A cowl neck is a neckline consisting of a loose draped fabric collar. [1] The term can describe the neckline of a wide variety of garments, from the draped neckline of an evening gown to a raised neckline of knitwear similar to a turtleneck. [2] The neckline was introduced in the 1920s by Madeleine Vionnet based on her study of ancient Grecian sculptures. [3] The style is named for the cowl, a feature of monastic dress that serves as both a collar and a hood.
Inspired by the draped garments of antiquity, Madeleine Vionnet created the cowl neckline in the 1920s using the bias cut technique that she helped to popularize. [3] The cowl neck enjoyed the peak of its popularity in the 1930s. [1]
Cowl neck sweaters were popular in the 1970s. [4] Dresses of the disco era also frequently had cowl necks. [5]
Cowl necklines were a common feature of slip dresses made in the 1990s by designers such as John Galliano.
Two of the most notable garments of the early 2010s featured a cowl neckline. Lady Gaga's cowl-necked meat dress, created by Franc Fernandez, caused a stir at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards. [6] At the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, Pippa Middleton attracted media attention for wearing a form-fitting dress featuring a cowl neck. [7] Designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, the dress quickly generated demand for high street replicas. [8]
The cowl neck experienced a resurgence in the late 2010s as part of renewed interest in 1990s fashion. [2] Vivienne Westwood has been cited as an important driver of the trend. [9] [10]
Dame Vivienne Isabel Westwood is an English fashion designer and businesswoman, largely responsible for bringing modern punk and new wave fashions into the mainstream.
Victorian fashion consists of the various fashions and trends in British culture that emerged and developed in the United Kingdom and the British Empire throughout the Victorian era, roughly from the 1830s through the 1890s. The period saw many changes in fashion, including changes in styles, fashion technology and the methods of distribution. Various movement in architecture, literature, and the decorative and visual arts as well as a changing perception of gender roles also influenced fashion.
A nightgown, nightie or nightdress is a loosely hanging item of nightwear, and is commonly worn by women and girls. A nightgown is made from cotton, silk, satin, or nylon and may be decorated with lace appliqués or embroidery at the bust and hem.
Madeleine Vionnet was a French fashion designer. Vionnet trained in London before returning to France to establish her first fashion house in Paris in 1912. Although it was forced to close in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War, it re-opened after the war and Vionnet became one of the leading designers of 1920s-30s Paris. Vionnet was forced to close her house in 1939 and retired in 1940.
A polo neck, roll-neck, turtleneck, or skivvy is a garment—usually a sweater—with a close-fitting collar that folds over and covers the neck. It can also refer to the type of neckline, the style of collar itself, or be used as an adjective.
1830s fashion in Western and Western-influenced fashion is characterized by an emphasis on breadth, initially at the shoulder and later in the hips, in contrast to the narrower silhouettes that had predominated between 1800 and 1820.
A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician.
For woven textiles, grain refers to the orientation of the weft and warp threads. The three named grains are straight grain, cross grain, and the bias grain. In sewing, a pattern piece can be cut from fabric in any orientation, and the chosen grain or orientation will affect the way the fabric hangs and stretches and thus the fit of a garment. Generally speaking a piece is said to be cut on a particular grain when the longest part of the pattern or the main seams of the finished piece are aligned with that grain. Non-woven materials such as felt, interfacing or leather do not have a grain.
In clothing, a collar is the part of a shirt, dress, coat or blouse that fastens around or frames the neck. Among clothing construction professionals, a collar is differentiated from other necklines such as revers and lapels, by being made from a separate piece of fabric, rather than a folded or cut part of the same piece of fabric used for the main body of the garment.
Fashion in the years 1750–1775 in European countries and the colonial Americas was characterised by greater abundance, elaboration and intricacy in clothing designs, loved by the Rococo artistic trends of the period. The French and English styles of fashion were very different from one another. French style was defined by elaborate court dress, colourful and rich in decoration, worn by such iconic fashion figures as Marie Antoinette.
The neckline is the top edge of a garment that surrounds the neck, especially from the front view. Neckline also refers to the overall line between all the layers of clothing and the neck and shoulders of a person, ignoring the unseen undergarments.
See-through clothing is any garment of clothing made with lace, mesh or sheer fabric that allows the wearer's body or undergarments to be seen through its fabric. See-through fabrics were fashionable in Europe in the eighteenth century. There was a "sheer fashion trend" starting with designer clothing from 2008. See-through or sheer fabric, particularly in skintone colours, is sometimes called illusion, as in 'illusion bodice' due to giving the impression of exposed flesh, or a revealing ensemble.
Fashion in the period 1500–1550 in Western Europe is marked by very thick, big and voluminous clothing worn in an abundance of layers. Contrasting fabrics, slashes, embroidery, applied trims, and other forms of surface ornamentation became prominent. The tall, narrow lines of the late Medieval period were replaced with a wide silhouette, conical for women with breadth at the hips and broadly square for men with width at the shoulders. Sleeves were a center of attention, and were puffed, slashed, cuffed, and turned back to reveal contrasting linings.
The most characteristic North American fashion trend from the 1930s to 1945 was attention at the shoulder, with butterfly sleeves and banjo sleeves, and exaggerated shoulder pads for both men and women by the 1940s. The period also saw the first widespread use of man-made fibers, especially rayon for dresses and viscose for linings and lingerie, and synthetic nylon stockings. The zipper became widely used. These essentially U.S. developments were echoed, in varying degrees, in Britain and Europe. Suntans became fashionable in the early 1930s, along with travel to the resorts along the Mediterranean, in the Bahamas, and on the east coast of Florida where one can acquire a tan, leading to new categories of clothes: white dinner jackets for men and beach pajamas, halter tops, and bare midriffs for women.
Fashion in 15th-century Europe was characterized by a series of extremes and extravagances, from the voluminous robes called houppelandes with their sweeping floor-length sleeves to the revealing doublets and hose of Renaissance Italy. Hats, hoods, and other headdresses assumed increasing importance, and were draped, jewelled, and feathered.
A dress is a garment traditionally worn by women or girls consisting of a skirt with an attached bodice. It consists of a top piece that covers the torso and hangs down over the legs. A dress can be any one-piece garment containing a skirt of any length, and can be formal or casual.
Philippa Charlotte Matthews is an English socialite, author and columnist. She is the younger sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Vionnet is an haute couture label founded by the French couturier Madeleine Vionnet. Established in 1912, the house of Vionnet closed doors in 1939. Vionnet was relaunched by Guy and Arnaud de Lummen in the mid-1990s with perfumes and accessories, and then in 2006 with ready-to-wear collections. Since 2012, Vionnet belongs to the Kazakh businesswoman Goga Ashkenazi.
At the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, American singer Lady Gaga wore a dress made of raw beef, which was commonly referred to by the media as the meat dress. Designed by Franc Fernandez and styled by Nicola Formichetti, the dress was condemned by animal rights groups, while named by Time magazine as the top fashion statement of 2010.
Jacques Griffe (1909-1996) was a French couturier and fashion designer.