A-LINE GOWNS - STYLE AND HISTORY

STYLE

As the name suggests, the A-Line has a fitted bodice and flared skirt. It is a pared down and more modern take on the classic ball-gown shape, and is probably the must popular style of wedding dress seen today. We define the A-line as having a horizontal seam at the waist, and it can appear either sculptural and clean in fabrics that support the shape,or soft and flowing in lighter weights. The bodice and skirt flow together harmoniously in the A-line, but may still be in contrasting fabrics or textures, and the line is rather straighter than the curving crown of a skirt in the ball gown. A-line skirts can still be full and circular or have pleats to give added volume, but more commonly the skirt will flare gently from waist to hem. Lengths can be anything from daring mini to elegant, floor-sweeping skirts with trains.

History

The A-line is essentially a child of the 1960's, but we can see it emerge as a reaction to the utility dressing and boxy, mannish style imposed by the Second World War. Dior's 1947 Corolla collection that introduced the "New Look", a strongly feminine style with a cinched waist, padded hips and full skirt, set off the trend,  and Dior is credited with the origination of the notation for this style, as each of his lines was identified by a letter, this one being the letter "A". His protege, Yves Saint Laurent, developed the silhouette throughout the 1950s and 1960s for his own label, as did Givency, Courreges and Emanuel Ungaro, who all trained at the house of Balenciaga, and were instrumental in the popularity of the A-Line silhouette throughout the 1960s, often teaming it with more experimental space-age materials. The A-line was also the shape of the mini and maxi dress styles popular at the end of the 1960s. By the 1970s it was reinvented in more natural fabrics, and the silhouette softened with designers like Ossie Clarke and Jean Muir giving it a new, less structural direction in jerseys and flowing sheers. Like the princess line, which is often the partner to the A-line silhouette, it is now a staple of any designer's collection, as popular now as it was 50 years ago.