Fashion turning point

"In the Spring of 1908, three women walked onto the Longchamp racecourse in Paris and jaws dropped. The elite society event was known for debuting the latest couture creations to the public, but no one had seen fashion quite like this before. Dressed in blue, white and havane brown creations, according to newspapers, spectators called the three women a “monstrosity”, accused them of being semi-naked and showing revolting décolletage. It was these three dresses however, which would forever change fashion that day and launch the twentieth century silhouette. As for the designer? Well, no one really bothered to remember her name…

But perhaps you might like to know who it was. I’ve come across and admired these photographs around the net before, not knowing there was a story or a particular name behind the fashion. But Margaine-Lacroix was her name, a young Parisian designer who had taken over her mother’s long established old couture house and was starting to gain popularity in turn-of-the-century Paris for her lightly corseted dresses featuring minimum boning and more elastic material.

Long before Lycra or Spanx came along, she soon began making dresses made from stretchy elastic silk jersey, outlining the hips and thighs and slimming the figure. To debut her creations to society, she hired three beautiful models and chose the Parisian racetracks of 1908 as her catwalk..."

EDIT: go to link and scroll down to see a fun picture of their fellow horse race-attenders' reactions.

http://www.messynessychic.com/2016/02/02/the-belle-epoque-body-con-dress-that-was-too-sexy-for-paris/