DO you guys ever get the feeling like maybe you were born in the wrong decade? I really feel like I would’ve killed it in the 1960’s, which is no doubt the best era for fashion! The era of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and you could watch the moon landing, but wait! I AM the “it” girl when it comes to Polka Dots and if Ms. America of 1926, Norma Smallwood wouldn’t have posed in her iconic polka dot swim suit, I would have. So, I therefore think I am the 1920’s child ? Or, wait! I think I am already in the best of times when we talk about fashion trends, styling diversities, hashtag #patterns and the favorite of all, Polka Dots, which is forever!
Polka dot is my favorite pattern. It is so cheerful, vintage and fun. It is a pop-culture trend. It is so very NOW thing! Marc Jacob had once said,” There is never a wrong time for a polka dot.” . Polka Dot is no more about Disney’s biggest fashionista, Minnie Mouse! AND, it is not just about feminity trending. Haven’t you known, in 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival, the day when Bob Dylan “went electric.” with his electrifying green polka dot shirt?
#FunFact 1 : In Medieval Europe, the pattern was initially seen as very unpleasant, representing disease and impurity. The spots, you see!? Meanwhile, in Non-Western cultures, dots are viewed as symbols of male virility and magic.
#FunFact 2: Before they were called polka dots, dotted fabrics in Europe went through various names. Raised dots on tulle were called Dotted-Swiss, the French had quinconce for the dots on a die, and the German had Thalertupfen for the Thaler coin. In Spanish dots are called lunares, or “little moons”. The modern term “Polka Dot” comes from the polka dance craze that swept through Europe in the mid-19th century.
#FunFact 3: The terminology “polka dots” to connote to a spotted fabric, for the very first time appeared in print in 1857 in Godey’s Lady’s Book, a Philadelphia-based women’s magazine of the time period.
#FunFact 4: Polka dot as a pattern on fabrics reached the haute couture runways of Paris, when Christian Dior debuted his “New Look” line in the 1940’s, which heavily featured dotted fabric.
#FunFact 5: In 1960, Brian Hyland’s hit song “Itsy Bitsy Tennie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini.” was a song telling a story of a young woman in a dotted bikini, who hides in the water rather than revealing her body in her “teenie” swimsuit. The song was a super hit and so was the polka dot pattern!
#FunFact 6: During the Tour de France, some of the leading cyclist in the mountains wears a polka dot jersey, having special significance.
One of my favourite fashion and lifestyle blogger, Gia Kashyap who goes by the name, #GiaSaysThat has many a times flaunted polka dots and it seems she is here to explore all the patterns in very diversified styles.
