The shift dress is a dress of straight, loose cut that falls from the shoulders straight down, marking no waist and barely touching the figure. This silhouette became an icon of the 1960s as the embodiment of the youthful, uninhibited fashion of that era, the antithesis of the rigid corseted cut of previous decades. The shift dress gives maximum freedom and comfort, visually simplifies a look and serves beautifully as a 'canvas' for bold prints or graphic ornament. Its simplicity is deceptive: with only bust darts for shaping, the whole effect rests on proportion, length and the quality of the fabric, so a successful shift dress is a masterclass in minimalism.
