Moodboard: This Month The Mood Is Flattering

“We may never find ourselves on the red carpet … but by schooling ourselves in fashion history, trends, terms and techniques, we can make better choices when we trawl online or skim the racks at TK Maxx,” says Susan Zelouf …

Jonesing for a Dolce & Gabbana SS17 pink silk sundress, appliquéd, embroidered and printed with blousy roses backfloating alongside a bestiary of ichthyological illustrations (that’s fish to you), a Miami-based girlfriend and I took a hard right away from our usual woeful state-of-the-world colloquy to discuss whether or not I should bid on one I’d found (NWT) on eBay. In a reverie, envisioning myself sipping a negroni in Stromboli wearing said frock, my friend (Queen of Fecking Everything) interjects, treating me to a brief history of the cheongsam, from its origins as a loose, squarish robe worn over trousers by 17th-century Qing dynasty Manchu women (the quipao) to its evolution as an elegant fitted Chinese gown, becoming ever slinkier in the 1920s, when, in the international port city of Shanghai, silk stockings became all the rage. Paired with high heels and modified by way of a daring lengthening of the side split (an edit introduced by British and French ex-pat tailors), the risqué dress became the darling of Shanghai’s rich and famous, themselves adopting the outré style of the Sing-song girls, the city’s courtesans and entertainers. Why wouldn’t Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana play with tradition and tailor an iconic sheath dress notorious for liberating the female form, heightening its old school glamour, reimagining, season after season, the silhouette and palette of what they deemed a bold, sensual, playful modern woman would choose to wear?

“The dress must follow the body of a woman, not the body following the shape of the dress.” Hubert de Givenchy

Pour yourself into this dress and every day’s a Roman holiday. “Suits you, signora.” A dress prompting second looks and flattery, even from frenemies, earns its place in the wardrobe. But what makes a dress particularly flattering? According to Dolce & Gabbana, it’s all about the wiggle. Italian tailoring excels at creating an hourglass silhouette via sharp darts, a fitted bodice and structured shoulders, using internal boning and corsetry to lift the bust and cinch the waist. Strategic necklines frame the décolletage and elongate the neck, while a calf-skimming hem lengthens the leg. The late Paul Costelloe favoured fluid fabrics, skimming the body and draping beautifully. Few designers mastered the art of the drape like Halston, draping luxe fabrics directly onto the fit model, rather than making a paper pattern; a Halston halterneck in a solid jeweltone melted over the body, the better to dance the night away in Studio 54, a Halston hangout. Diane von Fürstenberg’s 1974 wrap dress is still considered one of the most flattering dresses to wear, its adjustable tie cinching any waist, the V-neck drawing the eye up, elongating the torso, its so drape smoothing tummy and hips.

Ask any stylist which dress is most flattering, and they’ll ask you what your body type is. “Know thyself” is a maxim best applied to all shapes and sizes: are you a pear, hourglass, apple, rectangle, triangle? If, like me, you’ve chosen to be sanguinely unaware of the answer, you may find yourself blissfully happy wearing a darling pink eyelet lace ruched babydoll mini dress; flattering, said nobody ever.