Waist less: in celebration of clothes, not sales, w/ the best babydoll dresses.

An anti-overconsumption fashion take, featuring the best waistline-free garments for your post biggest-meal-of-the-year belly.

Nov 24, 2023

Above from left: Rihanna in 2014, Courtney Love in 1995, Sketch for a baby doll dress and the final garment, 1959 Balenciaga Archives, Paris via anothermag.com, Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy sack dress 1958, Alison Brie as Trudy in Mad Men, 2005, set in 1967

I’m taking this week, and on the cursed bl*ck fr*day no less, to send clothing love notes to your inbox. While there are manifold reasons to avoid living for heavy markdowns when it comes to clothing shopping, I don’t want to focus too much on that today. I’d rather aid you in dressing fashion even while bloated.

But I do feel the need to touch on the most recent post from Blackbird Spyplane: “Should clothes never go on sale?”, and urge you to read it if you enjoy shopping small designer, or wish to become a more conscious consumer. One quote that resonated with me for reconsideration of how sale-obsessed we are about clothing: [small designer] “S.E.H. Kelly put it very well,” Evan said…‘My thread doesn’t go on sale, my buttons don’t go on sale, my fabric doesn’t go on sale, my labor doesn’t go on sale. Why would the result of all that work go on sale?’

And more generally, the post discusses in detail issues with the term “accessibility” around fashion and how it’s too narrowly focused on price, while leaving out “the costs and tolls of fast global shipping, fulfillment labor, the depletion of neighborhood character as small shops see their margins shrink & are forced to close, etc.” It’s a deeply considered piece of writing that reinforces why I wanted to start a small brand in the first place…not because I thought I’d be laughing on my way to the bank, which is certainly the farthest thing from the truth lol. But because I’m a designer with a creative drive to make quality, special clothes. And markdown culture makes it pretty impossible for any small brand’s attempts to make creative clothes ethically, locally, etc. That being said, markdowns and sales can be fun and rewarding when it comes to second hand sellers and vintage because it isn’t hurting anyone and you can find some pretty amazing stuff.

Waist less: dresses without a waistline.

Being that it is the Friday after Thanksgiving, hopefully you’ve enjoyed some good eatin’. Maybe you even ventured to the movies or your local hometown bar. No matter the activity, the theme of eating is constant this time of year, and where there are heavy meals, there’s often bloating…and when you’re bloated, turning looks takes a backseat. But in my opinion, you can still be fashion while accommodating your current full-bellied physique! That’s where waistline-less (or elastic / smocked waist) pieces come into play…where there isn’t a waist, there’s a way.

Please note: I’ve styled all looks this week with layered options—all starting with SLIPPERS because you’ve probably been lounging around the house at some point in a post-Thanksgiving haze.

Baby Dolls for anyone but.

Above: your fam asks you to run to the store for some last minute ingredients…I’m wearing thrifted nightie I got in Rome :) that I hemmed shorter w/ thrifted down puffer, silk scarf from The Met, Engineered Garments gigantic tote & New Balance made in UK 991 sneakers

The best part about not wearing a waistline is it fits anyone at any time of day. There may be some of you who take a hard stance against trapeze, tent, babydoll or shapeless dresses and for that, I hear you. But hear me out: have you opened your heart and mind to the option that you may actually look adorable without a waistline from time to time?

You may know by now how much I love a little fashion history. And the babydoll dress is another recent fashion history favorite. Sylvia Pedlar is credited with having created the modern babydoll dress—in the form of an empire line or yoke (OK so babydoll dresses sometimes technically have a waist seam, but not over your belly)! and a full, gathered skirt. Her signature short hem was a design choice due to fabric shortages during WWII. Maybe in part because the term “babydoll” was inspired by children’s doll's’ dresses, Pedlar despised the name and refused its use. But after the creepy, yet smash hit, 1956 flick, Baby Doll, the name took off without her approval anyhow. Of the shapeless dress varieties, babydolls are my favorite because if I’m not showing off anything of my figure, I at least want it to be short so I can show a little leg!

Above: You’re doing a holiday dinner not at your family’s. I’m wearing one of my fave designs from when I was at Rachel Antonoff the “Drew” dress in silk habotai (tbh I wish we had made it wayyy shorter! + thrifted leather trench from Paris :) + Maryam Nassir Zadeh mary janes & Low Classic handbag

As a response to the confined conservatism associated with corsets and fitted styles, Givenchy wanted to liberate women’s fashion, and reacted with his well-known sack dress (babydoll sans overly-femme details, on Audrey Hepburn in first image) in 1957…which lead right into Twiggy’s ‘60s mod babydoll and later, Courtney Love’s (pictured in first image)—as i-D so keenly puts—“kinderwhore” interpretation in the ‘90s, which gave a “f*ck you and your judgmental associations with girlishness as the antithesis to rock music” energy.

