Going into part five on the topic of Portrait of a Lady, following skirts, we are going to take a look at dresses and gowns. There are a few sayings, firstly, a lady should always have a little black dress (commonly termed as LBD) inside her closet, I guess we all heard that before. Next, a lady is the most beautiful when she put on her wedding gown, this makes us wonder, what is with dresses and gowns that make them so popular in fashion sense and important in accentuating the lady-like characteristics.
A dress, also known as a frock or a gown, is a garment traditionally worn by women or girls consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice (or a matching bodice giving the effect of a one-piece garment). It consists of a top piece that covers the torso and hangs down over the legs. A dress can be any one-piece garment containing a skirt of any length, and can be formal or casual. A dress can have sleeves, straps, or be held up with elastic around the chest, leaving the shoulders bare. Dresses also vary in color. The hemlines of dresses vary depending on modesty, weather, fashion or the personal taste of the wearer. Technically speaking, a dress is just a piece garment covering from the top and bottom of the body and it comes with various tops and hemlines.
Talking about the influence from both Eastern and Western world, each culture has their influence and their own dress design but as we can see from the pictures below, the most representative dress from the East is the Cheongsam also known as QiPao and I had did a full post on that previously. From the Western culture, we can see the modern dress designs are heavily influenced by them, from bodycon dress to peplum design or ball gown, we can see more of the dress designs take their reference from the West.
Either for professional activities like doing work, or attending prom or wedding, a nice dress show always bring out the best attributes in a lady. A sundress is usually worn to showcase a casual and sassy looks, an evening dress or ball gown portraits elegance and grace, a bodycon to highlight the hourly figure of the wearer. There is always a dress for every occasion. Quite similar to skirts, dresses also come with varying hemlines, which have similar connotations, e.g. micro, mini, above knee and so on. So depending on the different occasion, a lady should put on the suitable dress to match the appropriate function.
A lady should always don on a modest dress when out in public to display her posh and poised composure. Of course, who can forget about the importance of hosiery to go along with it. One classic example of a lady in dress and pantyhose is the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, as seen in the picture below. You can see how the sheer black pantyhose just add that finishing touch to that dress and matching colour heels... If you want to check out the different dresses that the Duchess wear for the different occasions, you can check them out here.
While wearing a dress with mini hemline, pantyhose is a must for a lady to protect her modesty, some may wonder, if you are wearing a long dress or gown, should you still put on hosiery? There is no hard and fast rule as most of the legs are covered by the dress but according to the recommendation from this website, the answer is a YES. A nice pair of stocking with garter belt will definitely be great as it not only can keep your legs warm and prevent abrasion between the sole on the feet and the shoes, it definitely makes you feel gorgeous and sexy underneath.
As to pairing dresses with gloves, it is not common to see ladies wearing gloves while donning on their normal everyday dresses. However, depending on the occasion, gloves of different length goes well with the type of dresses or gowns you are wearing and definitely add on a layer of grace and fashion. For instance, when you are wearing an evening dress or a ballroom gown, a nice matching pair of long satin opera gloves is always a must as it just add on that alluring and elegance style, and it complements that gown you are wearing.
There are so many types of dress or gown with varying design and ladies are spoiled for choices as there is always a dress or gown for every occasion. But as I had mentioned at the start, a lady should have a Little Black Dress in her wardrobe, and probably a nice ballroom gown for formal occasion. Last but not least, let us end of this post by seeing how a nice pair of satin opera gloves together with a nice pair pantyhose help to complete the dress as a whole.
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