Every woman should own at least one classic cocktail dress. The term “cocktail dress” technically casts a broad umbrella over any kind of dress that can be worn to a formal event. These days, the phrase usually calls to mind a short black dress that flatters the figure.

True cocktail dresses can be any length, color or style as long as they match the formality of the suits that the men in attendance will be wearing. If the men will be wearing casual or business suits, the women may wear day dresses in bright colors and loose cuts. Nighttime events generally call for darker colors and feminine silhouettes.
 
Historically, cocktail dresses have always adjusted as trends shifted. The first party dresses that were intended exclusively for evening wear debuted during Prohibition. These early cocktail dresses are now easily identifiable as flapper gowns. Since drinking alcohol was illegal, people had to create other pretenses for hosting large gatherings. They decided to focus on formality to make their parties different from casual daytime get-togethers. People started dressing up to compensate for the way the lack of alcohol negatively affected the atmospheres of their parties.
 

Christian Dior was the first designer to hone in on darkly romantic dresses for nighttime affairs; he referred to his dresses in this mold as cocktail dresses. To this day, the clothing from his namesake design house is dark and dramatic. The man took socializing very seriously. His cocktail dresses from the early 1950s added sharp angles to typical housewife dresses. The puffed skirts and trim waists were still present, but they were exaggerated for maximum effect.

The mod era of the 1960s saw young women wearing cocktail-type dresses as casual day wear. The fashionable silhouette during this time period was fairly shapeless, so designers had to find ways to make cocktail dresses fancier without pulling them out of the landscape of recognizable fashion. This was accomplished by making them out of high-quality fabrics and adding details like buttons and structured collars. They were made out of overtly feminine colors like bright pink and pastel blue.

Audrey Hepburn’s iconic black dress in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” sparked a major shift in formal wear trends. By the mid-1970s, cocktail dresses were almost exclusively long, black and sleek. The cocktail dress as it is thought of today began to define itself. Edgy designs featured bare shoulders and deep V-cut backs. The simpler the designs were, the more shocking they were. After the softly feminine designs from the previous decades, it was shocking to see women wearing harsher styles. These dresses required confident attitudes and admirable figures.

This was when supermodels were just beginning to rise to prominence. Fashion became a more exclusive realm. These long dark gowns remain the archetypal cocktail dresses, although the standards have loosened somewhat in recent years. The grunge period saw the introduction of casual dresses that were not necessarily feminine. More recently, Zooey Deschanel has inspired young women to integrate floral cocktail dresses into their daily wardrobes.
 
Cocktail dresses signify fun social events, so it is only natural that fun-loving women would want to dress as if they are always going to parties. Today’s generation of young women have phased stuffy, overly formal dinner parties out of their lives in favor of lighthearted drinking and dancing in pretty dresses.

About the Author:  Stephanie Anderson handles brand management for the popular retro clothing brand, Stop Staring! She enjoys Broadway musicals, freelance writing, and trying to convince all of her co-workers to cheer on USC football.

by 92YTribeca

Top 10 Greatest Cartoonists in the History

Have you ever watched a Japanese anime? Have you ever dressed cosplay costumes at cosplay shows? Yes, I suppose all you guys answer yes. So, I can go on my article and you can get what I say. This an interesting article about Japanese anime.

As a country full of anime, Japan has exported lots of anime works to the whole world steadily for a long time. Many of them have been recognized as the classic ones, loved by tens of anime fans around the world. From May 5th, the most authoritative Japanese website Oricon Style launched a three-day poll, named Whom do you think has changed the history of Japanese anime. The final answer came out on July 17th.

Now, who is the best in your opinion? I guess there will be no argue if I say Osamu Tezuka is the number one. Every anime enthusiast knows him. He established a new narrative technique for writing the manga, build the basis of the contemporary Japanese animation performance. And he is the first cartoonist who imports the assistant system and enterprise management. Also, he is the first guy to separate boy anime and girl anime. What a great success he has achieved. He is honored as the God of manga. You could understand the importance of the giant.

Astro Boy is Osamu Tezuka’s classical piece. Though, he passed away in 1989, he has become the shining example to all the following Japanese cartoonists.

Then, the second person in this list is Toriyama Akira, the writer of Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball is a household name for all the anime fans around the world, meanwhile, the father of Dragon Ball is also well known. You know, this manga has made a sales record of 193 million. I guess no one out there could sell better than it. Not long ago, a live action film Dragon Ball Evolution has been on the movie market which made the Dragon Ball fans crazy.

Fujiko Fujio, the father of Doraemon, takes the third place in this list. Since the first manga released in 1969, there are anime, theater version on show. Even there will be new theater version movies released in future.

Then, the next is Eiichiro Oda, the author of the classic One Piece. One Piece is still the winner of the first edition version’s sales. And One Piece, in my opinion, is the most popular anime in the world nowadays. Then, it is Takehiko Inoue who writes Slam Dunk. Slam Dunk is greatly praised in China. All the Chinese born in 1980s have watched this lovely anime. So, he deserves the title. It seems that the two active cartoonists have a good reputation as the deceased master, and maybe we could respect as masters now.

Mizuki Shigeru, Fujio Akazuka, Machiko Hasegawa are the following masters in the list. They are all wonderful cartoonists. Miyazaki Hayao is also on the list as a modern animation master. The last one is Akimoto Osamu and Naoki Urasawa. This is a wonderful list for you, anime fans. Enjoy it and figure out the list of your own opinion.

Aseem Trivedi, the cartoonist jailed on charges of sedition, has left a Mumbai jail. He was granted bail last evening by the Bombay High Court.
Video Rating: 5 / 5

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