Think Audrey Hepburn in “Breakfast at Tiffany”s” as the minx becomes the young lover. Think Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, especially the pre-Onassis period. Think Jane Wyman descending the stairs of Falcon Crest as the grand dame of 1980s television or your own mother preparing for a country club luncheon with the girls.
Think Sarah Jessica Parker on “Sex and the City,” Paris Hilton stepping out for a night on the town, or Taylor Swift at the Grammy awards in 6-inch heels. Fashion comes and fashion goes, but face it, one article never leaves us. It just reinvents itself across the decades and the icons, adorning queens, movie stars, executives, socialites and anything but average stay-at-home moms. The “little black dress” has proven itself the most irrepressible and versatile garment our culture has ever known.
While I have had the distinct privilege of guiding my mother on shopping sprees through Waldoff”s in Hattiesburg, my clients through Maison Weiss in Jackson, and my friend girls through Saks in New Orleans and on Fifth Avenue, living on the Southside now and hearing the tales of Ruth”s landmark Columbus store downtown, I regret that I didn”t get the privilege of shopping there with my nieces in what I understand was grand style indeed. These high-end bastions of class and style may come and go, but alas, the little black dress comes and stays.
You will not find much that Sarah Jessica Parker, Jackie Kennedy and Paris Hilton have in common, perhaps nothing except their love for fashion and style, New York City, and their distinctive takes on the little black dress. When a chiffon ball gown or a full-length mink is just a little too much, or your favorite jeans are not quite enough, remember the little black dress carried your grandmother anywhere she needed to go and will probably serve your granddaughter equally well … timeless and always in grand style.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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