What is a Sheath Dress?
A sheath dress can actually have several definitions. Some define it as a close fitting dress, suitable for cocktail parties or formal events. The sheath may have darts at the breast and curve slightly inward at the waist in order to suggest the form and curve of a woman’s body. Most describe the sheath dress as worn without a belt, but there are now some modern sheath dresses that are belted, and in fact may feature a slightly higher, almost empire waist before providing a bit more generous coverage of the hips, stomach and legs. The first sheath dresses were likely worn as undergarments, or perhaps under-dresses. You see references to them as far back as the 1900s, and frequently the sheath, perhaps made of silk, had an overdress. As women’s clothing became more fitted and shorter, the sheath dress was worn on its own. Some of the flapper dresses of the 1920s were sheaths, and were considered too “naked” to be appropriate.
