The Little Black Dress

After a month of close acquaintance with the Little Black Dress, the Good News Girlz can tell you: The LBD is more than a garment, it's a phenomenon. Although discreet black dresses had been worn for generations of women, they were mostly funeral attire and even considered slightly indecent if worn at other times. Then in 1926, Coco Chanel changed the LBD's social standing. Amercian Vogue called her slash necked silk dress with pin tucks and a flirty hem the Model T of fashion. The black dress was flattering and available to women of all social and economic levels.

The LBD got a boost from Hollywood as technicolor films distorted the values of other shades and they could always count on the drama achieved by a black dress. When Audrey Hepburn showed up for Breakfast at Tiffany's, she wowed us with the simplicity and glamour of her black Givenchy sheath adorned only with a string of pearls.

The LBD has evolved through the years, getting breathtakingly short in the sixties, cut outs in the seventies, broad shoulders and peplums in the eighties, and simpler in the ninties. Now we see Little Black Dresses in every size, length, style, price point and degree of elegance. Though we often see warnings of the new black, nothing else is really black and black is always in good taste. A woman wearing a Little Black Dress knows what she wants and does not allow rejection to stand in her way.

When buying a black dress consider the fabric, both shade and weight. Fit is critical to the beauty of any garment but is especially necessary to the LBD. You can find black dresses at every price: Target.com has them starting at $13, and of course, the sky's the limit. But as Coco Chanel, herself once said, "Whether a woman's little black dress cost $50 or $2,000 her intention is the same: to look effortlessly classic and appropriately sexy in just seconds."