Chanel created a garment that was meant to be elegant but wearable, neutral in colour, long-lasting and versatile.
Almost a century, and numerous reinventions later, few women are without some version of an enduring style icon.


Dame Zandra Rhodes, one of Britain's leading couturiers, gives a peek inside her studio, while Sonnet Stanfill, fashion curator at the V&A explains how a risque painting may have inspired a timeless classic.

The little black dress owes some of it's worldwide reputation and success to the French couturier Coco Chanel.
Her intention for her 1926 garment was that it should be available to the widest possible market. Her creation revolutionised fashion.
The dress was dubbed 'The Ford' by Vogue magazine, a reference to Henry Ford's reputed slogan for his Model T car, ‘available in any colour…so long as it’s black.'
It's been constantly reinvented and modified to reflect current trends, but remains as essential a part of women's wardrobes as ever.

Since Roman times, black had been a traditional colour of mourning, worn at funerals and state occasions. But Chanel’s bold fashion statement led to the colour being reconsidered. Women chose to wear black in order to be fashionably dressed.