The backless dress for spring/summer 2021

Of all the early 2000s trends that resurfaced during a global pandemic, here's one we didn't expect: the backless dress. While remaining minimal in detail and silhouette, this garment is bold, provocative and embodies the playful nature of fashion,

The style of these dresses with a sinuous cut that highlights the shapes is enhanced with sensuality and refinement. Thanks to the backless detail, the back becomes the protagonist of the look, where the bare skin steals the place from the fabric. The detail that completes the look, in addition to the long diamond necklaces that give the back a not indifferent point of light, is definitely the thong, an accessory which should be given the appearance and importance of a jewel, but more sexy. A little provocative. A little nonsense. Fun and quirky at the same time. In stretchy jersey like Givenchy or knit like Christopher John Rogers, a backless dress offers a clever twist on comfortable clothing.

Thanks to brands like Gucci (by Tom Ford) and Givenchy, the most seductive dress ever has achieved a rate of return of 87% in recent years. We saw it worn by Hailey Bieber for the Met Gala 2019, by Bella Hadid on the Versace SS 2020 catwalk, by Kim Kardashian to celebrate Matthew Williams' first collection for Givenchy.

History and evolution of the backless dress

Backless dresses first appeared in the 1920s but only in 1930 did they become a fashion cult of the time. Unlike the clothing trends of the 1920s, the silhouette of the 1930s embraced the female form without filters. The craze for “slip” dresses with maxi lengths and necklines thus replaced the mini and voluminous ones. But why in the 1930s? At that time, showing off your back had the sole objective of showing off your tan, the latter cleared and increasingly trendy among designers and the public of the time. Since then, open back dresses have been an immortal evergreen. Famous are those of Madeleine Vionnet (editor's note French designer famous for the innovative use of the bias tailoring that allowed the creation of dresses with tight lines), who thanks to the use of satin, silk and chiffon was able to create a sophisticated balance between elegance and sensuality. The same collection by Glenn Martend for Y/Project or Eckhaus Latta is totally inspired by the Belle Époque but in version 2.0: fluffy and daring backless dresses envelop the body leaving unexpected areas of exposed vertebrae that form a hypnotic spiral. Pure magic.

The power of a backless dress is disarming. In the 1972 French spy comedy-thriller "Le Grand Blond avec Une Chaussure Noire", Mireille Darc plays an intelligence agent who, thanks to his deep back cut that leaves little to the imagination, manages to charm the protagonist by wearing what it would become over the years the infamous Guy Laroche dress: black turtleneck with long sleeves on the front and bare back on the back, where the backside is embellished with a thin gold chain that hangs between the two remaining sides of the fabric. Over the years, this dress and the silver sequin dress worn by Jane Fonda in "Klute" became a legendary part of fashion culture.

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In 2019, the Palais Galliera in Paris hosted the “Backside / Fashion from Behind” exhibition. The curator of this, Alexandre Samson, said he wanted to present the female back both in an anatomical and psychological sense. Samson told "Love" magazine that the back ridults enticing in the eyes of humanity for its paradoxes: "A woman reveals the only part of her body she has no control over, even though she is aware of the reaction of the people behind her. she. This passive control creates eroticism".