What makes Polka Dots the subject of satire and derision? Baffoons in cartoons are portrayed wearing polka-dot boxer briefs. Men should perhaps wear a small repeating polka dot on a tie, particularly a bow tie in black with white dots. That's what Sir Winston Churchill and his father Lord Randolph Churchill were pictured wearing.
A Polka dot pattern today is seen on children's clothing, toys, furniture, folksy products - but not considered a fashion pattern in our current design context.
Polka dots were a design craze in the 19th century. They gained popularity then because machines started to make fabric and the evenly-spaced dots could be created with machines.
The oldtimey.com site tells me that in Medieval Europe, the pattern represented disease and impurity. They also say that in Non-Western cultures, dots are viewed as symbols of male virility and magic. There's a rite of passage in which a young man, painted in white dots, knocks persistently on a polka-dotted door until it opens.
In women's fashion, polka dots have a history dating back to the 1800s. Godey's Lady's book was the first magazine to sport a spotted fabric in print - that was 1857. It was in reference to a scarf - it was embroidered in rows of round polka dots.
From the 1920s to the 1940s, polka dots made their way into popular fashion clothing as well as house accessories. Minnie Mouse was dressed in a red and white polka dot dress and hair bow. Popularity continued in the 1950s when Dior created an elegant black dress with white dots, and 1960s fashion continued to play with the design.
Today we've relegated polka dots to the context of fun and play. Sometimes white-on-black dots appear in more formal clothing. That happened at the Golden Globes with Zoe Kravitz in a polka-dotted off-the shoulder Saint Laurent gown. You should see some of the dresses HERE. They range from gorgeous to scary.
To see the picture history in famous polka dot outfits (including Frank Sinatra in a polka-dot shirt and Marilyn Monroe in her polka dot bikini) click this link HERE.
My own inventory of images contains few tagged with "dot". This little cactus, though, is perfect.
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