22 WAYS TO SAY BLACK

There is so much going on this merry month of September! Fashion's Night Out and the unveiling of Swarovski Crystals' 22 Ways to Say Black.

Swarovski Crystal under the patronage of France's uber chic First Lady, Carla Bruni Sarkozy commissioned 22 of fashion's most notable names to design one-of-a-kind little black dresses. These dresses will be auctioned off by Simon de Pury on the 20th of September at the Phillips de Pury and Company in New York City. One Hundred per cent of the proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society and La Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer in France.

From September 7 to 20, visitors to the New York Meat Packing District can catch a glimpse of the designs of Giorgio Armani, Ricardo Tisci for Givenchy, Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, Sonia Rykiel, and Vivienne Westwood to name a few.

A cocktail party hosted by Nadja Swarovski will culminate the event of the evening of the 20th of September.

22 Ways to Say Black has an accompanying catalogue, which is available on Amazon.com.

Now, this is Fashion for a Cause and With a Cause.

WARDROBE MUST HAVES - THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS

Simple. Classic.... The LBD. Thank you Jean Patou and Coco Chanel.

LBD from H&M. Belt from New Look.

No, this red shoe aint lost.... Decided to play up my LBD with these girl red pumps from My Strawberry Shop

Very corporate yet girly - dress from Zara

80's style - big shoulders. Dress from SPLASH

Short and balloon from My Cabinet Room

Simple... just the way I like it. Dress from Zara.

In knit form from Zara Basics

In pleather - dress from Forever 21.

The LBD takes on a different shape - shirred and body hugging

Let me start this series of posts with something that has rescued me from Wardrobe Blah- blah dom time and again.... THE LITTLE BLACK DRESS. However, before I actually do, why don’t we take a trip down memory lane and see how this Wardrobe Staple came to be.

The Little Black Dress or LBD as we know it has been synonymous to none other than Coco Chanel but did you know that Jean Patou (more famous for the JOY perfume – thanks Grand ma and Tita Tess for wearing this while I was growing up) was also responsible for this versatile closet staple in the 20’s?

According my research the cut and silhouette was largely influenced by Monsieur Patou, however, the colour was pure Chanel. Come to think of it only a designer as bold as Chanel can come up with a dress fit for high society in a colour that used to be reserved for maid servants.

Chanel debuted her now famous long sleeved black crepe dress in 1926 and Vogue claimed it to be the uniform for ‘all women with taste.’

Although the LBD is supposed to be simple in cut so that it can be wearable irrespective of the season, so many designers have reinvented it using different fabrics, embellishments etc. My personal favourites are the ones which has an extremely simple cut, and a modest hemline.

The photos that I have included in this post are also found in several of my older posts and it only goes to how many times the LBD has rescued me J