Defining the Classic Ten

Coco Chanel may have turned the little black dress into a fashion icon, but the little black dress as a symbol of sexy defiance made its appearance earlier in Edith Wharton’s 1920 novel about 19th-century society, “The Age of Innocence,” and in John Singer Sargent’s 1884 painting “Madame X.” And the little black dress continued to shock and titillate. Princess Diana chose to wear black at her first public appearance with Prince Charles. Elizabeth Hurley put herself on the celebrity map in a black Versace dress held in place with two rows of safety pins in place of side seams.

Journalist Nancy MacDonell Smith tracks the history of the little black dress and several other style icons—including the trench coat, blue jeans and lipstick—in her first book, “The Classic Ten: The True Story of the Little Black Dress and Nine Other Fashion Favorites,” published by Penguin.

Smith is fashion news/features director at Nylon magazine and a contributing writer to publications including The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar and the California Apparel News. —Alison A. Nieder