Lynn Fontanne, who pioneered naturalism in the theater with husband Alfred Lunt, poses in a streamlined dress by Callot Soeurs, a Parisan couture house founded by four sisters. Madeleine Vionnet, who trained there, said: "Without the example of the Callot sisters, I would have continued to make Fords. It is because of them that I have been able to make Rolls-Royce."
Edward Steichen for VOGUE, Conde Nast Archive / Corbis
The nip-waisted full-skirted New Look silhouette pioneered by Christian Dior continued to dominate fashion in the '50s, but as fashion writer Caroline Rennolds Milbank notes, "It existed in tandem with a narrow, curvy style as well as a boxy look." However, it wasn't until the introduction of the sack dress in 1957 that the full-skirt hegemony was seriously threatened.
Gordon Parks, Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images
"Miss Cheesecake of 1950" had a habit of turning heads, whether standing over a grate or poured into an inky cocktail number, as she is here in a promotional shot for The Asphalt Jungle (1950) that puts definite emphasis on the sexy starlet's decolletage and feminine curves. A simple strand of pearls completes the look.
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
"A recent bride I know," Anne Fogarty recounts in Wife Dressing "had a lopsided bachelor-girl wardrobe that consisted of Levi's, baggy skirts, some collegiate-looking wools, and about 28 cocktail dresses." The implication is that a drinks party is a good place to hook a husband. This photograph, shot during the worker's lunch break the day before the buildings were razed, includes photographer Ormond Gigli's own wife (second floor, far right).
Ormond Gigli
Marc Bohan spent 31 years at Christian Dior. He began as the head of the London branch in 1958 and was named creative director in 1960. Rather than revolutionizing the house, Bohan's focus was on maintaining its tradition for ladylike elegant clothes, such as this swinging '60s number.
Wesley / Getty Images
Trained as an architect, Paco Rabanne sold jewelry to couturiers such as Balenciaga and Givenchy before debuting his first fashion designs— which he called "the unwearables"—in 1965. He opened his own house the following year and became known for metal-linked (plastic-disc) dresses of which Francoise Hardy was a notable fan.
David McCabe, Conde Nast Archive / Corbis
Berlin-based fashion photographer Ralph Mecke captures fashion's obsession with vintage at the turn of the century in this image of a barefoot model casually wearing a structured New Look silhouette in a very unladylike pose. "Twisting" classics is a favorite trope of designers as varied as John Galliano and Miuccia Prada.
Ralph Mecke
A French expatriate, Catherine Malandrino moved to New York to work as a head designer for Diane von Furstenberg. Malandrino—who launched her own line in 1998—has had her work featured on Sex and the City, which makes perfect sense as her flattering draped dresses, like this one, combine classical technique with an assured, assertive sexuality.
Wendelien Daan / Courtesy of Malandrino
The Cocktail Dress
By Laird Borrelli-Persson
112 pages. Collins Design. $22.
