Style Never Goes Out of Style

These are some of the most empowering and iconic images over the past half a century. Jean Shrimpton, Jackie Kennedy, Michelle Obama and Megan Markle. They share the same characteristics: bare arms, minimal accessorising, block colouring and arms by their sides. Each woman is making a statement about their relationships to their bodies and their style becomes the medium for that statement.

Their dresses are all the classic shift dress. A design that, in itself, has been a symbol of empowerment over the decades. The shift dress was first worn in the 1920s by ‘flappers’. These were young women who defied social norms and broke away from the heavy layering style typical of that period. During the sixties youth culture took the shift dress as their own and mixed up as a casual, formal or semi-normal base and adding their own touches.

So, the shift dress, is the medium for my statement of empowerment and, whilst not mine, I’ll make it mine.