Now there are countless runway spottings of the infamous babydoll, no doubt as a middle finger to society’s continuous efforts to define and control what femininity is supposed to look like (how many times have we heard babydoll dresses “aren’t attractive” *eye roll*…). Hooray for a little more Courtney Love, a little less Victorian!

Besides the hot pink silk babydoll dress I designed while at Rachel Antonoff, I’m wearing tent and trapeze dresses, and an elastic waist skirt (with Simone Rocha babydoll top). I’ve seen tent versus trapeze versus sack dress defined all kinds of ways, but they’re all in the shapeless or sack dress family. Any garment without fitting through the bust, waist or hips falls in this category. The fit is moved all into the neckline through flare or gathers and thus the garments are super comfy. One differentiation between tent and trapeze, though, is that a tent dress has a flounced hem (a strip of fabric at the hem that is also full/gathered).

Above: you are hitting a Victorian goth club after dinner. I’m wearing Simone Rocha cotton ruffle top, EYTYS platform boots & second hand Ines de la Fressange x Uniqlo crinkle elastic waist skirt & thrifted leather blazer

Elastic (isn’t always terrible).

Elastic is obviously a miracle for comfort wear but, like anything else, there are varying degrees of quality. I always recommend an encased elastic versus exposed strip (think not like Calvin Klein underwear) because at least when the elastic is encased in a fabric, it’s softer to the skin. As I’ve wear tested what feels like millions of clothes in my lifetime already, I’ve honestly come around to a mostly anti-elastic stance. I like a faced waistband for my workout leggings and underwear more than elastic because it’s just softer all around—but this isn’t always possible based on fabric, design, etc.

However I do have this second hand Ines x Uniqlo crinkle skirt with an encased elastic waist that is more than comfortable enough, post-Thanksgiving. Fun fact where polyester is concerned: In order to create this kind of crinkly fabric, it needs to be a synthetic fiber. Issey Miyake is known for his special pleating almost all of which comes from polyester. So it isn’t all bad all the time because he of course made some world-changing, beautiful designs with pleated poly.

Above: you’re driving to meet friends from high school and it’s cold. I’m wearing Horror Vacui placement-smocked dress w/ thrifted Texas riding canvas jacket, JOSEPH knee-high boots and thrifted shearling gloves.

You’ll be gob-smocked when you learn about smocking.

While my full length tent dress by Horror Vacui has placement hand smocking (on the sleeve toward sleeve cap & chest/yoke area) as mostly a design detail, this style does not utilize smocking as a fitting device. Smocking is an embroidery technique used to gather fabric so that it can stretch. This method was used along cuffs, necklines, waistlines, etc. before elastic was invented. Smocking is most often used in childrenswear because it’s soft, unlike button cuffs, etc.

Nowadays there are special, large machines for certain smocking, usually in the form of making straight lines, but unique hand-smocking still exists…Sadly, hand-smocking is a dying practice because it’s expensive and labor-intensive. Cecilie Bahnsen is known for her variety of hand-smocking methods in her designs; and Molly Goddard for her exaggerated straight line smocking for super full silhouettes on structured fabrics like tulle and organza.

I love smocked designs when the placement is intentional, i.e. across an entire bodice and visible. But I have a hate on for when brands cut corners and try and sneak in a smocked (or elastic) back on a garment because they don’t want to put the time/money/resources into proper fit on a woven garment. This is because this placement machine smocking is cheaper than a straight waist seam or structured fitted garment, all the way around. A fully, proper fitted garment also requires more fitting and size grading versus when you throw in a back panel of machine-smocking, a size 2, 4, 6 could all buy the same size. I know this may be a bit snobby but when you start to notice what kinds of cheap brands do this, you may one day agree with me lol. In these instances, the placement smocking seen solely at the back, especially when in combination with a zipper, just doesn’t even fit the design and feels lazy.

Shoppin’ links below…

As I mentioned before, I know these styles aren’t for everyone and can be especially tough for the uber-busty. But call me a romantic when it comes to fashion and personal style, because I do believe with the right fabric and styling, anyone can be a BABYDOLL.

Happy full weekend, xHannah