The Thorn Birds

Chanel introduced the black dress as a rebellion against the gaudy, elaborate, cumbersome women's fashions of the time. Drawing on the black habits worn by the nuns at the convent where she had once stayed, she gave fashion a religious solemnity.

She believed that at a ball, women dressed in black or white would always be the center of attention.

Perhaps that had been true in her era. When Scarlett danced with Rhett Butler in black mourning clothes, hadn't she drawn the attention of the entire room?

But now too many women wore black, so designers had begun using highly saturated colors again.

There was nothing especially remarkable about the fabric of Monica's dress; its main feature was the pleating she had used.

Vivienne Westwood believed that art lay at the boundary between loss of control and control. Unlike the one Fleur Delacour had worn to the Triwizard Tournament Yule Ball, this voluminous evening gown had a skirt of straight pleats.

Straight lines belonged to humanity; curves belonged to God.

The moment Monica received that antique dress, she removed the hoop skirt that could be used as a "weapon."

Crinoline dresses were the little gowns beloved by Disney princesses. They showed off a woman's slender waist, while their swelling skirts created a striking contrast. Yet in the Victorian era, many women became human candles because of them, and to maintain their waistlines, they also had to wear the inhumane contraption known as a corset.

A hoop skirt was like a birdcage. It restricted not only women's bodies, but also their freedom.

Women in the Victorian era could not divorce. During the First Opium War, the law recognized only men as persons. Once women married, they lost their property rights, and those rights would not be restored after divorce. Even if