Little black dress Little black dress A little black dress (LBD) is a black evening or cocktail dress, cut simply and often quite short. Fashion historians ascribe the origins of the little black dress to the 1920s designs of Coco Chanel and Jean Patou intended to be long-lasting, versatile, affordable, accessible to the widest market possible and in a neutral colour. Its ubiquity is such that it is often simply referred to as the "LBD". The "little black dress" is considered essential to a complete wardrobe by many women and fashion observers, who believe it a "rule of fashion" that every woman should
Yellow Valentino dress of Cate Blanchett the dress as among the best Oscar dresses of all time, fashion critics were divided on the dress. Lesley Kennedy of the "Rocky Mountain News " considered the 2005 Oscars to be a "giant fashion runway". She noted that many actresses attending the ceremony opted for strapless gowns, and said that unlike Beyoncé, Scarlett Johansson, Kirsten Dunst, Drew Barrymore and Annette Bening who wore black, the "usually spot-on Cate Blanchett (in Valentino) looked a little bit like a bruised banana in her yellow and burgundy-brown dress." Kennedy believed that Blanchett was outshone by Rene Zellweger wearing Carolina Herrera. Blanchett later