Little Black Dress

The little black dress shows that the definition of what is stylish and elegant does change over time. Coco Chanel is to thank for this change. The little black dress, little black suit are staples in most women’s closets. The L.B.D. has caused some issues in finishing off the look, specifically nylons. Nylons have been the bain of my existence. It was not until I was older and found back-seam, garter less, thigh-highs that I could bear to wear them. The late Princess Diana was know for going bare legged, you would have thought it was going to cause a international incident. I loved it. I remember the picture on the day her divorce was finalized. That beautiful L.B.D., amazing necklace and her beautiful smile and oh my the bare legs. If she had put on shear black nylons that look would have been ruined. Balance, is what I am talking about. Her arms were bare, and to have bare or bare looking legs kept you eyes following. Your eyes weren’t drawn to one portion of her outfit, the whole outfit was one display. To have bare arms and covered legs you eyes are drawn to the dark color. If you want to wear nylons go with the nude color, this will keep the extremities all in the same hue. Now, look at the pic to the right side in this blog you might say “ Well look at that black dress and black nylons, she just broke this rule”. One, this isn’t a rule just a comment. Two, there was one word in this paragraph that makes a huge difference - Shear. The nylons in the picture are as dark as the dress and shoes. Keeping the eye moving and not stopping at some different color. Then the final finish are the gloves and beret.

Black shear nylons with the black suit is different. In the suit your arms are covered, so covering the legs with black nylons looks just fine. Even nude nylons looks fine with the black suit. Your not drawing the eyes to a shocking color. Oddly enough dark black nylons with black suit could make it look much to Macomb.


Black has become the color to hide in. Black is supposed to draw the eye to the eye away from what is covered in black and to the lighter color. But when you all in black (dress and shear nylons), and you have a large section of two colors (your arms vs. your legs) it is shocking to the eye. Plus, if your sleeveless the thought is that it is warm enough to not need to cover your legs. Its like combining winter and summer in one outfit. To see it on the red carpet, a beautiful black dress with a slit to the high part of the thigh only to reveal shear black nylons. Ouch, that hurt my eyes. That was it for me. I was tired of seeing a small amount of women taking on this look. The modern look of boots with L.B.D. is exactly that, a modern take on it. But when I’ve seen women with this look its for a more casual event, and they are not wearing black shear nylons. The boots are dark in color just like the dress.

Keep your L.B.D.’s clean and balanced and it will be amazing.