Black Russian and the blackness of the coffee liqueur. Black Russian The Black Russian is a cocktail of vodka and coffee liqueur. It contains five parts vodka to two parts coffee liqueur, per IBA specified ingredients. Traditionally, the drink is made by pouring the vodka over ice cubes or cracked ice in an old-fashioned glass, followed by the coffee liqueur. This combination first appeared in 1949 and is ascribed to Gustave Tops, a Belgian barman, who created it at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels in honor of Perle Mesta, then United States Ambassador to Luxembourg. The cocktail owes its name to the
Cocktail dress among the American elite. While French couture relied on travel and American department stores, American designers relied on fashion magazines, such as "Vogue" and "Vanity Fair", and the need to dress semi-formally for cocktail hour. In 1948, Christian Dior labeled this business-casual dress with the term "cocktail dress". This allowed department store to advertise specifically “cocktail” garments and accessories, increasing the growth of fashion stores. The craze for cocktail culture drove sales in cocktail merchandise as well, such as cocktail and martini-printed fabrics. The American cocktail dress could be anything from a "little black dress" to a floral-printed dress or