Black a dark blue tuxedo looked blacker than black itself. For women's fashion, the defining moment was the invention of the simple black dress by Coco Chanel in 1926. (See history.) Thereafter, a long black gown was used for formal occasions, while the simple black dress could be used for everything else. The designer Karl Lagerfeld, explaining why black was so popular, said: "Black is the color that goes with everything. If you're wearing black, you're on sure ground." Skirts have gone up and down and fashions have changed, but the black dress has not lost its position as the essential
Dress of the Year Museum along with an Adel Rootstein mannequin to represent that year's total look. Dress of the Year The Dress of the Year is an annual fashion award run by the Fashion Museum, Bath from 1963. Each year since 1963, the Museum has asked a fashion journalist to select a dress or outfit that best represents the most important new ideas in contemporary fashion. For 2010 the Museum broke with tradition by asking the milliner Stephen Jones, rather than a journalist, to choose an outfit; and again in 2014 when the fashion blogger, Susanna Lau of "Style Bubble", was asked to