Bodycon dresses first came into prominence in the late ’90s, when celebrities were seen wearing these hip-hugging, curve-cinching styles on the red carpet and in the decade’s top teen flicks.
Remember Rachael Leigh Cook’s character walking down the stairs in a tight-fitting red dress in She’s All That? Total bodycon dress moment!
Designer Herve Ledger is credited with popularizing the dress style, called "bodycon" because it was so body "conscious." They were made from
foundation garments (think Sphanx all over your body) that molded the dress tight against its wearer without forgiveness for a week missed at the gym!
While introduced to fashion in the ’90s, bodycon dresses are a top trend of today. Reality TV stars like the Jersey Shore’s Snooki has a closet full of bodycon dresses, and a quick Google search of the style shows you can buy one at contemporary fashion sites like Nasty Gal, ASOS, Free People and Forever 21.
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| A Herve Ledger Bodycon Dress | Vintage 90s Bodycon Dress (photo credit: Sammy Davis Vintage) |
Jersey Shore’s Snooki in a Black & Gold Bodycon Dress |
For the best fit, style experts advise women with an hourglass shape with bust and hips of roughly equal size and a narrow waist to wear the style. Measurements of 36-25-36 create the "hourglass" shape, for example.
While the style stems from the mini mod dresses so quintessential of 1960s fashion, because the material of modern bodycon dresses is traditionally elastic (stretchy) I argue the dress was an invention unique to 1990s fashion!