Viktor & Rolf is the new black

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Fashionistas know very well that, in contemporary fashion jargon, the acronym “LBD” stands for three simple short words, “little black dress”.

Though I find linguistics a fascinating subject and I've read a lot of books about it, I still haven’t understood why the sound of certain words makes me cringe. The definition “little black dress” falls into this category and any mention of the “LBD” acronym usually drives me up a wall.

Despite not being sure about the reason why I hate particular words, I do perfectly know what makes me cringe about the "LBD" definition, the word “little”.

I simply adore black and my mind automatically connects black dresses to amazing designs worn by ladies in famous works of art or to iconic creations made by important designers.

I remember I was absolutely in love with an utterly boring textual analysis book I had at university only because there was a picture of John Singer Sargent's "Portrait of Madame X" inside; Coco Chanel’s minimalist straight black dress that appeared in Vogue in the late 20s and was compared by the magazine to a Ford (see also my previous post about "Automotive Fashion") represented for me the quintessence of a modern woman’s wardrobe.

The list of famous designers who created black dresses is long and the list of women who adopted this garment to create unique looks and styles is even longer.

Therefore, there is nothing "little" about such design, maybe we should talk about "legendary" but, please, spare us the "little".

If, somehow, you feel like me about the "LBD" definition, you will be happy to know that Viktor & Rolf recently joined the “black dress designers” list.

Indeed, the Dutch design duo created a small capsule collection of five cocktail dresses.

Gladly sparing us the “little” word and simply entitling the collection “Viktor & Rolf Black Dress”, the designers promised that, from the Spring/Summer 2010 collection on, they will launch a new capsule comprising five dresses.

In a way, this was only natural for designers who explored the power of such a colour in previous collections such as “Black Hole” (Autumn/Winter 2001-02) and “Flowerbomb” (Spring/Summer 2005).

For the S/S 2010 capsule collection, the designers opted for soft shapes and silhouettes: the names chosen for the designs – “Black Beauty”, “Black Dahlia”, “Black Hole”, “Black Dream” and “Black Rose” – are maybe romantically conventional, but the designs show an interesting research in fabrics and cuts.

Though the collection features only five designs, the choice of fabrics show the same research the duo carried out in their “Black Hole” collection and includes taffeta, cupro, silk, chiffon and tulle.

Stones, beads and hand embroideries are used as embellishments and V&R’s trademark designs appear in the trompe l’oeil effect created by pleats that cascade from a large front bow and in the “flower bomb” strap details at the back of a dress.

Besides, there are also a few references to lingerie, especially in the bodice dresses. “Our inspiration began with the women we imagined would wear them,” V&R stated in a press release. “With sources ranging from a certain technique or silhouette to the memory of a vintage dress, the garments capture our take on the spirit of a woman, that may be serenely fluid, delightfully structured, lavish and decorative or classically alluring”.

The final idea behind the collection is reinventing this staple wardrobe item and offering a point of view that almost contrasts with the rest of the collection.

But I think the best thing about this capsule collection is that it’s a first step towards slowing down the fashion machine a bit: simple yet as chic as Audrey Hepburn's iconic dress in Breakfast at Tiffany, these designs are timeless and will remain in women’s wardrobes for many years to come, representing an investment rather than the umpteenth 'six-to-four month' space filler that not many of us can afford and that none of us actually needs.

After all, to put it in the words of Wallis Warfield Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, a fan of the black dress, “When a little black dress is right, there is nothing else to wear in its place”.