidden and the breaking of those barriers"
and they soon learned to play it down, for example by wearing it with a basic white t-shirt underneath and sneakers on their feet." A lesson inspired by the catwalks where it was a recurring protagonist: from Galliano to Dior and Givenchy to Calvin Klein (his merit, paired with Miss Moss for making it immortal and very copious), from Gucci to Dries Van Noten, from Balenciaga to Alexander Wang, no designer has been able to resist create his own version and play with his silhouette slipped in silk, making it with very thin straps, with lace inserts, dizzying slits, overlapping or maintaining ne the basic line. It is a potentially multi-faceted garment, which can be shaped according to who shows it off: chosen by Madonna in 1995 it exalts its provocative side, with Lady D showing it in one of its first post-divorce releases telling of a renewed freedom; thanks to Courtney Love and Winona Ryder becomes one of the most beloved pieces from the grunge generation and with Queen Kate (yes, always her) acquires a glamor-rock twist.