The History of Mermaid Dresses

The mermaid dress has its roots in the late 1800s. At the time, fashion was transitioning from maximum width to maximum narrowness, and women wore corsets that embraced the hips and the backs of the legs. In the 1880s, magazines began promoting suits with puffed flanks that created a silhouette with a pronounced waist and a tail similar to that of a fish. However, despite early nods to the silhouette, the mermaid dress didn’t become part of the fashion zeitgeist until 1930, when designer Marcel Rochas introduced it on the high fashion runways. However, one of the dress’s most iconic moments came even later, in 1950, when Swedish model Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn was photographed by her husband Irving Penn for the September issue of Vogue wearing one. After that, mermaid dresses became a favorite of 1950s Hollywood actresses, including Marilyn Monroe, Rita Hayworth, and Dorothy Dandridge. Today, the mermaid dress continues to be a favorite on the red carpet. The silhouette also commonly shows up on wedding dresses.