by Sharon Ruth Hill

Created on: October 19, 2009   Last Updated: November 14, 2010

The little black dress is a near perfect symbol of the modern woman's solution to surviving the recession while maintaining some semblance of style. The ultra-modern look is subdued, neutral and uniform-like style for office daytime when accompanied by a simple shell or basic lightweight jacket. But be forewarned, because when Cinderella slips on those designer black pumps with a four inch heel then trades up by shedding the conservative, politically correct outerwear for the original bawdy, plunging neckline with string pearls, there will be a reckoning to come.

Casually flirting; tempting fate many decades before the famed "simple black dress" gave way to the iconic "little black dress", or LBD. Now firmly entrenched as a wardrobe staple, with the power to rapidly transform even a mundane sheath dress to stellar, sophisticated evening wear by adding any of a variety of favorite baubles.

And so you put on your favorite, form fitting knee-length black dress-you feel the power and the confidence. Soon the atmosphere changes and you step outside into the cool evening air. The stars twinkle a little brighter then seem to dare you to touch them, the clear moon shines and seems so much closer than before. An unnatural force, a kind of raw power emanates with each concentrated, yet meticulous step. The unknown becomes the known, as a newfound world rhythm supercedes even the cadence of iambic pentameter, even all language and methods of communication.  This is the magic of the black dress.

As a true constant in an ever-changing world, the little black dress has born witness many important historical events. There's that famous Givency dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's, a timeless classic designed as a floor length gown with a fitted bodice and simple embellishment. It is lovely to watch the video clip of Princess Diana, in a form fitting, off-the-shoulder, little black dress with plunging neckline, disco dancing with John Travolta during a visit to the United States.

Danger lurks in every crease, fold, and gather of the floor-length black dress, as it delicately drapes the hour-glass silhouette of "Madame X" in the infamous painting by John Singer Sargent. The exaggerated essence of notoriety and scandal belies the earlier sovereign dignity of black as the color of mourning clothes.

So ladies, this is your heritage, primeval yet vastly nuanced to a succinctly modern age, Trench warfare, oddly nuclear, even atomic by nature, or other impenetrable force. The black dress, or little black dress, demands nothing less than complete deference, while also rapturously restoring world order in the midst of both economic, civil, and social unrest. A veritable first line of defense in the fashion wars.

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