Cute Young Curly Blonde Girl Undresses Her Grey Layered Strapless Dress On The Couch

• 1930s to 1980s
According to Richard Martin and Harold Koda, the modern strapless dress first appeared in the 1930s, where it was popularised by designers such as Mainbocher, and, from the late 1940s, Christian Dior. On 18 July 1938, Life claimed that the 'absolutely strapless, sleeveless evening dress' was a 1937/38 invention. However, the actress Libby Holman had been photographed in an apparently strapless dress in 1932, predating this by several years. Holman became associated with the strapless dress, and is regularly credited with inventing it, or at least being one of its first high profile wearers. A couple of years after, in 1934, Mainbocher produced his first strapless gown, a black satin design which has been described as the first strapless evening dress. Along with Holman and Mainbocher, the heiress Brenda Frazier is also credited with popularising the style when she wore a strapless débutante dress for her debut, and famously appeared in it on the November 14th 1938 cover of Life.
Strapless dresses remained popular after the Second World War, with the style sometimes being described as the "naked look". One of the most famous strapless dresses of this period was the black satin gown worn by Rita Hayworth for a song and dance routine in Gilda. Hayworth's performance demonstrated to viewers that strapless dresses could be secure enough to move around and dance in without risk of indecent exposure. Despite this, more conservative customers might add shoulder straps to their new strapless dresses. The style was also problematic for those who objected to its perceived immodesty. During the 1940s and 1950s, Catholic campaigners in the United States protested against "immodest" clothing, including two-piece and strapless swimsuits and dresses. In Germany in 1954, the United States Army tried to forbid Army wives and daughters from wearing strapless dresses, shorts and other exposing garments in public.
During the 1950s, notable strapless dress designers included Madame Grès, whose flowing Grecian dresses were mounted upon custom-designed interior corsets by Alice Cadolle.