by Hope Lawrie

“You can wear black at any time. You can wear it at any age. You may wear it for almost any occasion” spoke the late and great Christian Dior in 1954.

Black clothing is traditionally associated with funereal garb but enjoyed a re-jig when Coco Chanel choose it as the colour du jour and changed the world of women’s fashion irrevocably with her creation of the LBD in 1926. Black quickly became associated with chic-ness, glamour and Parisian style and has never looked back. Popularity was further encouraged by Hollywood as it worked so well on black and white film, notably the Givenchy dress worn by a young Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s in 1961 which many seasons later sold for nearly £500,000 at Christie’s in 2006 proving that black never seems to be out of fashion.

Dame Vivienne Westwood re-interpreted it for her 1970’s sexed-up punk wear inverting its strictures of glamour and instead forcing qualities of cool rebellion.

This year proved no exception to the loyalty it has enjoyed. The unyielding shade appeared in many forms from gothic horror at Luella to demure lace at Prada by way of austere tailoring at Balenciaga. It was a strong influence for Stefano Pilati in his futuristic YSL show where models were adorned with severe identikit black haircuts and lips.

Nightly black has proved versatile and resilient surviving nearly a century of changing trends and seasons. But more recently it has taken on an even more interesting headline grabbing persona – fashion has been lucky enough to be gifted an astonishingly talented model – Jourdan Dunn. Not only does her prominence lie in her skin colour which is so often notably absent from the catwalk shows but more interestingly in her voice and her determination to make a change to what is for the most part a very, very white world of fashion.

For the AW08 shows Jourdan Dunn walked the catwalks of Christian Dior, Dries van Noten, Daks, Valentino, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Chanel, Alexander McQueen, Giles, Prada, Marc Jacobs, Ferragamo, Vera Wang, Diane von Furstenberg, Lacoste, Tommy Hilfiger, Zac Posen, Oscar de la Renta, Herve Leger, DKNY, Michael Kors, Proenza Schouler and the list goes on. More recently Vogue Italia ran a black issue featuring Dunn on one of the iconic covers alongside Noami Campbell, Liya Kebede and Sessilee Lopez. The issue was one so rare that it prompted an unprecendented storm of media attention, copies selling on ebay for a vastly inflated price of $50. i-D have also forced the point home with a Jourdan Dunn cover this month alongside an intriguing interview.

So it seems, that a colour so ironically intrinsically linked with fashion is finally truly in fashion and long may it reign as truly representative. Long live black – not only as a colour for cocktail dresses, but a colour on catwalks and magazine covers. Let’s hope we see it’s charcoal hue enjoy many more seasons of longevity and all-encompassing status.