What could be more simple and elegant than a sheath dress?
By definition, it is a dress that is close-fitting and (mostly) unadorned; it should be below the knee in length. (The name comes from the holder for a sword, a sheath, which fits tightly around the weapon to keep it safe.) Narrow silhouettes were seen in the 1940s, but the sheath dress as we know it appeared in the 1950s and continues to be popular today--in fact, it's having a fashion moment right now.
These two photo collages show the evolution of the body-conforming shape that evolved into the sheath in its most simplified silhouette, beginning with the body-hugging underdress of the 1930s dress.
1930s:
1940s: Vogue S-4031: patternshop
1960s: Simplicity 5698: JeaniesShop
1980s: New Look 6193: mbchills
Sheath dresses are usually nipped in at the waist by darts--in facts, the darts are an integral part of the design and shape--and they serve to accentuate an hourglass figure. Strictly speaking--to my surprise--they are not worn with belts, so the patterns below are all sheaths without belts (I think that definition is a bit restrictive...lots of sheath dress patterns with little belts or sashes abound.) Sheaths can be sleeveless or have sleeves of any length--or even one-shouldered, as seen below (fantastic Pauline Trigere designs). By the way, the sheath is often confused with the shift, another simple dress silhouette...we'll "focus on" shifts in another post.
The classic Little Black Dress (LBD) was originally a simple sheath dress that could be worn unadorned or dressed up with pearls or a brooch. According to Italian Vogue.com, "...perhaps more than any other designer, Coco Chanel was the one who made it ubiquitous. She did not invent the concept, of course, but according to Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life...,'the little black dress was not formally identified as the shape of the future until 1926, when American Vogue published a drawing of a Chanel design.… It was an apparently simple yet elegant sheath, in black crêpe de Chine, with long, narrow sleeves, worn with a string of white pearls; and Vogue proved to be correct in the prediction that it would become a uniform.…'” Of course, it's a quite a journey from that garment to Audrey Hepburn's long black sheath in "Breakfast at Tiffany's," one of the most classic examples of this oh-so-flattering style.
Let's have a look at some shapely sheath dress patterns from the Pattern Patter team!
Second row: Advance 8007: serine23
Advance 8555: SweetSorotVeasman
Fourth row: Simplicity 4604: paneenjerez
Top row, left to right: Simplicity 1018: redcurlzs
Second row: Simplicity 4687: RomasMaison
Third row: Simplicity 5459: GreyDogVintage
Fourth row: Simplicity 7010: allthepreciousthings
Which dress would you wear sheath YOUR form in? Tell us in the comments!
A
sheath dress is figure hugging and typically to the knee.It will fit
tightly to your body but not as tight as body conscious styles/ bandage
dresses. This style has a defined waist and its name comes from "sheath
of sword" because it encases or secures the body. - See more at:
http://www.commecoco.com/2013/07/difference-between-shift-dress-and.html#sthash.AtGoczf0.dpuf
sheath dress is figure hugging and typically to the knee.It will fit
tightly to your body but not as tight as body conscious styles/ bandage
dresses. This style has a defined waist and its name comes from "sheath
of sword" because it encases or secures the body. - See more at:
http://www.commecoco.com/2013/07/difference-between-shift-dress-and.html#sthash.AtGoczf0.dpuf
sheath dress is figure hugging and typically to the knee.It will fit
tightly to your body but not as tight as body conscious styles/ bandage
dresses. This style has a defined waist and its name comes from "sheath
of sword" because it encases or secures the body. - See more at:
http://www.commecoco.com/2013/07/difference-between-shift-dress-and.html#sthash.AtGoczf0.dpuf
