A-silhouette dresses in spring-summer collections
IN A CONSTANT WONDERZINE HEAD talks about trends from the podium that can be adapted for your wardrobe for the next six months. In this issue we understand how brands from Miu Miu to Lacoste today interpret the main thing of the 60s - a trapezoid mini dress.
How it all began
The dress of the trapezoid form or the A-silhouette is nowadays called tennis or skater. Although Christian Dior was one of the first to use the term “A-silhouette”, showing in the spring collection of 1955 a jacket and a pleated knee-length skirt that looked like a trapeze. This geometry was supported and continued by Yves Saint Laurent, who demonstrated trapezoid coats and dresses in the 1958 Dior spring collection. Almost at the same time, Cristobal Balenciaga came up with a funny idea of a dress bag that opened only arms and legs, hiding the figure and chest. Girls of the 60s fell in love with a mini-dress-A-line for several reasons. Firstly, for the idea of Balenciaga of partial closeness-openness. In addition, geometry was in vogue: at the beginning of the trapeze of Saint-Laurent, then the ideas of the futurists of the 60-ies - Andre Kurrej, Pierre Cardin and Paco Rabanne with their experiments on materials, from vinyl to paper dresses. The third reason - the length of the mini, which was offered by Mary Quant and John Bates in London - miniskirts delighted the insurgents along with the news about the appearance of the contraceptive pills, and the A-line mini-dresses became a symbol of the era.
The A-silhouette dress could be a bit narrower at the waist, and could form a straight line from the shoulder to the thigh, hiding all the curves of the figure. Dress length also ranged from extra mini to just above the knee. In the 70s, A-silhouette midi skirts from suede and denim came to replace the dresses, which can be seen today in the collection of Nicolas Ghesquière for Louis Vuitton, as well as skirts decorated with pockets and large buttons - this technique is quoted by Kenzo as early as next year. By the end of the 70s, narrow pencil skirts and broad shoulders emerged into the avant-garde, so the cheerful A-silhouette was forgotten for a long time, dubbing the old-fashioned up to the 90s. In the post-perestroika era, the trapezoid that returned was associated with short tennis and skate dresses - narrow at the shoulders and wide at the hips.
How to wear an A-line dress now
Felipe Oliveira Baptista for Lacoste this season features light A-silhouette tennis mini-dresses with contrasting trim. 3.1 Phillip Lim shows off white minimalist A-line dresses with a transparent inset. Christopher Caine puts a floral print on the mini-dresses. Alexander Wang for Balenciaga uses textured material for A-silhouette dresses that looks like woven fabrics. Edie Slimane builds the entire Saint Laurent collection of the next season around mini-dresses, such as Sharon Tate could wear, they are made of expensive materials: brocade and velvet - and decorated with sequins, glass beads and bows. Slimane styles the dress with a dozen options: with a park, leather vest, coat, leather jacket, jacket, fur coat, cape, heavy lacquered and silver boots and shoes sprinkled with glitter. Mary Katranza is showing this season a slightly exaggerated A-silhouette dress (resembling a bag), and already in the coming autumn-winter season - A-silhouette mini dresses with textured appliqué. Nicolas Ghesquière builds the first autumn-winter collection for Louis Vuitton around the A-silhouette, featuring leather-trimmed and zip-finished dresses. Kenzo advised for the fall leather mini dress with gold trim, worn on top of a knitted dress with a neck. Miuccia Prada has created A-line quilted dresses for Miu Miu and combines them with rubber boots and sheep fur. The second option is brocade dresses with transparent rubber inserts, Miuccia also added them with boots and raincoats. In the autumn season, Proenza Schouler wears knitwear under dresses, shows an A-silhouette dress of brocade with a throat, as well as an open bustier.
The A-line dress is simple, clear and suitable for every day. Already we can say that, in terms of trends, this is a mandatory thing in 2015, since the 60s will be the key trend of the future spring-summer season. We recommend wearing these dresses now. They perfectly reflect the course of wearability (also the trend of the next year), which is obvious from the cruise collections of many brands. So, Donatella Versace showed the classic interpretation of mini-dresses of the 60s with pop art prints, and Raf Simons - A-silhouette dresses made of lace and with a floral print. Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein shows in the cruise collection of 2015 about ten A-silhouette dresses of different colors and from different materials: from leather to knitted knitwear. Umberto Leon and Carol Kim also turn to the 60s era, showing for Kenzo the dresses decorated with buttons, Jason Wu demonstrate elongated A-silhouette monochrome dresses perfectly suitable for the city (black, white and gray). Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez also included A-line dresses in the cruise collection.
Beware!
Care should be taken regarding the length of the mini. If the dress is too short, you can take an example from the 60s and wear it in the manner of Twiggy with tight tights. Another option is to choose a dress that is slightly longer: this would be appropriate in the city and will completely cover your rear. It is worth remembering that the A-silhouette dress will look good only if your hands are in a pumped-up, slim state.
The version of the trapezoid dress on the straps can be worn as an apron, wearing a thin jersey under it: a long-sleeved sweater, a turtleneck or a knitted obtuj dress, as shown by Kenzo and Louis Vuitton. Almost everything fits the A-silhouette dress: flat boots (even vinyl and rubber boots, styling in the Miu Miu and Saint Laurent collections to help), pointed shoes, men's shoes, sneakers, birkenstocks - I don’t want to
Photo: Getty Images / Fotobank (2), Sipa / Fotodom (2)