Cocktail Dresses Inspired By Your Favorite Cocktail

Any style maven worth her Louboutins knows to match her dress to her purse, but what about to her cocktail?

It’s the season of the cocktail party, which means it’s also the season of the cocktail dress. Traditionally, a cocktail dress is worn to a semi-formal occasion, like a cocktail party. In the late 1920s, due in part to the suffragette movement and Prohibition Reform, “The Drinking Woman” emerged at private cocktail soirées and lounges about town. And so, the cocktail dress was born. It wasn’t until the late 1940s, however, that Christian Dior coined the term “cocktail dress,” as cocktailing became en vogue. Today, because cocktailing remains a chic pastime, it demands a dress so you can dazzle as you drink.

The following are cocktail dresses inspired by your favorite cocktails, so you can drink and dress responsibly. Salut.

Cosmopolitan

Blush Cocktail Dress MÚSED, price upon request, A. Testoni Python Pumps in black, $665. Jewelry fashion editor’s own. Belt stylist’s own.

Champagne Cocktail

Lilli Spina Dress, $1014. Roru Gioielli Earrings, $350. De Liguoro Bracelet, $196.

Aviation

Manhattan

Liberty Skirt Ash and Light, $325. Lilli Spina Coat, $1,500. Agent Provocateur Bustier stylist’s own

Whiskey Sour with Egg white

Colette Barbieri Strapless High Low Brocade Cocktail Dress, price upon request.

Dry Martini

Pixie Dress Ash and Light, $355. Chine Machine Paris Choker, price upon request.

Negroni

Short Mullet Dress Ash and Light, $345. Custom Tableaux Vivants Lace Tulle Hair Accessory. Alexis Bittar earring fashion editor’s own.

Dead Man’s Mask

Liberty Shift Ash and Light, $265. Custom Tableaux Vivants Lace Tulle Choker. Coat fashion editor’s own.

Where To Buy:

Production

Creative Direction by Jill Di Donato
Photography by Amanda Suarez
Styling by Sheyna Imm
Location: The Tpoaz
251 Bushwick Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11206
Models: Adina Boom, MÚSED Modeling Agency and James Angelos Jr.

About the author

Jill Di Donato

Fashion Editor

Jill is a New York native who holds a BA in Literature from Barnard College, and an MFA in writing from Columbia University. She is the author of the novel Beautiful Garbage (She Writes Press, 2013) about the downtown Manhattan art and fashion scene in the 1980s. A former staff writer for The Huffington Post and Bustle, Jill comes to Culture Trip after working with Refinery 29, Vice, Salon, Paste Style, Los Angeles Times, Nylon, Shopify, Autre, and producing content for emerging fashion labels. She teaches classes about fashion and culture at Barnard College and The Fashion Institute of Technology. Her prized possessions are her Gucci fanny pack, vintage rocker t-shirts, and her grandmother's collection of costume jewelry. She's always on the lookout for a gem-encrusted turban.