Why do some people get so excited to notice sundresses? Delay, gentlemen, do they even understand what a sundress is? Does anyone have any idea what a sundress is? It became evident as social media flooded with actions that no one could really agree on what made a sundress a sundress ( as opposed to a, a, a, a, or a ).
So we want to understand this yarn a little, and beg you, the viewer, to answer the question at hands: What is a sundress?
Some people say sundresses are beautiful and floral, probably orange or yellow. White is commonly accepted. Pastels are timeless. Black is contentious. Nobody actually discusses black.
A seller named Bianca Steele listed a “Boho Black Sundress 100 % Viscose sundress made in India” on the resale platform Depop. The reddish compact was “most positively “a sundress, Ms. Steele wrote over the in- software messenger, adding that she had privately enjoyed black sundresses for over four decades. She now has at least ten.”
But Jeannie Stith, the chief executive of Color Guru, a, said she can’t condone a black sundress. “In general, ebony has been sold to us as a general shade”, she said. “It’s actually not”.
According to Ms. Stith, the colors that are universally flattering had a mix of hot and cool tones. For sundresses, that includes rose, purple, turquoise and sage.
Three sundress-wearers — blocks aside— said a sundress can be any shade that makes you happy while outside in Lower Manhattan on a current afternoon. Despite making it clear that wearing a sundress to be unhappy was also acceptable.
For those who think sundresses may become beautiful, there was a more joyful example that swung down Sixth Avenue.
A dark, serpentine gown spotted in the area may not satisfy everyone’s parameters. Anakeesta Ironwood, 19, said she would recognize it more easily as a slide dress, but acknowledged that some people might consider it a sundress, also.
“You’ve left me no choice but to mansplain children’s trend”, Randy Trembacki in May. Gesturing around the unoccupied place where he would put an image of a mini dress from, Mr. Trembecki, a 30- year- ancient podcast producer based in Texas, named some features of a sundress: fitted top, silky bottom.
On the phone this quarter, he elaborated: “It’s liberal but presenting. You know audio video circa early 2010s, where it’s the farmer’s kid kind factor?”
However, he acknowledged that his point of view was not common. Many of the comments on his first TikTok were made by Black people who had different opinions of the ultimate sundress.
Mr. Trembacki addressed feedback like: “Question any black man what a sundress is and you’re gonna have the OPPOSITE solution.” In reply, Mr. Trembacki included a possessive pass by Skims as an example of a sundress.
“The Dark community’s preference for form- appropriate, long dresses might emphasize a unique aspect of allure, one that focuses on physical appeal and the celebration of body contours”, said Shelby Ivey Christie, a fashion historian and former board member of the Black in Fashion Council.
It’s close- fitting, it’s black, it has spaghetti straps— but is it a sundress? Its wearer, Yesenia Valverde, 25, said no. She said sundresses should be flowy and printed because she believes they are something one wears on vacation. She claimed that the color of her dress, primarily, made it ineligible.
Some might consider this loose- fitting, floral- printed dress a prime example of the form. While that may be so, Renèe Monaco, 29, didn’t think sundresses needed to be flowy to qualify. She said a sundress is anything a person can wear outside.
Dictionary definitions of “sundress” typically stipulate sleevelessness.
But how thick is a strap before turning into a sleeve? Do you have to see shoulder? What about tube tops?
James Hamilton Butler, the director of Parsons School of Design’s associate degree fashion design program, shrugged off the question. Talking about sleeves is outdated, Mr. Butler wrote over email. “We can be who we want without fear of judgment. (Not sure about tube tops though!)”
Sophie Strauss, who describes herself as “a stylist for regular people,” says that the length of the sleeves depends on what the wearer wants to get out of the sundress. In sundress- happy Los Angeles, she observes clients gravitating toward the piece because it frequently “plays up parts of women’s bodies that we’re told to play up, and downplay parts that we’re told to hide,” she said, rattling off brands with big puffy sleeves.
Mr. Trembacki, the TikToker, was not so dogmatic on straps either. “There should be some type of strap”, he said. “Though, there could be no strap, too”.
In the sundress taxonomy, a crewneck silhouette can be conflicting. However, the wearer claims that she views her floral dress as a sundress.
Some people believe this midi dress is firmly in sundress territory because of the thin straps on it.
The sundress, which is traditionally homely and demure, eventually came to bear a peculiar sexual charge. (Especially for those who are incredibly online.)
On the meme database Know Your Meme, a riff on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs replaces survival requirements like “water”, and “friendship”, with a refrain about sundress- induced activity, too vulgar to print.
What is it that makes “men go crazy for’ the sundress,'” as a user on X recently put it?
A writer from Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood who has a Joan Didion bicep tattoo, Kyle Brown, provided some insight into the contemporary male gaze.
Mr. Brown described a passionate scene involving a man who has arrived from doing yardwork and finds his sundress-clad wife in the kitchen baking bread as “it’s all about this pastoral American fantasy. Men are confused.”
On the street, more practical considerations still prevail.
On a hot day, photographer Lexi Hide explained her reasoning behind wearing a Chopova Lowena dress on Fifth Avenue. I was wondering if a sundress had to be airy enough to make you want to avoid wearing underwear. She stated that she only enjoys how it feels. “Nice warm breeze”, she said.
Laura Meyers, 31, donned an above- the- knee dress on a recent afternoon. She said she thought it counted, but added that, with its eclectic print and more muted palette, it may be difficult to categorize.
Gabriella Chaves, 25, deployed the “pop of red” trend when styling her long, airy white dress. She claimed that sundresses should be short, but that she still believed that hers made the cut.
The sundress might be more of a concept than a piece of clothing, depending on the situation. After canvassing Lower Manhattan for a potential consensus, I stopped in to Reformation, a clothing store some consider the mother ship of sundresses.
I couldn’t remember the particular sundress Ms. Strauss, the personal stylist, had mentioned, only that it was named after a type of pasta. When I asked a sales representative for advice, she advised me to think about any dresses in the store. She said a sundress can be anything, and she pointed me in the direction of a mini fit-and-flare in the shade “Last Tango.”