WHAT A COVER
WHEN Pippa Middleton appeared at a smart wedding in Stockholm recently, all eyes were on her outfit. And, no, not for the usual reasons. The Duchess of Cambridge’s younger sister, once nicknamed ‘Her Royal Hotness’, is best known for her love of clingy mini dresses and slinky satin gowns with plunging necklines, finished with a thigh split for good measure — all the better to show off that famous bottom.
Yet Pippa appeared at the church with a radically different look. Her €3,100 chiffon dress by British designer Erdem had a neck-gripping neckline, long sleeves and a flowing hemline that trailed on the ground. The effect was more Abigail’s Party than Society Wedding.
And Pippa is not alone. At the same time, Gwyneth Paltrow — no shrinking violet in the cleavage department — looked like an extra from Little House On The Prairie, while Nicole Kidman paraded in a full-length mauve Erdem gown. In the past few months, Angelina Jolie, Emma Watson, Lisa Snowdon and Katherine Jenkins have all appeared covered from top to toe.
Gone is the rule that you show either leg or cleavage: the new look seems to be to put it all away.
So what is behind the new ‘modesty dressing’? Like politics, fashion is going through a tectonic plate shift. We’ve spent so many years watching the Incredible Shrinking Dresses that something eventually had to give.
During the late-Nineties and 2000s, fashion designers such as Armani and Herve Leger (with those infamous bandage dresses) made fashion ever more skimpy and daring in response to the power-dressing of the Eighties and the rise of bare-all ladette culture.
There was a race to the bottom as we endured endless pictures of celebs wearing increasingly little — necklines which grazed the navel and skirts split to the hip bone.
When Amanda Holden, 46, stepped out recently in a dress that barely covered her chest, the look had sunk so low there was nowhere else to go.
THE savviest designers realised that enough is enough. When a look no longer pushes the boundaries, it loses its power — and fashion thrives on the new and shocking. Designers such as Erdem, Prada and Temperley began designing ‘modesty dresses’ inspired by Seventies shapes — frocks that conceal rather than reveal, and draw the eye through long lines and bright colours.
Celebrities soon realised that they grabbed more attention than baring all, as they look refreshingly different.
Of course, the other reason the dresses are so popular is that they make women feel good.
For anyone the wrong side of 40, how much more chic to wear a dress that floats around the body, rather than clings like fishnet? And for youthful waifs, they give an air of maturity and gravitas that’s far more beguiling than letting it all hang out.
Happily, the High Street has seen the appeal: Warehouse, Oasis and Whistles all do great modesty dresses. Long may the great cover-up continue!