Black Dresses

What I’m drawing this month, Classics

This start of the year I’ve been drawing quite a bit, and I find that I am focusing on two areas, on the one side the very perfect basics I need for everyday and then on the other just beautiful black dresses which are really my downfall. I love a beautiful dress of any color or print but sometimes the black dresses and their specificity are really the ones I get obsessed with for their details. I’ll just say that a perfect black dress has to be cut properly and have impeccable detailing because it doesn’t have color or print to overshadow it for the appeal.

There is a story ( lore!) that in Paris the famous vintage dealer, Didier Ludot, who has a beautiful shop in Palais Royal, once had an all black dress store in the same arcade. This sounds like a dream to me. If I could get away with this in my shop I would -just the thought of all of them lined up together is magical. I think I wrote this in passing for my last Paris post, but my friend Darcy and I did summon our courage and trotted into Didier Ludot this past trip. I still am regretting not trying on the vintage Chloe sailor dress I saw but was a bit intimidated to try anything on. I was very impressed by their selection and the condition of the pieces.

But back to black dresses and then basics for today. I have quite a few black dresses I have designed or bought over the years and I am working on a couple different ones for clients right now. I wondered what is it that makes the best dresses that you turn to all the time. I am really happy with my newest dress, Greta, that is an adaptation of my Anna dress that is usually in a silk charmeuse or crepe. Now it is almost full or ankle length with a very slight variation to the neck. It’s in a gorgeous stretch wool and silk so it really molds with a high jewel neckline.

I know jewel neckline doesn’t work for everyone but it was so popular in the 1950’s to enhance jewelry and a slimming waistline and I think you can always add a lovely cap sleeve to the same dress and create the same effect and cover the arm a bit more. I also love a boatneck dress with a 3/4 length sleeve, and of course I prefer a spaghetti strap black slip dress. Lately I have been drawing off the shoulder full length sweeping dresses, probably coming soon for spring. I feel like in black it could be sophisticated and not too sexy just elegant.

The first black dress I ever designed right out of school was a painful process of patternmaking for me which I called Spider. At the bodice and in the back skirt there was a spider leg seaming pattern of eight panels to contour at both points. This pattern took months to finish and almost drove me mad, but in the end the fit was very flattering and it hit on an Old Hollywood 1940’s trend that was being swiftly embraced at that time by Roland Mouret, Prada et al. I was super lucky to dress some beautiful ladies Katie Holmes, Michelle Williams, Diane Kruger, Jodie Foster and so on in this one dress style ( with varied sleeves) . I wondered then and now why this dress- what about this dress was different to catch people’s attention and I gather it was just classic film siren dress in its fitted cut and feminine shape but also strong and don’t mess with me confidence. I had thought perhaps with my ten year anniversary coming at the shop this year that I will reintroduce this dress.

I wondered if anyone here has a favorite cut for a black dress I am all ears here.

Spider Dress

Now to basics, I will admit I am breaking down and making my own sweatshirts this month. I vowed early on never to venture into sweat anything just in principle living here in LA but I decided late last year that I would make an exception and make a ballet sweatshirt with a slightly open neckline in black and navy in limited edition. I do like a great sweatshirt and I love to wear it with a skirt or a tailored pant or let’s be honest lazing around at home. I have some beautiful black gingham cotton that will tailor well for pencil skirts to complement these this spring so I felt justified to make these. If you want to know more when they come in then please send me a message below.

To close, I just wanted to say one thing about substack. I have been slowly veering away from Instagram this year which has been a primary way I have introduced my brand to new people over the years and now I find myself ideologically not as aligned with it as much or what it stands for. I feel really grateful to slowly start to focus on growing this space a bit more and I appreciate the thoughtful comments I get privately from you and appreciate when you share posts to friends with more people joining substack now. I am so relieved not to be waiting for likes or being part of anyone’s algorithm and just writing for the sake of writing. So, thank you for reading. Later this week I will be doing a very special thank you ( hint it’s striped) for paid subscribers also, thanks for your support!

Have a great week,

xx Katherine